Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia (), began migrating to the country soon after crude oil was discovered in the late 1930s. Initially, the main influx was composed of Arab and Western technical, professional and administrative personnel, but subsequently substantial numbers came from South and Southeast Asia.
Saudi Arabia has become increasingly dependent on foreign labour, and although foreign workers remain present in technical positions, most are now employed in the agriculture, cleaning and domestic service industries. The hierarchy of foreign workers is often dependent on their country of origin; workers from Arab nations and western nations generally hold the highest positions not held by Saudis, and the lower positions are occupied by persons from Africa, and Southeast Asia. The Saudi government has faced criticism from legal bodies and employers over the treatment of foreign workers. Saudi Arabia deported thousands of Tigrayan migrants to Ethiopia after holding them unlawfully for six months to six years in formal and informal detention facilities across the kingdom. The Tigrayan migrants were brutally tortured while being unjustly held in Saudi prisons.
Background and history
Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest and most undeveloped countries in the world when oil was discovered in the late 1930s. The country therefore needed foreign expertise and labour to exploit its vast oil reserves. As a result, in the years after World War II there was a growth in the numbers of foreign technical, professional and administrative personnel, mainly from other Middle Eastern countries but also supplied by Western oil companies, many of whom worked for ARAMCO (Arabian-American Oil Company). A much greater increase in the numbers of foreign workers came with the oil-price boom following the 1973 oil crisis. Infrastructure and development plans led to an influx of skilled and unskilled workers, principally Palestinians, Egyptians, Yemenis and others from Arab countries, but also Indians and Pakistanis, leading to a doubling of the Saudi population by 1985. Beginning in the early 1980s, South and East Asian countries, such as Thailand, Philippines, and South Korea, increasingly provided migrant workers.
From 1985, the declining oil price led to a decreased demand for foreign labour, resulting in a substantial drop in migration from Asia. However, at the same time, there was a significant increase of female "guest workers" from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines and Indonesia who filled roles in the services sector – particularly in hotels and as domestic servants. The Gulf War of 1991 sparked a series of expulsions of guest workers suspected of disloyalty, including the removal of 800,000 Yemenis. The numbers of foreign workers reached a plateau in the 1990s, but from the end of the decade the inflow of migrants resumed its increase. According to official figures in 2012, foreign workers filled 66 per cent of jobs in Saudi Arabia, despite an official unemployment rate of 12 per cent amongst Saudis, and expatriates sent, on average, US$18 billion each year, in remittances to their home countries.
Although the country's reliance on foreign workers has been a concern to the Saudi government since the mid-1950s, the situation has persisted because of a reluctance by Saudis to take on menial work and a shortage of Saudi candidates for skilled jobs. This has, in part, been blamed on the Saudi education system, which has been criticized for its emphasis on religion and rote learning. The Saudi economy has, therefore, remained dependent on Westerners for expertise in specialised industries and on the Asian workforce for the construction industry as well as for menial and unskilled tasks. In response, since 1995 the Saudi government has initiated a policy of Saudization, replacing foreign workers with Saudi nationals. For example, in 2000, it was decreed that the work force of businesses with more than 20 employees must be at least 25% Saudi. In the private sector, there has been a reluctance to employ Saudis and Saudization is generally considered to have been a failure. Saudis themselves may be unwilling to take certain jobs, considering them to lack social value.
The Saudi government only recognises contracts for foreign workers written in Arabic. Where bilingual contracts are available, the Arabic language one is authoritative. The contracts, which must contain the terms of employment, are held in duplicate, one for the sponsor and one for the worker. Wages for foreign workers vary, depending on the position, although in general Saudis holding similar positions earn more.
There is currently no personal income tax in Saudi Arabia for either Saudi or foreign workers. Saudi workers and their employers must contribute to the social insurance system (which provides old age and disability benefits for citizens) but foreigners may not pay into or use this system, except for those from Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Composition and numbers
The 2010 edition of the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook estimated that non-nationals represented 5,576,076 out of a population of 25,731,776 in Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia . The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. However, official 2010 census figures stated that there were 8,429,401 expatriates out of a total population of 27,136,977 or roughly 31 per cent of the total. According to the United Nations (mid-year 2015, counted numbers — not estimates, including refugees) there were 10,185,945 foreign-origin migrants in Saudi Arabia.
Country Population in KSA(source: UN DESA, 2015) Other numbers Afghanistan 364,304 132,280 (2022) Bangladesh 967,223 2,600,000 (2022) Egypt 728,608 2,900,000 (2018) Ethiopia 124,347 750,000 (2023) India 1,894,380 4,100,000 (2017) Indonesia 1,294,035 1,500,000 (2022) Iraq 4,601 6,450 (2022) Jordan 182,152 204,205 (2022) Lebanon 116,577 52,780 (2022) Myanmar 202,720 163,720 (2022) Nepal 381,102 297,560 (2022) Pakistan 1,123,260 2,640,000 (2023) United Kingdom 17,870 (2022) Palestine 250,000 (2007) Philippines 488,167 938,490 (2014) Sri Lanka 400,734 84,790 (2022) Sudan 364,304 819,580 (2022) Syria 623,247 449,310 (2022) Yemen 582,886 1,803,470 (2022) Westerners Total 10,185,945
The results of the 2004 census indicates that only about 15 per cent of foreign workers are in the skilled category, with the remainder mostly working in agriculture, cleaning and domestic service. Country of origin has been an important factor in determining foreign workers' occupational roles in Saudi Arabia. Saudi businesses have traditionally adopted an ethnically defined hierarchical organisation. For example, a 2007 academic study of a Danish manufacturing company's Saudi subsidiary noted that a manager had to be European, a supervisor had to be Egyptian, Filipino employees often had technical roles, and south Asians, the lowest in the hierarchy, worked in production, while Indians, being an exceptional occupying both top positions and menial positions. Foreign workers' presence in Saudi Arabia tends to be transitory: only 3% remain in the country for more than six years.
Skilled workers Some foreigners often live in compounds or gated communities, such as the Saudi Aramco compound at Dhahran Camp. However, many Westerners left the country in 2003 and 2004 following the terrorist attacks in Riyadh, Khobar and Yanbu. A significant number of U.S. workers are English teachers.
Additionally Egyptians have long migrated to Saudi Arabia to take up professional jobs such as doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers, as have Filipinos to work in the health, oil and manufacturing sectors.
Their presence however, has been criticized by Saudi citizens who complained that under-qualified Westerners occupied critical departments in major projects. The online abuse led to a crackdown by the General Authority of Media Regulation, summoning dozens of people due to "misleading content". Alqst, a UK-based human rights group, said that users were forced to delete their posts and warned not to repeat their actions. The group condemned the practice as an "escalating crackdown on freedom of expression in the country."
Domestic workers According to The Guardian, there were more than half a million foreign-born domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. Most have backgrounds in poverty and come from Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. To go to work in Saudi Arabia, they must often pay large sums to recruitment agencies in their home countries. The agencies then handle the necessary legal paperwork. Some falsify their dates of birth, allowing them easier access to the country.
Premium Residency
In 2019, Saudi Arabia has introduced a new scheme known as the Premium Residency (informally Saudi Green Card) which grants expats the right to live, work and own business and property in the Kingdom without need for a sponsor. The unlimited duration premium residency is granted for $213,000 while the limited residency costs $26,660 per year.
Restrictions
The kafala system, present in a number of other Arab countries, governs the conditions and processes for employment of foreigners. Under this system, all non-Saudis present in the country for employment purposes must have a sponsor, which is usually arranged months in advance. Unlike countries which recognize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which declares in part "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own") Saudi Arabia requires foreign workers to have their sponsor's permission to enter and leave the country, and denies exit to those with work disputes pending in court. Sponsors generally confiscate passports while workers are in the country; sometimes employers also hold passports of workers' family members. Workers from other Persian Gulf countries do not need a visa to enter and live in Saudi Arabia, except for Qatar. (See Qatar diplomatic crisis).
Foreign workers must be free of infectious disease, including HIV and tuberculosis. Infectious disease tests are conducted when the worker applies for their visa in their home country, and then must be conducted again once in Saudi Arabia to obtain the long-term iqama residency card.
In April 2016, the Saudi government published its Vision 2030, which proposed an extension of foreigners' ability to own real estate, and a new system for issuing permits:
In 2019, a specialized Premium Residency program was put in place to facilitate these goals (see above).
Trade unions, strikes, and collective bargaining are banned for both Saudi citizens and foreigners alike. Political parties are also banned. Criminal prosecution of foreigners relies upon the country's Basic Law which recognizes sharia (Islamic law) and the Quran as the ultimate legal authorities.
Abuse and scandals
Many domestic servants in Saudi Arabia are treated adequately, but there have been numerous cases of abuse. Foreign workers have been raped, exploited, under- or unpaid, physically abused, overworked and locked in their places of employment. The international organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) describes these conditions as "near-slavery" and attributes them to "deeply rooted gender, religious, and racial discrimination". In many cases the workers are unwilling to report their employers for fear of losing their jobs or further abuse. Other forms of general discrimination, such as a lack of freedom of religion for non-Sunni Muslims, are also applicable.
Some American English teachers have complained they were not informed of a 90-day probation period.