RIYADH, 4 March 2003 — The Passport Department has started to enforce a new rule restricting the validity period of exit/re-entry visas for unskilled workers to two months, compared to the previous period of six months.
The government has yet to announce the change officially.
However, sources at the Passport Office in Riyadh and Jeddah told Arab News yesterday that the exit/re-entry facility for expatriates who are skilled workers will be decided on a case-by-case basis should a sponsor grant leave for more than two months.
In the past, expatriate workers went on vacation for as long as three to six months every three-year period, but this will no longer be possible. A majority of the Kingdom’s seven-million expat population are categorized as unskilled workers.
Until Saturday, the Passport Office was issuing exit/re-entry visas for a maximum six months to unskilled and other categories of workers, and 11 months to their family members.
However, since then exit/re-entry visa for unskilled workers have been issued with a maximum two-month validity.
Describing the new provision as harmful, a Saudi executive said it would scuttle the long-term plans of low-salaried employees.
“Some workers were staying home for medical treatment or to build houses. Others took a longer break so they could get married. This will no longer be possible,” Khalifa Abdullah Al-Zuraij, liaison officer at United Motors in Riyadh, told Arab News.
Tariq Masood, president of ZAMACE, a multi-service contracting company, said the motive for introducing the new regulation remains unclear. He told Arab News that the common practice was for employees in the unskilled category to take their leave every two or three years because it was too expensive to travel outside the Kingdom every year.
Very few companies, including his own, he pointed out, provide air tickets for their workers.
Those employed in construction and maintenance companies in particular also face long delays in salary payments. Given such circumstances, they are compelled to accumulate their leave for three to four years and then return home for an extended period. So the new regulation would restrict the duration of the leave period and also impose a heavy financial burden on them, he added.
Shaukat Naeem Ghumman, marketing manager of the AlBabtain Group, agreed that the new rule would curtail unskilled workers’ vacation which, they used to take after prolonged periods of work.
“They were more productive on their return as the extended vacation helped them to resolve problems back home. The new restriction will negatively affect their productivity,” he pointed out.
The new step, expatriates believe, is part of the government’s move to raise additional revenue.
Some expat residents who had planned to go home or to other overseas destinations told Arab News yesterday that they are canceling their travel plans due to the change in the exit/re-entry procedure.
“Some of our workers have canceled their vacation due to the change in the visa policy,” Yahya Malik, a supervisor at Gulf Trading Company in Jeddah, said.
“When they were told that they would have to return within two months, they said they would prefer not to travel at all.”
Some workers have even been canceling their departure on reaching the airport.
“I had a six-month exit/re-entry visa, but when I was at the airport check-in counter on Sunday I was told that the Immigration may change the re-entry period from six months to two months. So I decided not to travel now and returned home,” said Aslam Javed, 35, a Pakistani employed in a bakery in the Jeddah Industrial City.
Airline managements said their inquiries with the Immigration authorities have confirmed that the change in the re-entry period only applies to unskilled labor.
“We understand that the new re-entry limit for unskilled labor may only be temporary. It may be restored to its original six-month period once the war clouds clear,” a travel agent in Jeddah said.
In the Eastern Province, expatriates were confused by the new rule.
The Public Relations Office of the Passport Department confirmed to Arab News that exit/re-entry visa for unskilled workers will be valid for two months only from the date of travel. The PR office added that there were some categories of jobs, such as drivers and housemaids, who will still be entitled to a six-month exit/re-entry visa.
In addition, family members of the expatriates will continue to get extended leave, usually up to 11 months.
Technicians and other skilled professionals will be issued a visa valid for between three-to-six months.
Some foreign airlines in Dammam reported that a number of their passengers had been refused the right to leave the Kingdom on the grounds that their passports carried six-month exit/re-entry visas.
The visa fee of SR200 will remain the same for all categories, the PR official said.
Justifying the new rule, an official at the Dammam Passport Office, who spoke to Arab News on condition of anonymity, said that “if a worker can stay away from his work for six months then he is hardly required by his company.” He added that “this new regulation will also put a lid on proxy business.”
Akhtar Saeed Khan, an Indian national working in a newspaper distribution company in Dammam, said that his company gives vacation after every two years for 90 days.
“How can I stay in India for three months with a two-month exit/re-entry visa? I hope there will be revision of this regulation, otherwise thousands of expatriates will suffer,” he said.
Syed Anwar Hussain, a technician in a refrigeration company, said he also thought the new regulation will hurt the expatriates, not the employers.
“In my company, the sponsor himself very often sends us on vacation for four to six months when there is not much work,” he explained.
When told this, the official at the Dammam Passport Office said that it was proof that the new rule was necessary.
“It safeguards the interest of workers, because such temporary layoffs are illegal,” he said.
— Input by Javid Hassan, Saeed Haider, K.S. Ramkumar & Habib Badr
