The Ministry of Labor has asked its employees to process paperwork related to legalization procedures without delay.

“Visitors should be treated kindly and served without delay,” said Ziyad Al-Sayegh, undersecretary for customer service and worker relations at the Ministry of Labor.

The ministry’s directive to its employees comes as expatriates race to meet a Nov. 3 deadline to legalize their status.

Al-Sayegh said that Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih is personally monitoring the progress of the rectification process across the ministry's branch offices.

“The minister is mindful of complaints filed from people visiting the ministry’s offices to get their papers processed,” he said.

Numerous complaints have been made against labor offices in some provinces regarding delays and bottlenecks that hamper procedures.

In one instance, it was reported that visitors in Najran were blocked from entering a labor office during working hours. According to the report, the guard told visitors that they could not enter the labor office because employees were away attending a training program.

The incident was brought to the minister’s notice and an investigation was ordered into the matter.

The minister also instructed officials in the Najran office to serve visitors promptly and to avoid engaging in activities that infringe on office hours.

Al-Sayegh said several steps would be taken to improve the performance level of officials across labor offices in the country so that paperwork was processed without delay.

The employees would also be trained on new systems that would speed up their work to serve the interests of both the ministry and the public.

“It is within the rights of residents to complain if papers are not processed within a normal time frame,” he said.