Saudi Arabia tightens work visa rules for Indian workers
New Delhi: From January 14, Indian workers applying for Saudi Arabia work visas will need to complete a mandatory pre-verification of their professional and academic qualifications.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Indians constitute the second-largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia, with over 2.4 million residents, following Bangladesh.
This move, proposed six months ago, aims to limit the influx of Indian workers due to the scarcity of qualified training centres, ensuring stricter quality control. The reforms align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which seeks to make the labour sector more flexible for expatriates while enforcing stricter certification requirements for specific job roles.
A circular issued by the Saudi mission in India, accessed by The New Indian Express, confirmed the implementation of professional verification procedures as a prerequisite for issuing work visas.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia has updated rules concerning residency permits (Iqama) and exit/re-entry visas. The General Directorate of Passports announced on X that expats outside the kingdom can now renew Iqamas and extend the duration of single or multiple exit/re-entry visas. Dependents and domestic workers located abroad are also eligible for these renewals and extensions.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
