This is truly good news for the 10.74 million-strong expatriate community in the Saudi Arabia that includes 1.06 million Pakistanis, apart from Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Westerners, according to latest World Bank estimates. Some sponsors used it to reduce expatriate workers to little more than serfs. At other times, many workers have been stranded in the country just because their sponsor would refuse to stamp their exit visas. And this is where an expatriate worker is subjected to a worst kind of exploitation. Either way, it seems it spells good news for expatriate workers who will finally have more control over their fate in a foreign land.

Source: The Express Tribune November 01, 2020 03:33 UTC