Saudi To Extend Expat Residency And Work Permits

In order to mitigate the negative economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Saudi Arabia is extending expats’ visas including work and residency permits.

The move is aimed at the high number of working expatriates who found themselves stranded outside the kingdom when the lockdown was announced and all international flights were grounded. The Saudi government hopes the move will mitigate the chaos being caused to residents, private and public companies, investors and the Kingdom’s economic activity by the pandemic.

According to the chairman of the Kingdom’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the renewal of expat residency permits should be seen as the government’s support of the private sector in its position as an important creator of wealth in the region. Even so, Saudi’s commitment to lowering its numbers of expat professionals along with its other Gulf State neighbours has seen over a million expats relocating to their home countries since the beginning of this year. An earlier forecast had predicted around 1.2 million non-Saudi workers were expected to leave by the end of the year, it would now seem an even higher number will be reached by the end of December.

At the same time, the UAE has now launched its investor-aimed permanent residency programme, open to those wishing to invest in the engineering, science and medicine sectors. The visas, now known as ‘Golden Cards’, will be granted to those who’ve contributed total investments of over $27 billion US dollars. According to the UAE PM, those in receipt of the visas will have impacted positively to the emirate’s success, those who have exceptional talent and individuals who can lay claim to being distinguished in their field of expertise.