Alternatives to Saudi sponsorship system under scrutiny

Riyadh: The Ministry of Labour and the National Human Rights Society came up with their own plans to replace the current sponsorship system in Saudi Arabia.

According to the proposal of the National Human Rights Society (NHRS), individual sponsors will be replaced by the government as the employer while the ministry is working on a system to establish independent companies in place of individual sponsors.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Dr Muflih Al Qah'tani, deputy president of NHRS, said that the Society has completed studies that seek to redefine the relationship between foreign workers and employers so as to revoke the current sponsorship system.

"The draft study is aimed to replace the individual Saudi sponsors by the government. We are currently making preparations to present the draft proposals to the concerned authorities," Al Qah'tani said.

NHRS, in its report in December, had sought for abolishing the current sponsorship system, which is instrumental in depriving many rights of foreigners working in the kingdom, and initiated studies to draft a system to replace it.

The current sponsorship system in the kingdom contains several provisions that are being easily exploited by the individual sponsors to deny rights of the employees.

According to the system, the employees have no right to request for visa from any country without the written approval from the sponsor and the employee has to pay SR250 (about Dh245) to the Human Resources Fund during renewal of Iqama or the residence permit.

A foreign worker on low income is not entitled to take advantage of the assistance being offered to the poor from charitable societies in the kingdom.

A sponsor can exploit the system to deport an employee if he has any dispute with the latter. Under the system, there is no provision to prevent the sponsor from blackmailing to get money from the employee for renewal or transfer of Iqama or even for going on vacation.

Disputes

Permission of sponsor is mandatory for an employee to open a bank account or joining a mutual fund as well as for getting exit and re-entry visas. An employee is not allowed to renew his driving and vehicle licenses, or sell and buy of vehicles without the consent of the sponsor.

"In case of any dispute between the two parties, the employee normally resorts to the labour offices, which in turn fail to solve the problems in most cases. Then the cases reach labour courts where they take years awaiting a final verdict," Al Qah'tani said.

The NHRS study includes guidelines to prevent existing types of pressure exercised to exploit foreign workers in any other job than the one for which they have been originally hired for.

The study has recommended mandatory compensation for workers for any extra hour of work in addition to what is stated in their contracts.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Labour, while rejecting the proposal of NHRS, stressed the need for making the sponsor a strong legal entity.

Mohammad Al Dowaish, Director General for Legal Affairs at the ministry, said that abolishing the sponsorship system based on individual sponsors and replacing it with companies and firms will help solve many problems faced by foreign workers.

"The new proposal envisages restricting sponsorship to companies and bringing the number of sponsors to the minimum," Al Dowaish told local Arabic daily Al Watan.

Proposals: Ensuring rights