Iqama Renewal (SR 2400 for Labour Card)

Heres the latest on the issue...

http://arabnews.com/expatriate-fees-issue-hotting

people of the Ministry of Labor are like, the biggest ****...
and obviously - not the source of the brightest ideas around here...

It is very sad, Every Year i renew my Iqama myself. and now the general services ask for 5000 SR for one year.

Its their country and they can make rules, but in companies, the employe will not pay this tax, its the duty of company to pay, thats y still there are discussions on this issue.

This will increase the cost of living in Saudi Arabia which is not good for Saudis in first place.

saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20121120143427

:)stupid decision

It's too Expensive for the Labour's Especially Asian workers who work's as a free lancer..how they gonna manage..Almighty please help..

Heres the latest....

Shoura members slam expatriate fee
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cf … 1120143427

i hope they cancel

Ministry: Small businesses to be exempted from new expat fee

http://arabnews.com/ministry-small-busi … -expat-fee

there are many conflict for this Fee?
is it apply only for Red category or also for Green category companies?

It is for all red green yellow orange

this issue got alot of disccusions and still a war between the Ministry of Labor vs Chamber of Commerce on this regard.

Unfortunately, this decision will hurt the Saudis before foreigners, as it would hurt small businesses

The objective of this decision to raise the Saudization, but it reflected negatively on the Saudis themselves.

This 2400 per year is not going to be paid by employee right???
thenw hats the issue???

Hi Folks!
SR 2400 is the fine per month of SR 200. This need to be paid at the time of making the Labor card whose original fees is SR 100. So total will be SR 2500 per year.
Regards!

This is what it is. Due to the high rate of unemployment for locals in the Kingdom, the govt has decided that 50% of all employees of all companies to be Saudis. Failing to meet this requirement will result in the company being fined 2400SR for each excess expatriate. This is not an Iqama renewal feel.

Ideally this has to be borne by the company and not the employees and not all employees have to pay. But in case of free lancers/ free visa expatriate - the khafils will see this as another money minting opportunity and take this from you regardless of whether you have to pay it or not.

Since a majority of the companies dont meet the requirement of 50% Saudis, the companies have demanded that this rule be amended. And tht is now in session, we will know the out come shortly.

This 2400 will be taken over and above the iqama renewal fee of 500SR. making it a total of 2900SR along with insurance and kafalath and what not.

Salam. from which date this is going to impose? and what about free lancers/ azad visa expatriates? how much they will have to pay if this law is imposed

Even as an Expat ;
i found this very good decision

i mean its better for them to ask u - ppl of their own iqama -for 2400 instead of asking u to leave

more fees is always better than saying byebye

Anyone have update regarding this hike in Fee for expats.

Ministry: Small businesses to be exempted from new expat fee

http://arabnews.com/ministry-small-busi … -expat-fee

Also The above link has been removed from Arab News website.

I have to renew my Iqama as i am under individual Sponsor having only 5 employs. And when i went yesterday to General services Office they said that wait for week or two.

wsmhagazi wrote:

Anyone have update regarding this hike in Fee for expats.

Ministry: Small businesses to be exempted from new expat fee

http://arabnews.com/ministry-small-busi … -expat-fee

Also The above link has been removed from Arab News website.

I have to renew my Iqama as i am under individual Sponsor having only 5 employs. And when i went yesterday to General services Office they said that wait for week or two.

oh, may be your kafeel will demand that 2400 from you till the decision is not revoked.
I read shoura council rejected this but not sure whether its under discussion or implemented

Ministry won’t reconsider levy on foreign workers

JEDDAH: The Ministry of Labor has denied reports of any move to reconsider the newly introduced levy on expatriate workers.
“The ministry will not go back on its implementation of the Council of Ministers’ decision No. 353 concerning the higher fees on expatriate laborers when their number exceeds Saudi workers,” Ministry spokesman Hattab Al-Anazi said in a statement.
As a move to counter the likely consequences of imposing the additional fee on private enterprises such as rise in product prices, the ministry will ask the Ministry of Commerce to monitor prices in markets and take deterrent measures against traders who hike their prices, Al-Anazi said.
Denying any link between the Nitaqat program and the expatriate labor levy, the official said even an establishment with fewer than nine workers must pay the new fee. Nitaqat regulations stipulate that an establishment with nine workers needed to employ only a single Saudi worker.
The new levy system was implemented on Nov.15, the first day of the new Hijri year.
Any establishment that employs Saudis less than half of the total number of its workers will have to pay an additional monthly fee of SR 200 for each foreign worker. But no fee has to be paid if the non-Saudi workers are domestic help, sons of Saudi women married to non-Saudis or citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Labor Minister Adel Fakeih is expected to discuss the fee issue with Jeddah businessmen at a conference on Human Resources Development.
While the ministry is confident on the success of the levy, some economists cast doubt on the potential of the new tax to solve the unemployment problem.
“The decision to levy SR 2,400 for each expatriate worker annually will automatically lead to rise in prices in general besides raising the cost of government project contracts,” said economist Abdullah Al-Shadadi. “It will also make a negative impact on the private sector as some firms will be affected by the higher labor cost caused by the levy and, consequently, will be prompted to lay off workers including Saudis.”
He noted that “no goal could be achieved by making surprise decisions as the Ministry of Labor is doing.”
Instead of making new decisions every week or month, the ministry should wait and evaluate the effects of a decision it has implemented and then make the next move, he said.
The economist also believed that the end result of the ministry’s decisions such as the Hafiz and the woman-only shops did not produce the desired results despite the ministry’s claim that it succeeded in finding employment opportunities for nearly 400,000 Saudis.
He also said that most of the job opportunities the ministry created were marginal positions and did not match with the huge budget allocations for human resources development in various development plans.
On the other hand, another economist, Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, supported the idea of the new levy, which makes the recruitment of a foreign worker costlier than a national worker.
He pointed out that the new fee would add SR 10 billion to the Human Resources Development Fund and could be used to employ more Saudis. He said businessmen give lame excuses such as weak productivity of Saudi workers, lack of punctuality in work and inability to face work pressure against employing Saudis. He said the Saudi youth have lately proved that most of the charges against them are false.
“The only way to promote Saudization is to make our youth more qualified to take up any challenging task and not by (the ministry) imposing some decisions,” he said.
He also stressed the need to restructure the education system to make youths ready to work hard and counter tough managerial challenges.
He also blamed the way the Hafiz system has been introduced as “it promoted laziness and dependency” among the youth.

Govt to net SR 10 bn in expat fees

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s private sector is expected to pay the Ministry of Labor about SR 10 billion in expatriate fees for this Hijri year, according to ministry sources.
The fee, which has been raised from SR 100 to SR 2,400 per person, will be imposed on about 4 million expats. Domestic workers and companies with more than 50 percent Saudis are exempted from this resolution, according to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Arabic language newspaper.
The contracting sector will pay most of this bill. Mushabab Mubarak Al-Saad, assistant secretary-general for National Committees in the Council of Saudi Chambers, said that a report on the negative consequences of the resolution of the Ministry of Labor is being prepared.
“Workshops studying the effects of the resolution found no positive trend,” Al-Saad said. “All recommendations are about the negative impacts on the Saudi business sector as well as the Saudi subjects.”
He also said that the rate of inflation will go up in some areas of the Kingdom as a result of this.
The decision came out abruptly, complained Al-Saad. “The Council of Saudi Chambers was absolutely not informed before the resolution was passed,” he said. “The business sector collectively refused the resolution because it was quick and abrupt.”
Saudi businessmen in the contracting sector refused to comply with the resolution although it came into effect last week. They held a meeting in Riyadh to send a protest note, which will be submitted to object to the ministry’s resolution.
Heads of contracting sector committees in the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Saudi Arabia agreed not to comply with the resolution until it is canceled or closure of their companies, and discharging their employees will be the next step.
In addition, Fahd Alhamadi, head of the contractors national committee, said that they took a collective decision not to comply with the resolution. He told Asharq Al-Alawsat: “Contractors will not pay the new fees because they are illogical and have negative impact on both small and medium companies.”
Alhamdi said that the closure of many companies is expected. “We have Saudi employees, but most of our employees are non-Saudis because of the nature of work in this sector.” He also added: “Inflation is rising and such resolution will make it even worse.”
Meanwhile, protests against the expat fees have flared up in various sectors. Private schools are insisting that citizens bear the burden of this resolution by adding all the expenses to school fees.
A source in the Ministry of Labor, however, said: “Saudization rate in private schools should be more that 50 percent, and their protest against this decision proves their failure to comply with the national policy in a sector largely dominated by expatriate teachers.”

This will impact in nothing but closure, reduced wages, price hikes by small traders and companies b/w 1-100 employees. Big corps usually have more than 50% saudis.
Specially this is a dent for people who have obtained azad visas. along with kafalat they need to pay extra 2400 now..

Rather than launching such progrs why don't govt spend the money on the locals to learn and let them compete fairly.. and automatically locals will get jobs.

Only Cabinet can revoke decision on expat fee

Labor Minister Adel Fakeih said yesterday that it was up to the Council of Ministers to revoke the decision to levy an annual fee of SR 2,400 on private firms for every expatriate worker in excess of Saudis.
“It was not a decision taken by the Labor Ministry. It was a Cabinet decision and only the Cabinet can change it,” he said, adding that he would inform higher authorities the effect of implementing the decision.
Fakeih’s statement’s came after many businesses raised their objections against what they called a “hasty” decision.
A cleaning contractor in Makkah said it was not able to renew the iqamas of its 4,249 workers due to the newly imposed fees.
The ministry came to the contractor’s help after the cleaning workers went on strike. According to Makkah Municipality, the crisis is now over as the cleaners have returned to work.

http://arabnews.com/businessmen-offer-r … -fee-issue

http://www.arabnews.com/labor-ministry- … -expat-fee

i have heard some of my friends that labor fee has been slashed to 100 SR again from 2400 SR is this true or just rumours? please inform me about that im new here in KSA

No, It won't go most probably.

Check out this: http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/sr-2400-levy-stay

However, the crown prince has asked for a report on this lately: http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/cr … -expat-fee

Hope it will finished soon...Many expat looking  and waiting for this decision so after they can renew Iqama.

it wont be wise to wait for the levy to be removed with an expired iqama. if anyone has got an expired iqama, it is anytime better to renew it withe the required fee. otherwise they may end up paying the levy + fine ( i guess sr 500).

Very right azhar_bf.

who reported my thread?

@wilson_derry -> You are here. Kindly Contact Us of you have any problem.

Thank you,
Aurélie

hi, i am new here.. Just wanted to know regarding the renewal of iqama, Who is the one in-charge in paying the renewal fee? the employer or us the employee? Because our employer said there is a new Law saying that the one in-charge paying the renewal fee of the iqama are the employees itself, is this true? Our employer started collecting us a monthly fee of 150SR. We, my fellow workers need some clarification regarding this matter. Thank you very much!

louie_korei wrote:

hi, i am new here.. Just wanted to know regarding the renewal of iqama, Who is the one in-charge in paying the renewal fee? the employer or us the employee? Because our employer said there is a new Law saying that the one in-charge paying the renewal fee of the iqama are the employees itself, is this true? Our employer started collecting us a monthly fee of 150SR. We, my fellow workers need some clarification regarding this matter. Thank you very much!

There is no such rule. But it seems your sponsor is a person rather than a company. This is the dark side of having such a situation.

yes sir, its a person.. we are currently working on a new business (restaurant)as a waiter for 1 yr,he already renewed our iqama and told to us that we are going to pay it by cutting our salary of 150SR a month including the accommodation fee (rent and electricity)and it started this end of january, due to his sayings that there is a new government policy here in Jeddah, and he also told us that if we disagree, we are free to return to our own country, is it true? if no,whats the best way to do? thank you for your response

Iqama renewal charge in ideal case should and will be paid by the sponsor. Which usually is the company you work for. Now with saudization happening, the goverment has imposed a fine of 2400SR/person, if the company does not meet the mandatory requirement of 50% Saudis.

In your case, since its a small restaurant and I am guessing that there are very few or no Saudis working with you, this fine will come into effect for your restaurant. The owner ofcourse is gonna charge you guys for the same. That being said a deduction of 150 for renewal, rent and electricity is not much at all, as a fee.

Usually Iqama renewal will cost you the 2400SR + 650 + Insurance.

and medical fee?