RIYADH, April 30: The new Saudi minister for labour has announced that the number of new employment visas to be issued by the kingdom would be reduced by at least 10 per cent over that in previous years.

Despite the ongoing campaign for nationalization of jobs in Saudi Arabia, commonly known as Saudiisation, the government issued 600,000 job visas last year and 120,000 more were issued in the first two months of the current year, Labour Minister Dr Ghazi Al Gosaibi gave these figure while addressing a meeting of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

It is difficult to give a country-wise break down of the number of visas issued, but because of the ongoing scheme to rationalize the number of visas issued to each country, countries like Pakistan which already have a sizable presence in the local labour market, may have received less number of new visas.

Dr Gosaibi added that if the issuing of visa continued at the rate, "we would issue 750,000 new employment visas this year, a figure that I shall never accept as long as I am responsible." He also vowed to crack down on visa trade, commonly known as free visas. The minister added that 70 per cent of the visas issued by the authorities are sold in the thriving visa black market.

According to media reports, in order to curb the phenomenon of free visas, the labour minister has also issued instructions to stop the transfer of the sponsorship of unskilled expatriate workers from one sponsor to the other.

These new regulations also stipulate that the labour offices in the kingdom would no more accept any visa application for new expatriate workers from companies employing less than 10 workers.

These small companies are often regarded as responsible for trading in visas. From now on, the government would allow transfers of expatriate employee from one sponsor to the other only if he was technically and academically qualified.