Saudi: Expat fee pushes 1.05 million foreigners out of employment
A total of 1.05 million male and female foreign workers left the Saudi employment market during a period of 45 months starting from the beginning of 2018 until the end of the third quarter of 2021. This figure represents 10.12 percent of the total foreign workers.
The mass exit of foreigners was attributed mainly to the imposition of expat fee that started during the year 2018. The monthly amount of expat fee was SR400 per employee during the year 2018 and it rose to SR600 in 2019 and SR800 since 2020.
The number of non-Saudi workers stood at around 10.42 million at the end of 2017 before the imposition of expat fee. But this figure started decreasing with the passing of every year, reaching about 9.36 million by the end of the third quarter of 2021.
