JEDDAH – The Cooperative Health Insurance Council has reiterated that no residence permits will be issued or renewed for family members of expatriates working in the private sector unless all of them obtain health insurance. In a statement on Wednesday, the council's secretary-general, Abdullah Al-Shareef, said the health insurance coverage for all members of the family is a basic requirement for the issuance or renewal of their residence permits. The objective of the move was to provide health insurance coverage to all expatriates in the Kingdom, he said, adding that the number of insured expatriates has reached 10 million, distributed among 29 insurance companies. Al-Shareef said if the employer does not subscribe to health insurance or does not pay the installments for cooperative health insurance for his worker and his family, the employer will be forced to pay all outstanding installments, in addition to a fine for each individual. "Repeated failure to comply with the requirement might lead to depriving the employer of the right to recruiting workers temporarily or permanently," he said. Director of Information Technology Administration Ahmed Al-Dammas said the register of the family head will be blocked at the Passport Department until all the expatriate family members are covered by health insurance. The head of the family will be able to get residency permits of his family members issued or renewed only after obtaining insurance coverage for them, Al-Shareef said.
