The Saudi authorities are enforcing new regulations which restrict the recruitment of foreign engineers, Akhbaar24 reported.

Under the new rules, newly-graduated foreign engineers would be barred from working in the kingdom for lack of professional experience.

Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) official spokesman Abdulanasser Al Abdullatif said that foreign engineers with less than five years of professional experience would not be employed.

The regulatory panel had already granted companies in charge of urgent projects a three-month grace period to terminate the contracts of expatriate engineers who don’t meet the five-year criteria and who were hired before the new regulations.

Employers can only hire associate engineers, whose academic degrees are accredited by an official authority in the employee’s native country and pass an assessment test.

“The decision aims to provide Saudi engineers the opportunity to work in the public and private sectors and gain the necessary professional experience,” said Abdullatif.

The Labour and Social Development Ministry had issued an edict prohibiting the employment of expatriate engineers with less than five years experience, up from three-year criteria in the past

SOURCE : ALBILAD