The Ministries of Interior and Labour have called today on all sponsoring enterprises and individuals, as well as sponsored expatriates to quickly rectify violations of their related residence and work permits, taking advantage of new exemptions and facilities before the expiration of the grace period offered to them by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which falls on July 3, 2013. In a joint statement, the two ministries confirmed that the inspection campaign will resume soon after the deadline to enforce the labor and immigration laws. However, all expat violators of the labor and Iqama regulations who would like to correct their situations and stay for work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be exempted from all punishments and fines, except for government fees, related to their violations which took place before April 6. 2013. A violating expat who opts to leave for good during the grace period will be exempted from the Iqama charges, labor license, punishments and fines related to his/her violations on the previous period. However, he/she will be finger stamped, if it happened that he/she was not stamped before, taking in mind that such a measure will not bar him/her from coming back to Saudi Arabia for work, if he/she was properly recruited anew. Infiltrators who crossed the border illegally, will not be covered by today's exemptions, the statement said. More details are available on the immigration and labor websites.
