Description of Visa

Visa means “document that has been seen”, it is an official document or stamp granted by government that shows the individual is allowed to enter a specific country, for a specific length of time, to do a specific thing such as study or work.

A work permit/work visa is permission to take a job in a foreign country. It may also be a permit given to minors allowing them to work legally under child labor laws.

Brief Outline and Background of Word Visa Validity

Up-till the year 2017, the validity of Saudi expats work visa was two years, however, subsequent to that, the Ministry decided to restrict the validity of the visa up to one year only.

The said decision was taken to minimize the schemes for private sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when it comes to renewing or issuing new work permit for Saudi expats. Read: Expat work visa validity reduced to one year

THE MINISTRY HAS RECENTLY TAKEN BACK ITS EARLIER DECISION AND NOW ONWARD THE PRIVATE SECTORS CAN ISSUE A 2 YEAR WORK VISA FOR SAUDI EXPATRIATES FRESHLY.

It’s worth noting that the extension of the time limit also covers old visas as well, below mentioned are some brief details about the Saudi expat work visa validity:

It is worth remembering as well that there was a freedom allowed to domestic workers and Saudi expats foreigners working in the Government departments and they continued to receive two-year visas in 2017 as well.

The initiative of increasing the Saudi expat work visa validity back to 2 years was taken in the context of addressing the practical issues being faced by the private sector where the Saudi expat labor and other support staff requirements are quite high to complete the acquired projects and tasks. Read: Saudization in 3 key sectors starting from November 2018

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Source: Saudi Gazette