Jeddah: The Saudi Ministry of Manpower and Social Development has announced that the facility to change sponsorship without paying Iqama (Residence Line) Levy (Work Permit Fee) dues has been made available to all foreigners employed in the country. Workers who have not renewed their iqama can manually enter the ‘Khiva’ portal of the Ministry of Labor and transfer to the name of the new employer. Earlier this facility was only available to workers under personal sponsorship. With the new notification, the law has been made applicable to all sponsorships by private institutions. Under the new provision, the current employers will be forced to renew the Iqama of the workers.
Otherwise workers are already allowed to change sponsorship on their own. In this way, once the worker’s sponsorship changes, the entire levy due on that worker will have to be paid by the old sponsor. The new employer has to pay only the levy and other fees since the change of sponsorship. In order to change sponsorship, the new employer must send an application stating that the worker is needed. With this, the worker can enter the Khiva portal of the Ministry of Labor and change the sponsorship. In the Khiva portal, the workers have to choose the option of transferring the levy and iqama fee unpaid by the old employer to his account and transfer to the new employer.
The new announcement of the ministry is in the second phase of the amendment of the labor transfer system. The reform is part of easing the labor transfer procedures between firms to create an attractive labor market. The new announcement will bring relief to thousands of expatriates. Many workers are waiting without renewing their iqama and unable to go home on re-entry due to non-payment of their iqama levy dues by their current employer. Such persons can find a new sponsor and get the documents legalized by changing the iqama on their own.