The Saudization Plan of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been one of the top news lately. And it’s been making our current OFWs and those planning to work abroad worried.
There was a recent rumor that the passports of those vacationing in the Philippines were stamped with “Exit Only”. The Philippines’ DFA and Saudi officials have already denied this.
I hope people stop spreading rumors like this because negative news like this can also hurt us locally. We all know that our current economy relies heavily on the dollars earned by Filipinos abroad. Our real estate industry and our consumer industry relies so much on the OFWs. If these industries are hit people are going to lose jobs here.
So What is the Saudi Nationalization Plan and How will it affect our OFWs and those would be OFWs?
The Saudi Nationalization plan is a project by the Saudi Officials to urge their local companies to hire more Saudi Citizens.
This move was brought about by their increase in population as well as their local unemployment rate.
How does it work?
The plan is for Saudi companies to have 30% local citizens as employees. Which means they are still allowed to have 70% of their workforce to be expats or foreigners (Filipinos). What are the penalties for companies who do not comply?
Companies will be classified as Excellent, Green, Yellow, and Red.
1. The state will impose a six year cap on the residency visa of the expats if their company fails two comply. 2. Those who fall in the “Red” category will not be allowed to renew the working visa of their expat employees. 3. Those in “Excellent”, “Green”, and “Yellow” categories will be allowed to take away or pirate the expat workers of companies in the “Red” category even without the permission of the “Red” companies.
Saudi’s Local Workforce and How they will affect the OFWs
Currently 27 percent of Saudis under 30 are without work and 39 percent of Saudis between the age of 20-24 are without work.
That is why they really need this plan.
But their problem however is that expat from South and Southeast Asia demand lower salaries and are highly skilled compared to many of the local graduates.
That is why the state also has a move to improve their local education system.
Summary
To summarize:
1. They are still going to hire atleast 70% foreign workers in each of their private companies. 2. Their local people will still need to catch up with the more highly skilled foreign workers (including Filipinos). It will probably take them 5 to 10 years?
I hope this clears everything about the Saudization plan which is worrying a lot of people these days.
Reference: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093421544
