Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Starting Jan. 21, expatriates who do not have medical insurance for their dependents will not have their iqamas (residence permits) renewed, local Arabic daily Al-Riyadh reported on Tuesday quoting the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat). The move by Jawazat was in response to a request by the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) which made it mandatory for all expatriates to have medical insurance for themselves and their dependents. “No iqama for the expatriate or his family members will be issued or renewed without medical insurance,” Director of the Jawazat IT department Col. Khaled Al-Saikhan said. He said the CCHI will send data about the medical insurance of expatriates and their families automatically to the central computer of the Ministry of Interior. In an earlier statement CCHI Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Shareef said if the employer does not pay the installments for cooperative health insurance for his worker and his family, he will be forced to pay all outstanding installments, in addition to a fine for each individual. However, experts believe that the decision to grant health insurance cover to all the members of the families of expatriates could lead to companies forcing workers to pay the premiums. There are some 10 million insured expatriates distributed among 29 insurance companies. Saudi Arabia made health insurance mandatory for expatriates in 2005. The GCC healthcare market is forecast to jump to $69.4 billion by 2018 from about $39.4 billion in 2013, according to Alpen Capital, an investment bank. While Saudi Arabia is expected to remain the largest market in the GCC, Qatar and UAE are forecast to be the fastest growing healthcare markets.
