Expatriate Dependents Can Now Work in Saudi Arabia

Update: 30-Oct-2014 10:55 am
In a recent statement to Arab News, undersecretary for Labor policies at the Labor Ministry said

expatriate women teachers on dependent visa (house wife iqama) can work at private schools without transferring their sponsorship to the school, This decision has been taken to tackle shortage of female teachers at private schools. Instead of issuing new teacher’s visas and source them from abroad Ministry decided to take advantage of locally available skilled female teachers. This will require a formal approval from the MoE (Ministry of Education) for each individual candidate.


Expat Dependents Can Now Work without transferring their Sponsorship

Expatriate Dependents can now work in Saudi Arabia at private organizations or International Schools without transferring their sponsorship to their employers, Saudi Gazette newspaper has reported. This decision by Ministry of Labor will allow local community schools or private schools to hire wives or daughters of expatriate workers who are already living in Saudi Arabia but unable to work due to their iqama status, which previously not allow them to work.

This will reduce amount of foreign manpower required for local education system and help utilize existing manpower which is available here in the form of expatriate dependents.
Expatriate dependents which are previously living in Saudi Arabia but unable to take part in development of country can now easily join hands with locals and can utilize their education and talent to bring prosperity in education sector of Saudi Arabia.

I am emphasizing more on education because this sector lacks qualified staff and private schools are already taking benefit of expatriate dependents but in an illegal way (because govt does not allow dependents to work). However current move on MOL will bring a good change in local education system and it will make more and more qualified people available for hiring in schools and other organizations.

Dependents have to register with Ministry’s Ajeer Service which will be monitored by MoE (Ministry of Education)

Schools in Saudi Arabia were always having problems in recruitment of female teachers because their guardians aren’t ready for transferring their sponsorship to schools. Now under monitoring of MoE female teachers can easily work in schools without need to transfer sponsorship (iqama) to school and schools will be responsible for their medical insurance.

As per Saudi Labor Law, daily working hours cannot exceed 8 hours so the same will be effective for female teachers. Additionally female teachers are entitled to 21 days paid annual leave.

There are further benefits for pregnant working females. They can have a maximum of 10 weeks maternity leave. They have a right to get 1 hour break for breast-feeding their children. Furthermore employer cannot fire a female during maternity leave and the employer will be responsible for all medical expenses for the pregnant female teachers. These are some great benefits female teachers will get, Thanks to Saudi Arabian Govt.

If you are not familiar with how to get your family in Saudi Arabia, read this post.

GETTING FAMILY VISA IN SAUDI ARABIA