Business

The Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development in Saudi Arabia today started on an aggressive initiative reforming the Kingdom's labour laws to allow expatriate workers additional rights in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program (NTP).

At a press convention held in the country's capital of Riyadh, the Ministry announced the "Labor Relation Initiative," which will come into effect in March of 2021. The initiative allows expatriate workers labour mobility and amends existing exit methods in a way that does not clash with Saudi Labor Law and is in line with global immigration best practices.

The reforms will drive greater engagement in Saudi Arabia's labour market by permitting workers to change their employers and allow employers to attract the best talent, ultimately increasing competition, wages, and public spending inside the Kingdom. 'The Labor Relation Initiative' is a declaration of Saudi Arabia's dedication to improving the local labour market and better regulating it in a manner that is useful to both employers and expatriate workers.

The initiative promotes the Kingdom's reputation regarding expatriate workers' rights and its labour market efficiency and would lead to a reduction in the conflicts between local employers and expatriate workers reporting to employee mobility or exit visa requests.

The reforms allow expatriate workers in the Kingdom to convey their support from one company to another, call Exit/Re-Entry Visas, and secure a Final Exit Visa; all will now be approved automatically without asking the employer's consent. The three services will be made available to the people through the smartphone use "Absher" and the Ministry's electronic web portal.

The 'Labor Relation Initiative' comes to complement several related actions launched by the Kingdom to improve the efficiency of the local job market, including the Wage Protection System (WPS), the electronic documentation of all labour agreements, and launching "Widy" mechanism for out of court agreement of labour disputes.

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