Indian expats in Saudi Arabia not affected by fees imposed on dependents: ambassador

Jubail [Saudi Arabia]: The Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia has not been affected by the family fees imposed on the dependents of expatriates. A huge number of the Indian expatriates came to the kingdom without their families; therefore, the new family fees imposed has minimal effect on them, reported the Arab News, citing the Indian Ambassador Ahmed Javed to Saudi Arabia as saying. Jubail and Jeddah” Jeddah have the largest proportion of the Indian workers in Saudi Arabia, amounting to a total of 3.2 million, Javed said. Underscoring the servile attitude of the Indian embassy towards the Indian expatriates in the area, Javed said a visa and a passport office has been opened in Jubail. According to the reports, Saudi Arabia introduced a monthly ‘dependant fee’ for expats from July 1 in a step to balance in the budget. The fee is 100 Saudi Riyals (approx. Rs 1,700) per month for each dependent. Moreover, this tax is set to go up by 100 riyals per dependant every year till 2020. It will increase to 200 Riyals after July 2018, and 300 Riyals and 400 Riyals in 2019 and 2020 respectively. ANI