Expatriates working in the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is requiring photographs and fingerprints for visa applicants to prevent the occurrence of terrorism, identity theft and even blacklisting runaway workers.

This will strengthen the Kingdom’s security according to Foreign Undersecretary Prince Khaled bin Saud. This immigration policy will not include relatives of iqama holders unless they are workers themselves.

Victor Fernandez Jr., President of Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI) said that they have given hints that the  new immigration process will begin next month. Saudi Arabia has begun fingerprinting and taking digital full-face photos of foreigners coming for Umrah and work visa purposes.

Once the worker is blacklisted, the employers could no longer make a request to remove the worker’s name from the blacklist.

Do you think that this new process will not abuse the workers’ rights? I had a bad experience working in Saudi Arabia and they have lots of complaints because of the abuse to human rights. Even the Philippine Embassy Officials and POLO representatives are not much of help to Filipino expatriates.

Most Filipno expatriates working in Saudi Arabia are prone to human rights abuse. What do you think? Please tell me your story…

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