Saudi Arabia launches “Professional Verification” program to ensure competence of skilled workers
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) on Sunday announced the launch of the “Professional Verification” program to ensure the competence of skilled workers in the Saudi labor market.
According to a ministerial statement, the program aims to verify that all skilled workers in the Kingdom have the required skills to perform their recruited occupation. The skills will be assessed through practical and theoretical tests in the respective fields.
The verification program seeks to improve the quality of professional workers in the Saudi labor market, raise the level of services provided, enhance productivity, and stop unqualified workers’ flow to the Kingdom labor market.
The professional verification program has two separate tracks; one track aims to examine all skilled workers in their countries in cooperation with selected international examination centers before their arrival to the Kingdom. At the same time, the other track aims to examine existing skilled workers in the Kingdom in cooperation with certified local examination centers.
The HR Ministry called on all establishments to begin the verification process for all their employees present in the Kingdom, as the verification process is gradually enforced based on the establishment’s size starting July 2021.
Work visas for the targeted jobs will be gradually linked to expatriates passing the skills verification in their home country, according to an activation plan and in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the workers’ home countries.
The professional verification program targets more than 1,000 specialized jobs that fall under 23 occupations, according to the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations.
