RIYADH — The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) will launch the first phase of the Skill Verification Program (SVP) in India at the end of this month, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The pilot phase of the external track of the program will be launched in India's capital city of New Delhi, and Mumbai, the largest city and commercial capital of the country. Five professions, such as plumber, electrician, welder, refrigeration/air conditioning technician, and automobile electrician, are selected for the skill testing in the first phase. Under the program, written and practical tests of skilled workers will be carried out for the Indian workers before they could apply for a Saudi work visa. The SVP comes as a continuation of the efforts of the MHRSD to improve the professional competence of the skilled workers in the Saudi employment market, as well as to enhance their productivity, improve the quality of professional services they provide, in addition to bring down the inflow of unqualified workers into the Saudi labor market. The ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), launched the SVP in March 2021 to ensure the competence of skilled workers in the Saudi labor market. The program aims to verify that all skilled workers in the Kingdom have the required skills to carry out effectively the profession for which they were recruited, and will include practical and theoretical examinations in the workers' specialized fields. The ministry has targeted 23 specializations in an effort to contribute to developing the skills of the workforce according to international standards to meet the needs of the local labor market. In September 2022, the ministry launched the first phase of SVP for five professions in Pakistan. Under the program, a dozen examination centers were established to conduct written and practical tests of skilled workers in Pakistan before they could apply for a Saudi work visa. The examination centers were established in collaboration between Takamol of MHRSD and Pakistan's National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTCC) in eight cities to conduct the tests. The first track of SVP aims to examine the skills of professional workers currently in the Kingdom and that is in cooperation with local examination centers, while the second track aims to examine professional labor before their arrival, and that is in cooperation with a number of accredited international examination centers.
