Under Saudi’s ‘Nitaqat Law’, thousands of Pakistani workers to return home
Saudi Arabia has introduced a new policy called ‘Nitaqat Law’ which seeks to remove illegal immigrant workers or employees, to boost employment for locals by reserving 10 percent of jobs for them.
According to stats, there are over 300,000 local firms in Saudi Arabia which do not hire any locals, that’s why Nitaqat policy has been created to deal firmly with this issue.
This new law was introduced earlier this year,where foreigners are allowed to only work for their legal sponsors and their spouses won’t be allowed to take up jobs. Also, the expatriates cannot perform any job other than the one mentioned in their job cards.
These provisions have sparked fears of mass deportation of several Pakistani and Indian expatriates. If we talk about Indian workers, according to reports there are more than two million Indians in Saudi Arabia and thousands of them do not have proper work permits. Nearly 4,000 Indian expatriates have already informed the Indian embassy in Riyadh that they don’t have proper work documents.
External Affairs Minister of India, Salman Khurshid today said that state governments have been “forewarned” so that the situation does not become “unmanageable” as 75000 Indians are expected to loose their jobs and return to their homes.
Khurshid said new Saudi law was not just for Indians and it would also affect thousands of illegal immigrants from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. “For genuine workers it will open up opportunities,” he said.
“Genuine workers don’t need to worry. It will impact only those who don’t have proper work permit, he added.”
Saudi authorities have given the deadline till July 3.
Those who fail to find another job or a sponsor has to go back. As a result of this law, a number of people who were working without valid work permits have come under the scanner.
Once the grace period time till July 3 ends, all those expatriates who are found Saudi Arabia without valid papers will be jailed and heavily penalized.
Khursheed confirmed, “In terms of the number of people who are getting exit permits (issued by Saudi authorities), it is 500 persons per day at present.”
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