Saudi Arabia: Quarterly iqama fees not applicable to domestic labour

Cairo: Saudi authorities have said a measure allowing the quarterly payment of fees for issuing and renewing residency permits or the iqama does not apply to domestic labour.

In response to a query, the official platform Absher said splitting residency permit fees on a quarterly basis is not available for domestic workers and must be paid yearly.

In 2021, Saudi Arabia, which has a large community of expat workers, allowed the issuance of quarterly residency permits linked to labour licences for expatriates, a step allowing partitioning related fees.

The Saudi General Directorate of Passports announced issuing and renewing such permits for a minimum of three months and splitting fees charged on residency and labour permits.

Conditions for renewing the iqama via Absher requires that the beneficiary should have no unpaid traffic offences, should hold a valid passport and should not have been registered as a work absentee

Labour licences in Saudi Arabia are issued for expatriates to allow them to be legal workers and residents.

Foreigners account for around 10.5 million of Saudi Arabia’s total population of about 34.8 million people.

Domestic workers in the kingdom include housekeepers, drivers, housemaids, cleaners, cooks, guards, farmers, tailors, live-in nurses, tutors and nannies

In late 2020, Saudi Arabia disclosed labour reforms, drastically revamping the country’s sponsorship system. Millions of migrant workers benefitted from the reforms, which came into effect in March 2021.

These reforms allow job mobility and regulate the exit and re-entry visa issuance for expatriate workers without employers’ approval.

Employee mobility allows expatriate workers to transfer between employers upon the expiry of the binding work contract without the employer’s consent.