Saudi work visas issued to private sector fell 29% in 2016

18/07/2017 Argaam Special

Saudi Arabia issued 1.4 million recruitment visas for the private sector by the end of 2016, down by 29 percent year-on-year (YoY), the first decline in three years, data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Development showed.

 

Recruiting foreign workers has been tied to “Taqat” employment programs to ensure that Saudization requirements have been met before visas are issued to expatriates, the ministry’s annual report said.

 

Visas issued for domestic workers rose 14 percent YoY to 1.14 million visas, while 142,800 visas were given to public sector workers, up 81 percent YoY.

 

The number of expat workers who shifted jobs from one employer to another in 2016 reached 480,000, down 21 percent YoY.

 

Saudi Visas

Year

 

Private sector

Public sector

Domestic workers

Number

Variation

Number

Variation

Number

Variation

2010

1,061,717

+14%

565,537

+14%

68,297

+12%

2011

1,181,911

+11%

647,796

+15%

110,223

+61%

2012

1,586,532

+14%

828,485

+28%

125,909

+14%

2013

950,252

(40%)

714,593

(14%)

57,007

(55%)

2014

1,574,504

+66%

847,927

+19%

104,466

+83%

2015

1,972,391

+25%

995,930

+17%

78,882

(24%)

2016

1,403,731

(29%)

1,137,500

+14%

142,824

+81%

Comments {{getCommentCount()}}

Be the first to comment

loader Train
Sorry: the validity period has ended to comment on this news
Opinions expressed in the comments section do not reflect the views of Argaam. Abusive comments of any kind will be removed. Political or religious commentary will not be tolerated.