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In a move to upgrade the Kingdom’s health sector, Saudi Arabia will be granting visas free of charge to foreign scientists and health specialists, stated media reports. Ahmed Al Aamiri, Secretary General of the Saudi Health Council praised the cabinet’s decision and added that the decision to allow free visas to foreign scientists was approved […]

The Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) suggested eight amendments to the expat levy policy to uplift the private sector, during a meeting of CSC heads with Ali Al-Ghafis, Minister of Labor and Social Development. Al-Ghafis granted permission to form a joint CSC and ministry committee to study the best policies to support the Kingdom’s private […]

About 12 million foreigners arrived in Saudi Arabia in 2017 for work, visit, pilgrimage, and business said Abdulrahman Al-Yousef, Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Director General of Visa Administration. Of the 12 million visas issued by the Saudi government, 1.5 million were tourist visas and 50,000 were business visas. Business visas are valid […]

The Ministry of Commerce and Investment assured on Thursday that Saudi women can start their own business without the permission of a male guardian. The legal procedures to set up a business will be the same for both Saudi men and women. Women will no longer face any additional formalities at the government agencies like […]

The domestic liquidity of Saudi banks has improved and hit a record high SR 457 billion by the end of 2017, despite restrained growth and challenging business conditions in Saudi Arabia, according to Sectoral Comment issued by Moody’s Investors Service on February 1. The domestic liquid assets of banks in Saudi Arabia saw a growth […]

The Ministry of Labor and Social Development (MLSD) once again reminded employers of domestic workers to issue prepaid salary cards for their workers as soon as they enter the Kingdom. The ministry also called on employers who already have domestic workers under their sponsorship in the Kingdom to issue salary cards within 6 months. With […]

The Ministry of Labor and Social Development (MLSD) updated Labor Law regulations to protect employee rights in the Kingdom. The decision, approved by Minister of Labor and Social Development, Ali Al-Ghafees, has been formulated in view of the current changes and developments in the labor market. According to the revised table, employers violating the Labor […]

The Ministry of Labor and Social Development (MLSD) has implemented the 13th phase of the Wage Protection System (WPS) on establishments whose workers range between 30 and 39 starting from 1st of February 2018. Under this phase, 14,000 establishments will have to upload wage files of 477,402 workers according to the ministry’s statistics. MLSD spokesman […]

The General Authority of Zakat and Tax (GAZT) urged Value Added Tax (VAT) registered establishments with more than SR40 million turnover annually to file their tax returns on a monthly basis, while those with an annual turnover equal to or less than SR40 million should file tax returns every three months. Enterprises whose supplies of […]

Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) has reduced the average time required to issue investment licenses from 53 hours to less than 4 hours. The recent initiatives undertaken by SAGIA to restructure the processes, reduce the number of documents required, and train and qualify cadres has contributed to this notable progress. The restructured processes include […]