Saudi Arabia launches online service for inquiries on OFW iqamas, visas

Department of Labor and Employment, www.dole.gov.ph
News Article
Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) can now inquire about the status of their Iqamas or obtain information on their application for exit and entry visas and other procedures through the Internet, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) today said.

Citing an information from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Makati City, Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said the KSA's Ministry of Interior has launched an online service which would allow Saudi citizens and expatriates including OFWs to inquire about their IDs, Iqamas, and visas as well as eligibility to perform Haj and other procedures in the Kingdom.

Roque welcomed the new electronic service as this would spare the OFWs from going through the tedious process of inquiring directly with concerned offices in KSA about the status of required documents such as Iqamas and visas.

The website can also provide KSA employers a list of their workers from abroad who have not yet been issued iqamas. The latter is an official identity card depicting an individual as a resident of the Kingdom. Without an iqama, one cannot open a bank account, buy a car, or rent a place to live in Saudi Arabia. The employer usually takes the initiative of ensuring that his/her foreign employee receives an iqama. However, foreign workers in the Kingdom shall take the initiative in the iqama's renewal.

The DOLE Chief said OFWs can simply go to www.moi.gov.sa for the needed information. He called on Filipino groups in KSA to inform their members about the new online service even as he directed the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in KSA to massively circulate an advisory on such service in the Filipino community in the Kingdom.

KSA remains the top destination of OFWs. In 2008, a total of 275,933 OFWs was deployed to this country covering 28.3 % or over a fourth of the total 974,399 OFW deployment during the year.

Owing to the large OFW population in KSA, the DOLE established four POLOs in the Kingdom - in Riyadh, Al Khobar, CRO, and Jeddah where large concentrations of OFWs are situated.

source: Information and Publication Service