The initiative to improve the contractual relationship in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to take effect today, Sunday, which will practically replace the sponsorship system in force in the Kingdom for more than 70 years.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia announced last November, the launch of the initiative that abolishes the sponsorship system that defined the relationship between the employer, the worker and the expatriate.
According to Saudi media, the initiative seeks to support the vision of the Ministry of Human Resources in building an attractive job market, empowering and developing competencies, and developing the work environment.
The initiative will provide three main services, which are functional mobility and the development of exit, return and final exit mechanisms.
According to the statistics of the General Authority for Statistics in Saudi Arabia, the total number of workers in private and public sector establishments amounted to about 8.44 million workers by the end of the fourth quarter of 2019. The business report Short term, he indicated that the number of foreigners in private and public sector establishments amounted to about 6.48 million workers.
The Ministry of Human Resources in Saudi Arabia says that the initiative is part of its efforts to improve and raise the efficiency of the work environment, and comes as a continuation of its previous efforts in this field, by launching many programs, The most important of these are the program to protect the wages of workers in the private sector, the program for documenting contracts electronically, and settling labor disputes.
The initiative to improve the contractual relationship seeks to increase the flexibility, effectiveness and competitiveness of the labor market, and raise its attractiveness in line with international best practices.
This initiative comes to activate the contractual reference in the labor relationship between the employer and the worker based on the work contract documented between them through the contract documentation program; This contributes to reducing the disparity in the contractual procedures of the Saudi worker versus the expatriate worker. This will be reflected in the increase in employment opportunities for citizens.
The job mobility service allows a migrant worker to transfer to another job upon the termination of his work contract without the need for the employer's approval.
The initiative also defines the mechanisms of transition during the validity of the contract, provided that the notice period and the specified controls are adhered to. The exit and return service allows a migrant worker to travel outside Saudi Arabia. This is when submitting the application, with the employer notifying electronically.
The final exit service enables a migrant worker to leave immediately after the end of the contract with an electronic notification of the employer without requiring his approval.
