Saudi Law Protects Expat's Rights. says official

Jeddah - 23 June 2011: Any expatriate worker involved in a legal battle with his employer or sponsor will not be deported from the Kingdom without receiving his rights, Lt. Col. Badr Al-Malik, spokesman of the Passport Department in Jeddah, said on Wednesday.

Al-Malik made this comment while talking about rumors that have spread about exit-only visas given to some expatriates at airports while leaving the Kingdom.

Other government officials also backed Al-Malik's statement and said no changes have been made to procedures followed by government departments as part of the Nitaqat system.

Meanwhile, lawyer Suleiman Al-Jomaie said the Kingdom's Labor Law protects the rights of expatriate workers.

"No expatriate worker will lose his rights if he had entered the Kingdom legally on a basis of a proper work contract," he said.

However, he pointed out that the new Nitaqat system included a clear violation of certain articles of the Labor Law.

"The system can be applied on future cases, especially on companies and institutions that intend to recruit foreign workers and cannot be imposed on an existing reality whose situation is different," Al-Jomaie said.

He said the new system could not be applied with retroactive force, as it contradicts Article 28 of the Law of Governance that insists the state enact systems to protect the employee and the employer.

He said the denial of the renewal of resident permit for a expatriate worker with a working contract violates his rights as it ends his work contract before its due date.

The transfer of workers from one employer to another without the permission of the former is also a violation of the rights of employers.

"This is an interference in the work contract and the articles of the Labor Law that prevents interference of any outside party in the contract," the lawyer said. Nobody has the right to nullify a legal contract without the permission of both sides, he added.

source: Arab News