In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading country and the largest labor market in the developed world, the government has allowed foreign workers to change their kafala to various non-governmental organizations without any conditions.
The information was confirmed today by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development after approval from the Saudi government’s highest policy-making forum. The new system, which was launched in the wake of the horrific and deadly coronavirus disease around the world, will now be implemented through the “Ajir Hiring” portal. This portal looks after the contracts of the employers and employees of any private company or organization. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has unconditionally approved the change of kafala in Saudi Arabia.
In other words, the restriction of not being able to work in another profession has been temporarily relaxed. This is one of the several initiatives announced by the Ministry in view of the current situation, as these initiatives will make it easier for workers to work from now on, as well as create opportunities for the market economy to benefit from the labor market manpower. The Saudi ministry had earlier indicated that it would start taking people from the labor market through the Ajir program. In this way, the companies that have suffered financial losses due to lack of workers will be able to increase the number of their workers as per the need.
This will create new job opportunities for many workers. According to the Saudi ministry, the decision is aimed at providing enough foreign workers to meet the current demand for high-manpower sectors. Employing foreign workers in organizations with high demand for manpower. From now on, both workers and organizations will benefit by providing foreign workers as per the demand. In addition, the Saudi government has relaxed many of their previous conditions to change the sponsorship. If the workplace and type of work of the workers are the same, then a new organization will be able to re-employ a maximum of 20 percent of the total workers employed there.