Riyadh: Expats residing in Saudi Arabia have welcomed Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence's plans to offer a US Green Card-like system, which would offer permanent residency to the nearly 10 million expats in the Kingdom, according to reports in the Saudi Gazette.
"The Green Card-like program and a plan to allow employers to hire more foreign workers above their official quotas for a fee could generate $10 billion a year each," the deputy crown prince had told Bloomberg in an exclusive interview.
Nidal Ridwan, chairman of the Federation of Labor Committees in the Kingdom, said that he expected the formation of an independent authority to implement the new system, in interviews with the daily and Okaz newspaper.
He added that the new authority under the Cabinet would supervise implementation of the system. It will have representatives from the ministries of economy and planning, interior, labor, commerce and industry, and finance, as well as Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority and General Organization for Social Insurance.
"The new system will bring a lot of economic and social benefits. Non-Saudis will pay what the Saudis pay including Zakat, value added tax and insurance premiums.
"They will be allowed to own real estate and run trade, industry and service firms."
Long-time Jeddah resident Dr MS Karimuddin said that he would be among the first to apply if the system is implemented.
"This will give confidence to them that they belong to this country. Already we are very satisfied with everything here. But this initiative will give excellent opportunity to expatriates to serve more."
Another resident, Zulqarnain Ali Khan, of Pakistani origin, said, "It is a positive move and a visionary initiative," adding that the benefits of such a system would be much larger as expatriates will come and open their businesses here.
"It will also help build local skills and develop human resources", he said.
The planned move is part of an ambitious package of reforms to move away from oil based revenue and raise at least an extra $100 billion a year by the year 2020.
The Green Card system could generate $10 billion, and another $10 billion is expected to be generated from the fees imposed to exceed foreign worker quotas.
The plan is part of Saudi Arabia's economic diversification plan, in a bid to create non-oil revenue streams amidst falling oil prices.
It is noteworthy that Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not divulged any further details about the 'permanent residency' program in the interview.
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