Saudi Arabia opens doors: expatriates on dependent visas now eligible to work in the education and health sector

Saudi Arabia opens doors: expatriates on dependent visas now eligible to work in the education and health sector

Written by Iasmina Stoian

Introduction

Saudi Arabia has reached a milestone in its ongoing economic and social development plan. A new policy has been adopted allowing expatriates on dependent visas to work in the education and health sectors under specific conditions. In the past, during the Saudi Nationalization Program that emerged in 1985, also known as the Nitaqat program, the expatriates were largely restricted from the labour market, as employment for nationals was prioritized. Moreover, in 2017, it was imposed an Expat Dependent fee, requiring expatriated employed in the country to pay a supplementary tax for their dependents or companions. Thus, the life of expats was heavily impacted by this new change of policies.

Moreover, in Saudi Vision 2030, another governmental program launched in 2016, which will be further explained below, this new policy reflects a strategic move towards addressing the labour shortages, improving the quality of education in the country, and helping the better integration of expatriates in Saudi society and culture.

This new policy not only helps the labour shortages and fill the empty vacancies but also helps create a more inclusive and competitive labour market, especially in critical sectors, one example being the education sector, thus aligning perfectly with the targets enshrined in the Saudi Vision 2030.

Labour regulations, Saudization and Saudi Vision 2030

In the past, Saudi Arabia had strict regulations concerning expatriates living on their spouse’s visa and their dependents. Traditionally, they were not permitted to work in the country, as under the Saudization program, also known as Nitaqat, the focus was on giving the chance on job opportunities to Saudi nationals. This program was trying to reduce the dependency on foreign labour by incentivizing the employment of Saudi nationals in different sectors, firstly in private sectors, and later to others. Thus, in 2011 the Ministry of Labor introduced a resolution requiring all private companies in Saudi Arabia to meet specific quotas for employing Saudi nationals, with a compliance deadline set for 2013. However, by 2014, a significant number of expatriates had left the country, and over 200,000 private firms were shut down for failing to adhere to the Saudization or Nitaqat regulations. At the moment, two-thirds of country’s population comprises of Saudi nationals, while one-third comprises of expatriates (Javed 2024).

On the other hand, in 2016 Vision 2030 was launched, a plan that aimed at the diversification of Saudi Arabia economically, socially and culturally, and reduction of its dependency on oil. This project also aimed to address the labour shortage issue, through attracting more internationals to fill those vacancies. This newly adopted policy that allows expatriate dependents to work in the education and health systems is therefore a reflection of this ambitious vision.

Policy details – eligibility, application process and specific requirements

The new policy allowing expatriate dependents to work in country-specific sectors has strict eligibility criteria and steps that need to be followed for a successful application. To be eligible, dependents must fulfil certain age and qualification requirements, depending on the field, and must also possess a valid residency permit or visa. For example, expatriates over 18 years old who have a valid visa and are either a spouse, a relative of the spouse, or a legal guardian can start an application. The required educational accreditations depend on the position that is filled, and can be, for example, positions for teachers or administrative positions. Those professional accreditations must also be recognized by the Saudi authorities.

Applications for obtaining a work permit are processed through Ajeer, an electronic system for controlling temporary employment for expatriates. To this end, employers are allowed to issue work permits through the Ajeer platform provided that all legal requirements are fulfilled and the nature of employment falls within the goals of the Saudization program. This process further ensures that the dependent does not occupy jobs that need to be reserved for Saudi nationals, for which the regulations of Nitaqat will be applied.

As already mentioned, some posts in the education sector require that employees, depending on the post they would fill, should pass certain qualification examinations or become members of related professional bodies. These measures will ensure that expatriate dependents entering into the workforce are indeed qualified to contribute positively to the sector and maintain the standards expected in Saudi Arabian educational institutions. It is a very considered balance of inclusion and regulation, reflective of the broader efforts of the Kingdom to modernize its workforce while still prioritizing opportunities for its citizens.

Impacts on the education sector

This new policy has a significant impact on the country’s educational landscape. By addressing labour shortages, this policy aims to alleviate the strain on these crucial sectors, which have long struggled with staffing gaps. The influx of skilled expatriate teachers can enhance the quality of education by bringing diverse perspectives and expertise, enriching the learning environment for students.

However, cultural integration can impose a challenge. Cultural integration remains a concern, as expatriates must navigate and adapt to Saudi cultural norms while delivering education. Additionally, there may be competition with local workers, potentially leading to tensions over job opportunities and resources. The balance between leveraging the benefits of a diverse workforce and ensuring fair opportunities for Saudi nationals will be crucial. Effective management of these dynamics will be essential to maximize the positive impact on the education sector while addressing any potential issues that arise from this policy shift.

Impacts on the social and economic sectors

Apart from the educational landscape, there is also the broader economic and social consequence of granting expatriates who enter on a dependent visa the green light for working in the education and health sectors. This extends to enabling the larger family income of expatriate families by increasing the core budget they have at home, which then increases consumer spending and continues to help jolt the local economy forward.

Additionally, allowing dependents to work helps promote the better integration of expatriate families within the local community socially, improving a sense of belonging and increasing their participation in social and community activities. The result can be more mileage in cultural interaction and understanding between the expatriates and Saudi nationals. Opening such doors to expatriates shows that, in many ways, Saudi Arabia is moving in the right direction as far as economic and social development in the region.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the new policy in Saudi Arabia became the cornerstone towards addressing labour shortages and improving the quality of these two important sectors. This big step has also aligned with the broader objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 in bringing diversity into the economy, ensuring social integration, and fostering cultural exchange between expatriates and Saudi nationals. Though there are also challenges, such as cultural adaptation and competition with local workers, careful management and regulation will be needed to maximize the benefits. Overall, the policy underlines Saudi Arabia’s determination to modernize its workforce and create an inclusive, dynamic labour market.

1165 words

 

Keywords: Vision 2030, Nitaqat, expatriates, visa, education, labour market, health, Saudi Arabia, culture

 

References:

Universal Periodic Review of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

  • Broken Chalk is a non-profit organisation with one main goal – To protect human rights in education. The organisation started with a website and articles and is currently working on multiple projects, each aiming to fight human rights violations in the educational sphere. As the UPR is related to human rights violations, inequalities, human trafficking, and other violations, Broken Chalk prepares this article for the fourth Cycle and the specific country – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
  • In the last cycle, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia received 258 recommendations and supported 182 recommendations in adopting its UPR outcome at Human Rights Council 40 in March 2019 (United Nations Human Rights Council, 2018). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has addressed many issues highlighted in the previous Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycles. Saudi Arabia has introduced an economic vision called Vision 2030, which involves educational reform, mandated by the Tatweer Project, focusing on projects such as enhancing schools’ teaching methods and strategies (Allmnakrah and Evers, 2019). Tatweer Project has trained more than 400,000 teachers in school management, educational supervision, computer science, and self-development (Arab News, 2017). It has also revised Saudi’s curriculum to keep pace with advanced international science curricula (Arab News, 2017). This report will provide an update on the previous issues related to education, plus recommendations on how to deal with new ones.

By Mayeda Tayyab

Download the PDF.

45th_Session_UN-UPR_Country_Review_Saudi_Arabia

Cover image by Abdulla Bin Talib.

Educational Challenges in Saudi Arabia

Written by Matilde Ribetti

The importance of education

Every individual has a right to education as it is the cornerstone of human progress. The ancient Greeks, who created the notion paideia, namely the holistic formation of the pais (young man) and the Romans, who eventually translated it into humanitas, were already aware of its significance. In fact, Cicero himself clarified the content of the latter concept by drawing a fundamental connection between the passion for knowledge and the elevation of human nature (Nybakken, O. E., 1939).

Throughout the centuries, the right to education underwent a number of changes before landing at its current formulation in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Modern society has now recognized its universal, accessible, and mandatory nature, at least in its early phases, and this is of fundamental importance when contextualized in contemporary culture.

Brief history of the Saudi education system

Saudi students study in the Prince Salman Library at the King Saud University in Riyadh. Photo by Tribes of the World.

 

Saudi Arabia, as outlined in the Saudi Vision 2030 growth plan, has recognized this relevance and has been at the forefront among MENA countries in the field of education.

To be able to understand this plan of innovation, it is necessary to outline at least the most general features of the historical and political background.
The three identity lines constituting the core of Saudi society are Islam, tribalism, and oil trade (Ochsenwald, W. L., 2019). As far as education is concerned, of the three the most interesting element is certainly the religious one: Saudi Arabia is an Islam Sunnite theocratic state whose citizenship can only be obtained by professors of the Muslim religion (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Interior Ministerial Agency of Civil Affairs, 1954).

The greatest support of such a close link between religion and State is surely the educational system, which since the seventh century has been articulated in various institutions related to the religious sphere. The most prominent examples are the kataatiib, elementary schools where young Saudis are taught the principles of the Quran (Esposito, John L., ed., 2003). Over the centuries, particularly under Ottoman rule, schools and teaching methods underwent numerous changes, culminating in modern times in a radical centralization of the system, presided over by the Governmental Directorate of Education (Rugh, W. A., 2002).

Oil business revenues played a key role in financing government educational projects. Particularly, in the late 1970s’ the State championed a series of development plans resulting in the extraordinary increase in school enrollment by 192% at the elementary level, 375% at the intermediate level, and 712% at the secondary level (Anon, 2020).

Now, in the context of Saudi Vision 2030, the education sector is being swept up in a new wave of investment aimed at equipping Saudi students with the tools they need to tackle “the jobs of the future” (Vision 2030, 2022).   In concrete terms, the considerable public spending (17.5 percent SAR 1.1 trillion in 2019) has resulted in the construction of 719 new schools and in a substantial school staff re-training program (KSA budget report, 2018).

The entire modernization process has thus culminated in the establishment of a system that nowadays looks like this: the country is equipped with an extensive network of public education centers segregated by gender and divided into three basic levels, elementary (six years), intermediate (three years) and secondary (three years) (Barry, A., 2019).

Accessibility

In terms of accessibility, the system can be said to be quite advanced: looking at the three regions with the lowest human development index in the country (0.855 HDI), namely Sourth Narjiran, Asir and Jizan it can be noted that the ratio schools – population is even more favorable than in the Riyadh province, the most prosperous in the country (Subnational HDI, 2023).

In fact, while the southern provinces have about 1 school for every 600 citizens residing in the territory, the populous capital region, although home to 38.9 % of Saudi educational institutions, has a value of 1 to 1392 in terms of school-citizen ratio (Saudi Arabia Education Report, 2021).

Another determinant factor  of accessibility is affordability: government schools are free for the entire population. However, the presence of numerous international private schools and the renown associated with them risks undermining equality in achieving the best schooling, on the basis of economic discrimination (Anon, 2020). However, it is pointed out that the public system, by virtue of the aforementioned centralization, is the most frequented by the population and therefore this constitutes a minor problem (Saudi Arabia Education Report, 2021).

Overall, the Saudi education system can be said to enjoy good accessibility, as evidenced by the growth of the student population by more than 6 percentage points in just four years (Saudi Arabia Education Report, 2021).

For economically disadvantaged students

However, formal equity does not necessarily correspond to substantive equity: while on paper the school system is equally accessible to all citizens from all income brackets, studies show that, in essence, students from economically disadvantaged families do not enjoy the same privileges.

Data report that the percentage of students under the age of fifteen coming from disadvantaged economic backgrounds who repeated an academic year amounts to 24.2 percent, compared with an average of 20.3% reported in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

In contrast, economically privileged students who found themselves having to repeat a year of their course of study amounted to only 3.3%, compared with 5.0% recorded in OECD countries.
These data highlight how the range of inequality regarding educational opportunities is eminently wide in KSA, where 20.9 percentage points divide disadvantaged students from privileged ones (compared with an average of 15.3 percent in OECD countries).

Other relevant indicators concern the student-teacher ratio among students in either socio- economically disadvantaged or advantaged schools. Here, too, the measured disparity rates are worryingly high when compared to the OECD average and motivate the poor performance of disadvantaged students in both mathematics and the humanities (Education GPS, 2018).

In light of the above, it is clear that the Kingdom still needs to take many steps to succeed in smoothing out the aforementioned differences so that every individual can fully enjoy his or her right to education.

For women

Another peculiarity to be taken into consideration is gender segregation, which in itself is not an obstacle to the use of educational services but may in some cases be a pretext for degrading education addressed to a gender, often the female one. Yet the data speak for themselves: in Saudi Arabia, female students follow the same curricular program and put to the test they outperform male students in all areas surveyed, including math, science, and curriculum subjects (Abdourahmane , B, 2021).

Such a result seems to support the hypothesis that, particularly in the MENA area, the division between males and females allows the latter to emancipate themselves more easily and express their intellectual qualities free from the social pressures related to the male-female relationship (Eisenkopf, Hessami, Fischbacher, & Ursprung, 2015).

The choice of curriculum subjects is a perfect example of this: in an all-female school it was found that female students felt more comfortable choosing science-oriented subjects, even though usually perceived as “boy stuff” (Sanford, K., & Blair, H., 2013).
In view of this, it can be inferred that the gender segregation system is not a detriment to the education of young Saudi women, quite the contrary.

Additionally, enrollment rates in primary and secondary educational institutions are reported to be almost the same for men and women (Abdourahmane , B, 2021) and in 2018, 66 percent of natural science, mathematics and statistics graduates were women (OECD, 2019).

However, the real issue for a Saudi woman arises once she completes her studies. The unemployment rate for women stands at 21.5 percent, compared to 3.5 percent for men (World Bank Data, 2013). As reported by the OECD women are still less likely to work despite improving gender equality in tertiary attainment levels due to the “regulatory barriers of a conservative society,” combined with endemic discrimination against women and a gendered educational system (Alfarran, A., Pyke, J., & Stanton, P., 2018). The latter, while it does not prevent women from obtaining an adequate education, it does in part prevent them from employing the knowledge they have acquired in the labor market.

In this respect, the data on the accessibility of the educational system for women should be read in conjunction with that on the labor market, so as to have a more complete picture of its critical points.

Saudi Ambassador Visits His Children at ASIS. Photo by Lwi932.

Quality

One of the methods used to assess the quality of a school system is to conceive it as a production system divided into inputs and outputs.
By inputs we mean the stimuli provided to students through curricular programs, methods, staff, and teaching materials, while outputs are student performances, not only in terms of academics, but also participation and long-term impact on society wise (OECD, 2000).

Looking at the case of the KSA, the first critical issue related to inputs provided by the system concerns schools whose principal reported that the school’s capacity to provide instruction is hindered to some extent or a lot by a lack of educational material, which amount to 44.4 percent against an average of 28.4 percent in OECD countries.

A similar figure is found in relation to the lack of teaching staff: 49.5 %of schools complain of such a shortage, compared with an average of 27.1% in OECD countries.

These shortcomes result in relatively lower academic outcomes than the OECD metric. Saudi students scored on average 100 points lower than their OECD peers in tests on reading, mathematics and science. However, it is indicated by PISA that the average for OECD countries amounts to 500, with values ranging from 400 to 600. Therefore, it can be said that KSA falls within a good range of achievement.

Based on the above, it can be concluded that in general the Saudi system, although not without critical issues, boasts an adequate overall quality resulting in fairly good academic preparation and cultural training of students.

In conclusion, Saudi Arabia has faced many challenges in the education sector in recent decades. However, the government has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to improving the quality of education and providing educational opportunities for its citizens. The expansion of public schools and the establishment of new universities are just some of the positive steps taken by the country. Despite this, there are still some issues to be resolved, such as gender inequality and the need to develop a more equal educational system in terms of economic opportunities. This is why it is necessary for government authorities to give absolute priority to the issue: education is a basic human right, and only through quality, inclusive and equitable education Saudi society will progress and prosper.

 

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