Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The Saudi Arabian government has decided to extend resident permits (iqamas) of the foreign investors and expatriate workers for five years instead of one, providing much relief to the foreign nationals living across the state.
Earlier, the Saudi government announced that it would implement revised immigration regulations to reduce the nation’s dependency on expatriate workers and create jobs for Saudi citizens, creating an uncertainty for millions of foreign nationals, including Bangladeshis, living and working in the oil-rich nation.
Terming the move as one of the major policy shift toward expatriates workers by Saudi government, Engr Khandoker Mossarraf
Hossain, Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment told The New Nation yesterday that it would provide relief to thousand of Bangladeshis who’s resident permits have already been expired.
Welcoming the Saudi government’s reported plan to issue resident permits (iqamas) for five years instead of one he said, the Bangladesh government has long been pursuing the issue with the Saudi authorities for the well-being of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia.
The Minister is now in Kuwait, however, said, he could not make further comment over the issue without a concrete information from the Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh.
Officials in Dhaka said around 30 lakh Bangladeshis are now working in Saudi Arabia. Of the total, the resident permits of many Bangladeshi nationals have already been expired and they were under the threat of deportation by the Saudi authorities.
“Thousands of Bangladeshi nationals are working in the Gulf state illegally under the so-called “free visa” arrangement as Saudi Arabia limited recruitment of workers from Bangladesh from 2009,” said an official of the Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment.
The new scheme of the Saudi government would create the opportunity of Bangladeshi national to further stay in the country renewing residency and work permits by their sponsors and employers of the country, he added.
The 5-year iqama plan by the Saudi government also made the Saudi employers happy to help boost the economy of the country, reports Arab News.
“This is a great step on the part of the government and will have a tremendous impact on businesses,” said Siddeek Ahmed, CMD of Eram Group while responding to the Passport Department’s plan to implement a proposal to extend the iqama validity from one to five years.
Maj. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya, director general of the Passport Department, said there is a plan to change the name of iqama to resident ID and extend its validity up to five years.
Speaking to reporters in Riyadh on Sunday, he emphasized that the proposal would be implemented shortly.
He said the department was also studying a proposal to extend the validity of Saudi passport to 10 years.
Col. Mohammed Al-Hussain, spokesman of the department in the Makkah region, to know when the five-year iqama would be implemented, but he said he did not have any more details.
However, informed sources said the proposal would be implemented soon after its endorsement by Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif.
Al-Yahya’s statement was widely applauded. “The extension of iqama to five years will provide job security to expatriates. It will also help contracting companies to complete their projects on time,” said Siddeek Ahmed.
He said the move would encourage foreign companies to invest in the Kingdom and transfer their technology without any fear as it guarantees the availability of qualified and skilled foreign workers for five years.
“I am very happy,” said Mohammed Ali, managing director of Jeddah National Hospital.
“This is good not only for expats but also for the Kingdom,” he said, adding that it would encourage experienced guest workers to stay in the Kingdom instead of going to Europe, America and Australia in search of better job opportunities.
He said the five-year iqama program would help expats to make long-term plans. “One-year iqama was creating uncertainty. Doctors and paramedics were unwilling to come to the Kingdom,” he said.
Salah Karadan, former chairman of International Indian School Jeddah’s managing committee, said the move would help expat children to stay long abroad for higher education.
“In the past, many parents had to cancel children’s iqamas as the latter could not come to the Kingdom for renewing iqamas because of exams and other reasons,” he pointed out. “The new move will motivate expats and increase their productivity.”
