Job Discussion Forums

[sheikher]

Opening page in English:
http://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/portal

Iqama System Violations and Penalties:
http://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3hT5wBnTwtfY0P3gFBzAyM3cxMvZzNvCwNvE_1wkA7cKkyMIfJ-_kahbiaehoYWZq6GBkZmHiZOPmGeBu4uUHkDHMDRQN_PIz83Vb8gOzvIwlFREQA6hYVv/dl2/d1/L0lDU0lKSWdra0EhIS9JTlJBQUlpQ2dBek15cUEhL1lCSkoxTkExTkk1MC13ISEvN181Q1BDSThNMzEwNUJDMDJWTkM1UlRQME9JMQ!!/?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_5CPCI8M3105BC02VNC5RTP0OI1_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/main/MOI+Home+Content/Home/General+Info/Iqama+System+Violations+_+Penalties/

Iqama and Work Permit Regulations:
http://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3hT5wBnTwtfY0P3gFBzAyM3cxMvZzNvCwNvE_1wkA7cKkyMIfJ-_kahbiaehoYWZq6GBkZmHiZOPmGeBu4uUHkDHMDRQN_PIz83VT9SP8ocYYuBqZOzgVGYn7NpUEiAgb-RkX5kTmp6YnKlfkF2dpCFt6MiAPQqk2M!/dl2/d1/L0lJSklna2shL0lCakFBTXlBQkVSQ0lBISEvWUZOQTFOSTUwLXchLzdfNUNQQ0k4TTMxMDVCQzAyVk5DNVJUUDBPMjI!/?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_5CPCI8M3105BC02VNC5RTP0O22_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/main/MOI+Home+Content/Home/Directives+and+Regulations/Residence+Permit/

[tillymd]

Interesting Regulations....#32 Runaway resident who was captured by the security authorities or by his employer.

Does this happen often?

Check out the Narcotics penalties list..........Yikes!!!
Not a good idea to bring your favorite crack pipe.

Tillymd

[sheikher]

From the US Dept of State website.

On Saudi Arabia, regarding employers tendency to withold passports:

The Basic Law prohibits employers from retaining foreign workers' passports; however, in practice most sponsors reportedly often retained possession of foreign workers' passports. Foreign workers must obtain permission from their sponsors to travel abroad. If sponsors were involved in a commercial or labor dispute with foreign employees, they may ask the authorities to prohibit the employees from departing the country until the dispute is resolved. In some contract disputes, sponsors used this as a pressure tactic to resolve disputes in their favor by forcing employees to accept nominal amounts of the money owed to them or by having foreign employees deported (see sections 5 and 6.c.).

Section 5: Foreign laborers', including domestic workers', passports were often illegally retained by their employers and can sometimes result in forced labor. Foreign nationals who have been recruited abroad have, after their arrival in the country, been presented with work contracts that specified lower wages and fewer benefits than originally promised. A reportedly small number of noncitizen women were thought to engage in prostitution, comprising a minor element of the trafficking problem in the kingdom.

Section 6c: The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, employers often retained possession of foreign laborers' passports and identity cards, giving them significant control over the movements of foreign employees. This practice sometimes resulted in forced labor, especially in remote areas where workers were unable to leave their places of work and cannot legally travel without an identity card. In addition some sponsors prevented foreign workers from obtaining exit visas to pressure them to sign a new work contract, or to drop claims against their employer for unpaid salary or benefits (see section 2.d.). Finally, some sponsors refused, for legitimate and nonlegitimate reasons, to provide foreign workers with a "letter of no objection" that would allow them to be employed by another sponsor for legitimate and nonlegitimate reasons.

There were many reports of workers whose employers refused to pay several months, or even years, of accumulated salary or other promised benefits. More foreign workers than in the past went to labor courts, which regularly ruled in favor of the workers. However, this was a long and difficult process and it was difficult to enforce judgments. Labor courts, while generally fair, sometimes took many months to reach a final appellate ruling, during which time the employer could prevent the foreign laborer from leaving the country. Often noncitizen workers engaged in a court case against their employers cannot legally work, placing an additional burden on them and compelling a negotiated settlement. Another tactic was for an employer to delay a case until a worker's funds were exhausted, and the worker was forced to withdraw his case in exchange for the employer allowing the worker to return to his/her home country.

[Oreally]

Hello. Does anyone have in English or in Arabic the "law" regarding passport and surrendering passports/Iqama's?

[sheikher]

Regarding the surrender of your passport (not the iqama) to your employer or representative for what you deem or suspect could become an unreasonable length of time, it is advised that you inform him that a documented letter of authority is required from your embassy.

Alternatively, ask your employer to phone an embassy official for your country's official policy on the matter. That itself may put a sudden halt to it.

It is my policy to surrender my passport "overnight", so to speak, upon request from a government official only, and there have been cases when I have asked and recorded that official's name, rank and serial number.

Additionally, you may find these remarks of interest:
http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/40-689.aspx

It appears that the Ministry of Labor set a precedent in 2006.

And there is a thread here:
http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/41934

I'll do a bit more research on this topic. I have an acquaintance down the street at the Human Rights Commission who ought to know or will speak with her lawyer contacts.

[Stephen Jones]

You're not supposed to have your passport and your iqama simultaneously.

That is to say the employer can't keep your passport if you demand it but you must surrender your iqama, and as you are obliged to carry your iqama with you at all times, in practice that means you can only demand your iqama if you're going to leave the country.

Some employers, but very few, allow you to keep both, probably twisting the rules in your favour.

[Stephen Jones]

[Cleopatra]

[sheikher]

I remind you that passports are the property of the government that issued them, not the bearer who is only the custodian.

[johnslat]

Dear sheikher,
While passports may be the "property of the government that issued them", when you are in the Saudi ballpark, you either play by their rules or take your ball (i.e. passport) and go home.
If you should be under the mistaken impression that the US Embassy would give a hoot, you may want to try complaining to them and see just how much (i.e. little) satisfaction that brings.
Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

And if you go to the embassy in person to complain... be ready for a near strip search to get in... and a glaring lack of caring about your problem.

If you ever need real help... like to escape a country collapsing around you... go directly to the British embassy. They will be the ones who have organized a route and method to get out. The staff at the American Embassy might have waved if you happened to look up as they all flew out.

VS

[Cleopatra]

[Stephen Jones]

I have actually seen a British consular official pull the passport out of the hands of an employers HR minion who was refusing to give it up even though it was needed to sort out the fact that the istimara for a car was in the wrong name and the car couldn't be sold until the passport was shown to the relevant authorities. And he did announce the passport was his government's property when he snatched it.

The person who needed to sell the car was a housemate of the consul's brother, but in all fairness to the consul he did pride himself on the fact that when he left Saudi there was no Brit in a Saudi jail (there had been one but the Saudis let him out as a leaving present for the consul).

[johnslat]

Dear Stephen,

"The person who needed to sell the car was a housemate of the consul's brother, . . ."

Ah, Western wasta.

Regards,
John

[scot47]

"Western Wasta" at least the English version is known as 'The Old School Tie" Having been to Eton is a great help when dealing with those chappies at the Embassy.