Call for crackdown on illegal workers in Saudi

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Saudi contractors are increasingly hiring extra workers illegally, in a bid to avoid being fined for missing construction deadlines, it was reported on Tuesday.

Around $80bn worth of projects are currently under way this month in the kingdom, according to Business Monitor International’s Key Project Database, and this has put pressure on contractors to meet deadlines.

As a result, contractors have begun hiring extra workers illegally in order to avoid fines as a result of delays, according to a report in Saudi daily newspaper, Arab News.

The illegally hired workers are paid around SR200 ($53.33) a day for six hours of work, which is four times the normal daily salary of legally hired workers, the report added.

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“This is what many citizens feel is causing the rise in the number of workers fleeing from their sponsors, in turn creating a new type of ‘construction workers mafia’ that has to be stopped,” Saudi businessman Saleh Badulan told Arab News.

Any company found to have hired workers illegally are fined up to SR10,000 ($2,666.55) per worker.

The business community in Saudi has called on the new Minister of Labour Adel Fakieh to implement stricter controls and punishments on companies that hire construction workers illegally.

Saudi law consultant Waleed Sheera has also called on the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to introduce stricter laws relating to the transfer of wages to foreign workers in order to highlight any anomalies in payments which may indicate a labourer is working illegally.

The most recent Saudi census showed that there are currently 8.4 million foreign workers in the kingdom.

Earlier this month, the Embassy of India in Riyadh told Arabian Business that around 30,000 Indians are deported from Saudi Arabia each year for working without proper visa and permit documentation.

“The deportation of such expatriates from Saudi Arabia is an ongoing process and number of Indians nationals in deportation centres varies from day to day. In a year about 30,000 Indians are sent back to India,” RN Vats, second secretary at the Embassy of India in Riyadh, said in an emailed statement.

“From time to time, some Indian nationals are caught by the Saudi authorities for violation of local rules and regulations, non-possession of valid visas/residence permits etc, as part of the normal law enforcement process. They are lodged in deportation centres till completion of enquiries and issue of travel documents in required cases.

“The Embassy of India in Riyadh and the Consulate General of India in Jeddah have been visiting deportation centres regularly to issue emergency certificates. The individuals concerned are thereafter deported by the Saudi authorities,” Vats added.