Saudi Arabia: Instant visas for SMEs from December

Taking action based on many extensive studies for determining the requirements of small businesses for migrants, Saudi Arabia announces instant visas for SMEs to be available from December.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from the instant work visa service, to be launched through the Qiwa portal from December 2019.

Qiwa Portal provides solutions and services pertaining to the Ministry of Labour and Social Development with the aim of enhancing the government’s e-services and for supporting the labour sector.

The instant work visa is specifically designed for helping new small businesses. According to Ahmed Al-Rajhi, the Minister of Labour and Social Development, the instant work visa will enable young Saudis to open small businesses and launch start-ups.

With the opening of new small businesses and the launch of startups, economic growth will get a boost, thereby accelerating Saudi’s business expansion plans. This will in turn positively impact development at the national level.

The Ministry intends providing a set of integrated tools to the owners of small businesses, along with a framework for the nationalization of the workforce in such enterprises following a grace period. The nationalization will be done in keeping with Nitaqat, or the Saudi nationalization scheme commonly known as Saudization.

Under Nitaqat, Saudi enterprises and companies are required to ensure that a certain level of their workforce comprises Saudi nationals.

Nitaqat is an integral part of Vision 2030, a long-term plan for developing various other sectors in Saudi Arabia in a bid to gradually do away with the existing dependence on petroleum. To make Vision 2030 a reality, many socio-economic changes are being incorporated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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