*RIYADH – **In a setback, Saudi Arabia sets new conditions for overseasworkers including Pakistan, Media Report has revealed.*
*The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would now conduct test of its foreign manpowerbefore granting them the visa, as the country is set to introduce a newskilled foreign manpower program.*
As per *Saudi Gazette*, Naif Al-Omair, head of the KSA ministry’svocational examination program, said that the ministry would organize fivestages for vocational tests, the first planned next month. He saidvocational theoretical and practical examinations would cover workers fromseven countries i.e. India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Egypt,Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“These countries export about 95 percent of the workers to the Kingdom,” hesaid.
Under the new policy that is set to be implemented next month, visas wouldbe issued only after skill tests and the previous system would be graduallyphased out. Omair said the workers who pass the tests will be given afive-year certificates, adding that the program allows for testing theworkers at their homes before they arrive in the Kingdom.
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He said workers from India will be examined first in December while thosefrom the Philippines will sit for the tests in May 2020 and workers fromSri Lanka and Indonesia in July 2020 and those from Egypt, Bangladesh andPakistan in December 2021.
Millions of Pakistani expats work in Saudi Arabia, and are a source of muchneeded remittance, worth billions of dollars.
