5-year iqama plan excites expatriates B • JED¬DAH: P.K. AB¬DUL GHAFOUR & IBRAHIM NAF¬FEE • Article tools For¬eign in¬vestors and guest work¬ers have wel¬comed the gov¬ern¬ment’s re¬ported plan to is¬sue res¬i¬dent per¬mits (iqa¬mas) for five years in¬stead of one. They said the move would boost the King¬dom’s eco¬nomic progress. “This is a great step on the part of the gov¬ern¬ment and will have a tremen¬dous im-pact on busi¬nesses,” said Sid¬deek Ahmed, CMD of Eram Group while re¬spond¬ing to the Pass¬port Depart¬ment’s plan to im¬ple¬ment a pro¬posal to ex¬tend the iqama va¬lid¬ity from one to five years. “This is a great step on the part of the gov¬ern¬ment and will have a tremen¬dous im-pact on busi¬nesses,” said Sid¬deek Ahmed, CMD of Eram Group while re¬spond¬ing to the Pass¬port Depart¬ment’s plan to im¬ple¬ment a pro¬posal to ex¬tend the iqama va¬lid¬ity from one to five years. Maj. Gen. Su¬laiman Al-Yahya, di¬rec¬tor gen¬eral of the Pass¬port Depart¬ment, said there is a plan to change the name of iqama to res¬i¬dent ID and ex¬tend its va¬lid¬ity up to five years. Speak¬ing to re¬porters in Riyadh on Sun¬day, he em¬pha¬sized that the pro¬posal would be im¬ple¬mented shortly. Speak¬ing to re¬porters in Riyadh on Sun¬day, he em¬pha¬sized that the pro¬posal would be im¬ple¬mented shortly. He said the de¬part¬ment was also study¬ing a pro¬posal to ex¬tend the va¬lid¬ity of Saudi pass¬port to 10 years. He said the de¬part¬ment was also study¬ing a pro¬posal to ex¬tend the va¬lid¬ity of Saudi pass¬port to 10 years. Arab News con¬tacted Col. Mo¬hammed Al-Hus¬sain, spokesman of the de¬part¬ment in the Makkah re¬gion, to know when the five-year iqama would be im¬ple¬mented, but he said he did not have any more de¬tails. How¬ever, in¬formed sources said the pro¬posal would be im¬ple¬mented soon af¬ter its en¬dorse¬ment by In¬te¬rior Min¬is¬ter Prince Mo¬hammed bin Naif. Al-Yahya’s state¬ment was widely ap¬plauded. “The ex¬ten¬sion of iqama to five years will pro¬vide job se¬cu¬rity to ex¬pa¬tri¬ates. It will also help con¬tract¬ing com¬pa¬nies to com-plete their projects on time,” said Sid¬deek Ahmed. He said the move would en¬cour¬age for¬eign com¬pa¬nies to in¬vest in the King¬dom and trans¬fer their tech¬nol¬ogy with¬out any fear as it guar¬an¬tees the avail¬abil¬ity of qual¬i-fied and skilled for¬eign work¬ers for five years. He said the move would en¬cour¬age for¬eign com¬pa¬nies to in¬vest in the King¬dom and trans¬fer their tech¬nol¬ogy with¬out any fear as it guar¬an¬tees the avail¬abil¬ity of qual¬i-fied and skilled for¬eign work¬ers for five years. “I am very happy,” said Mo¬hammed Ali, man¬ag¬ing di¬rec¬tor of Jed¬dah Na¬tional Hospi¬tal. “This is good not only for ex¬pats but also for the King¬dom,” he said, adding that it would en¬cour¬age ex¬pe¬ri¬enced guest work¬ers to stay in the King¬dom in¬stead of go¬ing to Europe, Amer¬ica and Aus¬tralia in search of bet¬ter job op¬por¬tu¬ni¬ties. He said the five-year iqama pro¬gram would help ex¬pats to make long-term plans. “One-year iqama was cre¬at¬ing un¬cer¬tainty. Doc¬tors and paramedics were un¬will¬ing to come to the King¬dom,” he said. He said the five-year iqama pro¬gram would help ex¬pats to make long-term plans. “One-year iqama was cre¬at¬ing un¬cer¬tainty. Doc¬tors and paramedics were un¬will¬ing to come to the King¬dom,” he said. Salah Karadan, for¬mer chair¬man of In¬ter¬na¬tional In¬dian School Jed¬dah’s man¬ag-ing com¬mit¬tee, said the move would help ex¬pat chil¬dren to stay long abroad for higher ed¬u¬ca¬tion. “In the past, many par¬ents had to can¬cel chil¬dren’s iqa¬mas as the lat¬ter could not come to the King¬dom for re¬new¬ing iqa¬mas be¬cause of ex¬ams and other rea¬sons,” he pointed out. “The new move will mo¬ti¬vate ex¬pats and in¬crease their pro¬duc¬tiv¬ity.”
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 18:34:48 +0000
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