Labor minister launches outreach service for incoming expat workers

RIYADH: The Ministry of Labor launched an expatriate outreach service at King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh on Tuesday to help new incoming expatriate workers to the Kingdom facilitate their successful stay in the Kingdom.
Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani inaugurated the service in the presence of Director General of Passports Maj. Gen. Sulaiman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Yahya, Director General of King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh Abdul Aziz bin Saad Abu Harbah and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) CEO Dr. Khalid Bin Hussein Al-Bayari.
The program inaugurated at KKIA will be launched at other international gateways to the Kingdom in the coming weeks. It is being carried out with the General Authority for Civil Aviation and the STC.
Under the integrated service, every new incoming worker will be given a new free-of-charge SIM card for his mobile at a special counter at the airport. The SIM will contain a comprehensive awareness brochure to tell the expatriate worker of his rights, obligation, duties, legal information and also how to seek assistance from the Labor Ministry in case of distress.
Making a brief speech at the launching ceremony, Al-Haqabani said that the SIM card will be in several foreign languages spoken by foreign workers. He said that service will also help the worker communicate with the Labor Ministry, his or her mission in the Kingdom and also relatives back in his homeland.
The whole idea of the program is to set up an effective channel between the Ministry of Labor and the worker to make his stay happy and comfortable in the Kingdom.
The service, the minister said, will be available on an around-the-clock basis to enable the incoming workers to avail themselves of the service.
Other features include free minutes of local and international communications and text messages.
The worker can contact customer service on the toll-free number, 19911, for any assistance which he might require from the government.