Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) CEO Ausamah bin Abdullah Al Absi said that the authority will not allow runaway workers to regularize their situation by obtaining a Flexi Permit or transferring to a new employer.
The total number of runaway workers reported to the authority does not exceed 0.4% of the total expatriate workforce in the Kingdom, he added.
Al Absi said that the Cabinet affirmed that runaway workers will not be allowed to work under a flexi permit. Therefore, their only option will be deportation.
The employer files a report to the authority when any of his workers has been absent from work for 15 days or more without notice. In that case, if the authority confirms the filed report, the worker cannot request to transfer to work elsewhere or resume work with his current employer. Thus, whoever violates the regulations of the authority cannot apply for a flexi permit.
The LMRA CEO noted that workers who benefited from the amnesty period are those whose permit expired and their employers did not renew it and those whose employers have canceled their permits without sending them back to their home countries.
He highlighted that under the amnesty that started in April and will continue to the end of the year, 53,000 workers have regularized their situation.
