Engineering and medical professions, which require special licenses, are excluded from the new provision, Al-Madinah daily reported on Wednesday quoting an official source at the ministry.

He said foreigners might amend their professions to any profession with the exception of director of labor and laborers, personnel manager, personnel specialist, personnel clerk, employment official, HR clerk, timekeeper, receptionist at hotels and hospitals, complaint writer, cashier, special security guard, pursuer, and HR senior official.

The ministry set Feb. 28 as the deadline for amending the profession. It warned private companies and establishments that if they were caught giving incorrect data about their foreign manpower, the ministry would suspend their operating licenses for five years and prevent them from foreign recruitment in future.

According to the general department of statistics and census, there were 8.4 million foreigners in Saudi Arabia in 2010 representing about 31 percent of the population. It said 5.9 million of them were male, while 2.5 million were female.

Labor Minister Adel Fakeih said six million of the foreigners were employed by the private sector.