MADINAH, 11 December 2002 —The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is studying a proposal to conduct professional tests for foreign workers before issuing work visas to them, according to an official source at the ministry.
Visa will be issued to a foreign worker only after making sure that he is skilled and experienced in the trade he is recruited for, he added.
A special office will be operating in Saudi missions abroad to conduct the test, according to the recommendation.
Ali Al-Ghofais, governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training, earlier told Arab News that the ministry’ move aims at ending the indiscriminate labor recruitment from foreign countries and guaranteeing that the workers are fully qualified for the job for which they are chosen.
The source also said if the ministry’s proposal is accepted by the related departments and embassies the workers will be subjected to oral and practical tests before issuing visas to them.
The test papers will be evaluated by experts in a related university department or technical institute in the Kingdom. Visas will be issued only to those who qualify. The move also aims at reorganizing the foreign recruitment market, which has come under serious criticism from Kingdom’s economists and social scientists.
According to some studies 94 percent of the six million expatriate workers in the Kingdom do not fulfill the work specifications for the trades they are handling.
The ministry’s new move will foster competitive spirit among local job seekers leading to improvement of their efficiency, while the foreign workers will be compelled to acquire proper job training before coming to the Kingdom, Ghofais added.
