The names of the people, who were found guilty of selling visas to others in an illegal bid to hire foreign workers instead of citizens, were not made public.

“Foreign workers should come to the Kingdom only to work in jobs for which they were recruited,” said Abdullah Al-Muhammad, a legal consultant.

Al-Muhammad said visa traders are usually influential and powerful people who can earn considerable profits off the work-visa racket.

A Saudi obtains permission to bring in workers, often by using a shell company or exaggerating the foreign labor needs of a real company, and then he sells the visas to others who do not have permission to bring in foreign workers. The illegal transaction can earn profits of as much as SR9,000 per visa.

Al-Muhammad described the punishment of a five-year ban in labor recruitment as insufficient.

Some businessmen, who also talked to Arab News about the issue, called for reorganizing the labor market so as to create a balance between demand and supply.

Chairman of the Recruitment Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Yahya Hassan Al-Maqbool told Arab News that the Labor Ministry was putting the final touches on new rules and regulations that would give licenses for the establishment of recruiting companies that will import labor and hire their services to other needy companies and individuals.

Fakieh recently warned that he would be taking a harder stance against those who work against the Kingdom's Saudization efforts to replace foreign workers with citizens.