Saudi Gazette report MADINAH – Saudi Post is soon to launch home delivery of residency permits (Iqamas) for expatriates. “We are in the final phase of preparations to sign an agreement with the Directorate General of Passports in this regard,” said Dr. Muhammad Bentin, Chairman of Saudi Post. He said this is part of a number of services that Saudi Post intends to introduce for the benefit of citizens and expatriates in the near future, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Monday. His remarks came in the wake of the Labor Ministry's decision to link most of its services to companies with their postal service activation. The ministry warned recently that companies that fail to join or activate the national address service with Saudi Post will be banned from recruitment, beginning from Dhul Qada 1 (Sept. 7). It urged all companies to speed up their efforts to receive the service before the deadline to benefit from its various advantages. The ministry has also made it mandatory for companies to register with Saudi Post by Jan. 3, 2014. This rule is being included in the Nitaqat program for firms to Saudize jobs. Minister of Labor Adel Fakieh said earlier that ensuring companies' addresses are up-to-date would help inspectors visit companies efficiently. Bentin said that the national address service will contribute significantly to put an end to cover-up (tasattur) businesses. “This would also help to know the addresses of genuine firms and companies and identify the bogus ones. It also enables to understand the quantity of goods delivered to each commercial firm,” he said. Bentin said that Saudi Post has readied the national address system some time ago, and under this system citizens and expatriates have to furnish an address of their place of residence. “We have also signed an agreement with the Ministry of Labor to ensure that each commercial establishment must require an address at the area where from it operates. This decision was taken to serve the interests of both the ministry and the trader so as to know precisely about the agencies with which they are making transactions,” he said adding that Saudi Post has completed the national address service for all places across the Kingdom. According to Bentin, there will be several ways to know about the national address, and these ways included smart phones, Saudi Post's website, Saudi Post offices or Google maps. He said that Saudi Post is well prepared to accept subscriptions of individuals, establishments and companies. Bentin also attended the inaugural ceremony of the Third Arab Exhibition for Postal Stamps in Madinah Sunday evening. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohamed Jamil Mulla opened the exhibition in which delegates from 13 countries are participating. The event was organized as part of the year-long activities on the occasion of Madinah being chosen as the Islamic Culture Capital for the Arab region for 2013.
