These rackets manage to obtain access to visa numbers immediately after the labor office issues them and use them to quickly hire staff before the original owners start the hiring process.
A number of contractors have complained that they have lost hundreds of visas and are incurring huge financial losses in addition to delays in the implementation of several mega projects, according to a report in Al-Madinah newspaper.
After securing the original visa number, the racketeers change the name and particulars of the workers.
They are keen not to remove the name and signature of the judge from the visa document because it helps demonstrate its authenticity. One contractor, a victim of visa fraud, said the rackets managed to get access to the original visa number, which he alleges leaked from the labor office. Reacting to this, Qusay Filali, director general of the labor office in Jeddah, said his office has nothing to do with the scam.
“It is not possible for any agencies or individuals to get access to the files of any firms in the labor Office. This is possible only with the help of the holders of visas or their legal agents. The files can be opened only with code numbers given to the owners of the firms concerned,” he said.
According to Qusay, employees of affected firms could have orchestrated the leaking of information related to new visas.
He ruled out the possibility of the labor office of doing anything to prevent visa forgery. “This is the duty of the security agencies, especially criminal investigation officials. The job of the labor office ends with the issuance of visa to the owners of firms,” he said.
Ali Fadel, a Saudi contractor who has been a victim of the fraud, said a total of 160 visas for various professions had been issued for his firm by the labor Office.
“When we approached the Saudi Embassy in Pakistan to recruit workers there, we were shocked to know that the legal agent had already completed recruitment process and the workers were preparing to leave for the Kingdom,” he said.
“When I informed the embassy that none of the legal agents had been given the go-ahead to complete the recruitment procedures, they showed me copies of evidently forged visas from the legal agents.”
When he contacted the general services offices in Pakistan that were in charge of completing recruitment procedures, they did not help in revealing the identity of the fraudsters.
Fadel said he has been trying to get new visas after wasting more than six months to find out who scammed him. He said that this resulted in delaying the implementation of many projects within the stipulated contract period.
He urged the authorities to take stringent action against these rackets, which also sell visas on the black market. He added that these rackets use fake legal agents to complete recruitment procedures.
