Legal expat workers eligible for GOSI

May 13, 2013

gosi

Riyadh, May 13: Expatriate workers can now become beneficiaries of the General Organization For Social Insurance (GOSI) under a new scheme introduced by the Ministry of Labor.

The announcement followed a meeting held late Saturday between the officials of the Labor Ministry and the representatives of various foreign missions at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.

The Ministry of Labor had summoned all the heads of foreign missions and labor counselors of the embassies and their consulates to brief them of the latest labor regulations and the conditions of amnesty declared by the government on Friday.

Hosting the meeting on behalf of Labor Minister Adel Fakeih, his deputy minister, Moufarrej bin Saad Al-Hagbani, held a wide range of talks on labor issues with the foreign diplomats.

The deputy minister explained that the GOSI would register the names of the expatriates effective today if they were not registered earlier under the insurance scheme.

GOSI is compulsory for all Saudis and was previously optional for expatriates. However, until today, private companies could refuse to enroll their expat workers in GOSI. The new scheme allows expats to register for GOSI and their private employers cannot refuse them.

Sulaiman Al-Quwaiz, governor of GOSI, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the date on which a non-Saudi worker comes to Saudi Arabia, or the date on which his service is transferred to another employer, will be the date he is registered with the professional hazards division of GOSI. The records will appear from the first date of the month on which the change took place.

“But when a non-Saudi subscriber leaves the country for good, or when his services are transferred to another employer, his record will be frozen,” he said.

Al-Quwaiz said the subscriber starts earning the benefits effective immediately from his registration. Benefits include full medical coverage.

Meanwhile, foreign diplomats expressed concern over the limited grace period during which expats have to legalize their status. The grace period ends on July 3.

Envoys said the amnesty period is too short. They also wanted details on the mechanism of the implementation.

Saudi officials assured the envoys the ministries would work around the clock if necessary to expedite the process to meet the deadline, but ruled out any extension of the grace period, according to diplomats who attended the closed-door meeting.

Some diplomats asked for the designation of Saudi officials for specific issues in the passport and labor offices to speed up the process.

In cases in which departing candidates do not have their original passports, foreign diplomatic missions may issue travel documents that may be processed at the Passport offices so that they are free to travel, according to Saudi authorities.

Speaking about Nitaqat and the amnesty provided by the government, Al-Hagbani said illegal expatriates after the grace period would face a penalty of SR 100,000 and a jail term of two years.

“The whole idea of the program is to ensure a healthy work environment in the Kingdom free of illegal stayers,” the deputy minister said. He added the government wants to have quality workers. It is the wish of the government, he said, to ensure that every foreign worker is properly documented.

Pakistan Ambassador Muhammed Naeem Khan said the new provision for the GOSI insurance is a relief for foreign workers. He recalled a recent road accident, where some Pakistanis died and the sponsor could not pay compensation for the deceased workers. The new scheme would provide some relief to the relatives of the people who die in such circumstances.

Describing the meeting as excellent, deputy chief of the Indian Embassy Sibi George said the meeting was useful for all labor-exporting countries. “We were able to get the right advice on some of the problems that the missions were facing during the implementation of the program,” George said.

The diplomat said his mission was able to get 10,000 passports of its nationals ready with the help of the immigration department.

Bangladesh Ambassador Shahidul Islam said the envoys got an ideal platform to clarify a wide range of issues. He also took the opportunity to thank the Saudi leadership, which allowed the transfer of sponsorship of Bangladeshis. “It is great news for the community and the affected expatriates now can rectify their visa status without any problems,” he said.

Islam said his embassy in Riyadh and the consulate general in Jeddah will organize camps at various places around Saudi Arabia to provide emergency consular services to Bangladeshis. “We are taking consular services to their doorstep to help them benefit from the services without having to travel to the distant missions of their country,” he said.

Sri Lankan Labor Counselor Anura Muthumala said his mission has started the implementation of the program to beat the deadline before the end of the grace period. He said that his mission will have mobile consular services in places such as Dammam, Hail, Al-Qassim and Saqaka to reach out to his countrymen.

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News Network
November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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November 24,2025

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Israel has launched a new act of aggression on a residential neighborhood in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians.

The Israeli regime's military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday.

The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five people and injuring more than 28 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. 

Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and four resistance fighters.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned the airstrike, calling it a clear demonstration of Tel Aviv’s disregard for repeated international calls to halt violations on Lebanese soil.

“Israel refuses to implement international resolutions and all efforts aimed at ending the escalation and restoring stability,” Aoun said, urging the international community to take action to prevent further aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also condemned the attack, holding the international community accountable. 

“The international community bears responsibility and continues to provide cover for these attacks as long as it does not restrain the occupiers,” said Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the group’s political bureau.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out a strike “in the heart of Beirut."

Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.

Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.

The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. "We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out."

The second senior official said that the "US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike."

Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted "all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire."

He stated that "any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon's dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens."

Ammar went on to say the resistance is responding with "utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression," he added.

The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.

An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late Tuesday killed at least 14 people. It wounded several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military claimed the attack targeted “a Hamas training compound” used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime -- a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.

Hamas rejected the allegations as “a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,” stating it had “no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” and that the targeted site was merely “an open sports field.”

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.

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