5.04.2011

HUROOB - SAUDI LABOR LAW

I was working with my Saudi sponsor for more than 4years in Jeddah. Due to the economic crisis two years before, my sponsor handed over his business to his son and let all employees to work outside for a nominal monthly fee. His son asked extra 2000 riyals for my Iqama renewal and when I refused he made me and other three co- workers as ‘Huroob’. (One of my co-workers visa professions is ‘house driver’).Now I cannot go home. Iam suffering a lot for the last 6 months. My friend suggest your name and email ID to ask for help. Please advise me to get out of this problem. God Almighty may shower blessings on you!


Huroob is a common phenomenal in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now. All categories of employees included in Huroob menace irrespective of profession, status, wealth. Surprisingly, among Huroob victims, 10 % belong to the high profile job category. Only 1 % fights against illegal Huroob and rest of the 99 % leave the Kingdom to their home country through Tharheels with frustrated mind and empty savings.

Huroob is not defined in Saudi labor law. It is an Arabic term which means Absconder/Escapee. It is a kind of termination of work contract in a special situation. It is true that, as per Saudi labor law a Sponsor/ employee has to report his expatriate employee’s absence in employment site for a specified period of time to the passport authorities to declare him as Huroob (Absconder / Escapee), in order to escape liability of illegal activities of the employee during his absence. It is mandatory in Saudi labor law. Otherwise the sponsor will be penalized. Unfortunately now a day’s many sponsors misuse this protective provision of law for ulterior motives. If one becomes Huroob, his residency permit in Saudi Arabia will be cancelled and his stay in the kingdom will be illegal. In this circumstance, his all rights and benefits as a legal employee will be cancelled and he can leave the country only through Deportation (Tharheels) centers.

In Saudi Arabia, the Sponsor (Kafeel) has immense controls over his foreign worker. The Sponsor can only take work permit, Resident permit (Iqama) and Exit / Re-Entry visa of the employees legally. Even though Saudi labor law has given many rights to worker, but many of them cannot avail directly by the worker because of these controls. So if a person wants to return to his mother country, he has to depend Sponsor or Labor Court. Even though Saudi authorities prohibit taking possession of Passport of the worker by their Sponsor/employer, around 99 % of the employers possess the passport of their employers and give only Iqama with them. This is prevents the worker run away from his employer, even if in the worst cases and he has to depend his employer in case of Exit.

Misuse of Huroob provision: Sometimes the issue of Huroob may be very complicated. The authorities cannot identify the real victims and problem makers in many cases. Some employers misuse this provision in a very cleaver manner. Somebody use this legal provision as an opportunity. If an employee is going to approach labor court against his employer for nonpayment of salary, mistreatment or any other causes, the employer may make a complaint against the worker stating that the worker did not report to him for the last few days consequently worker shall be declared Huroob and consequently the sponsor will be escaped from the allegations and payments and the Huroob employee will be deported to his home country at the State expense also.

Many allegations have come out in regard to the mediators/agents also in between sponsors and worker. Many occasions the mediators/agents mislead sponsors for their own profit motive. Sometimes some sponsors procure work visas from the Saudi Ministry of Interior to recruit expatriate workers to Saudi Arabia. They sell these visas to local agents in Asian countries etc, and make a high profit. When employee reach in Saudi Arabia, the mediator / agent will mislead and Saudi sponsor submit application to declare him as a Huroob, so that the Saudi sponsor can approach the authorities and ask for the same number of visas again that he made Huroob. Some Saudi sponsors themselves doing like this for getting new visa's.

Legal provisions in Saudi Labor Law: Articles’ 74 to 83 deal with termination of work contract. It is stated that there should be a valid reason behind all terminations and other stringent conditions in favor of the employees as well as protect the rights of employees as well as employers. Saudi labor law does not discriminate rights of employee/ expatriate/ employer etc. it is a fair law. Some cleaver persons are behind the sabotage of these noble provisions.

In Chapter 5, Section 3 (Termination of Work Contract), Article 80 mentioned 9 reasons (exemptions) for terminating his employees work contract. “Article 80: An employer may not terminate the contract without an award, advance notice or indemnity except in the following cases, and provided that he gives the worker a chance to state his reasons for objecting to the termination”. Altogether 9 exceptions given in this Article. But all these reasons in Saudi labor law protect interest of the employees also. In all these reasons, employer/sponsor is required to give employee benefit awards, advance notice before termination of work contract and, a chance to state employee’s reasons for objecting to the termination etc. In order to escape from these legal rights and benefits of employees, the sponsor submits complaint in Passport authorities (Javasath) against him to be declared as a runaway worker because of continues absense/ non-reporting as mentioned in Article 80 (7). Article 80 (7) says, “If the worker is absent without valid reason for more than twenty days in one year or for more than ten consecutive days, provided that the dismissal be preceded by a written warning from the employer to the worker if the latter is absent for ten days in the first case and for five days in the second”. Then the sponsor will be escaped from the legal liability of employee benefit awards, advance notice before termination of work contract and, a chance to state employee’s reasons for objecting to the termination etc. this is a clear cut example of how a unscrupulous employer can misuse a noble provision in a law.

Legal remedies against illegal Huroob: There are three ways in front t of you. One is approach sponsor and requests him to invalidate runaway report against you. Second is approach Labor court for seeking remedy against illegal Huroob. Third remedy is surrender before Javasath (passport authorities) and goes to home country through Tharheel (Deportation center). In all ways your sponsor has to come forward for giving his explanation.

1. The Sponsor can approach Passport authorities and can submit documents for invalidate report against runaway expatriate. General Directorate of passports provides Requirements to invalidate report against runaway expatriate by Sponsor:
• Invalidating report against runaway expatriate form duly filled in
• Provide the runaway report
• Pay the statutory fees
• Presence of employer or his representative

2. Approaching Labor Court: Normal concept is that the Regulations do not allow deactivation of an escape report at the present time after it is made by the sponsor. But as per Saudi legal experts like lawyer Muhammad Jabber Nader, if any company or Sponsor made a worker Huroob illegally, the employee can approach the labor court directly. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to file a case before labor court directly by an absconded employee, especially if he declared as Huroob. In most cases he cannot do it alone. (This way is dangerous because you are being Huroob, there is a chance to put you in jail and send to Tharheel, if you approach the court directly. It is better to approach through a lawyer etc).You need to seek help from the concerned Embassy or social workers for this and you need to convince the court initially that your Huroob is illegal with solid proof. If you don’t have fluency in Arabic language, you can ask help for a person who can speak Arabic fluently. You have to submit all documents and evidences before the court to prove and convince that you did not break any law or you are not an absconder and did not disappear from your work or run away. The Labor court will ask response of your employer and adjudge the case accordingly.
Submission of false notification regarding a runaway expatriates from their sponsors will be fined 5,000 S.R. in addition of submitting a written notification the authority which issued his license in order to study the establishment's status. (Any way, procedure is very lengthy, risky and time consuming. The results depend upon your efforts and luck).

3. Go through Deportation Center: When a ‘Huroob’ person submits an application in labor section of the Deportation center, they will contact his/her sponsor first to know in regard to any complaint or obligations each other. They will try to contact sponsor at least three times. If they fail in the first attempt, they will postpone the case for the next week. Then again try to contact sponsor. If they fail after these three attempts, they will take the finger prints of ‘Huroob’ person and confirm through police stations that no criminal cases pending against him. After that they will give Exit. If the ‘Huroob’ person has no passport, they can use EC (emergency Certificate) given by concerned Embassy’s. In case of patients, Saudi authorities will give Exit without these formalities only under the surety of the prominent persons or social workers and humanitarian basis.


Punishment to Employer for not reporting absconding: In some cases, we cannot blame the genuine employers because he has to inform the passport authorities immediately in regard to the absconding employee. If they will not report, they will face legal actions if the absconded employee will be a part of the illegal activities in Kingdom. Moreover he has to face legal penalty, if he will not report within a certain period of time.

The punishment for non-reporting (by the employer) regarding a runaway employee in accordance with instructions regulating this matter given below.
•In the first instance, the employer fine is 5,000 S.R. Second instance, fine is 10,000 S.R. and for third, fine is 15,000 S.R. in addition to one month imprisonment.
•Fines are multiplied according to the number of non-reported runaway employees.
•The runaway employee shall be deported at his employer's expense. If he was working for his own, he shall be deported at his own expense.
•In the first instance, the violator shall be deprived from the right to recruit expatriates for one year. Two years for the second instance and three years for the third.
•Sending a copy of the management notification to the patrol command to investigate the establishment's status.

Procedure & Requirements to report runaway expatriate by Sponsor:
• Reporting Runaway Expatriate form duly filled in with 2 photocopies
• Attach a copy of the expatriate's Resident Permit (Iqama) or passport
• Attach a copy of the informant's National ID
• If the informant's is not the employer, an authorisation letter must be provided (sanctioned by police or Chamber of Commerce)

At the same time submission of false notification regarding a runaway expatriates from their sponsors will be fined 5,000 S.R. in addition of submitting a written notification the authority which issued his license in order to study the establishment's status.

Non-reporting to the Passports Department of the disengagement of any expatriate laborer or his absence from work for two days without stating any reasons.

•In the first instance, the fine is 1,000 S.R.
•For the second instance, the fine is 2,000 S.R.
•For the third instance, the fine is 3,000 S.R.
•If the labor was captured working for a third party or for his own account and it was alleged that he runaway, the employer status shall be reviewed to find out his other labors situation and their locations.


Punishment for absconding and procedure of deportation: If the runaway resident who was captured by the security authorities or by his employer, he shall be:
•Arrested until the finalization of his deportation procedures.
•Deported at the expense of the party that harboured or employed him. If he was captured working for his own account, he shall be deported at his own expense. Employer shall not be obliged to deport him if the period of the notice exceeded three months. He shall then be deported at the expense of the state by written permission from the General Director of Passports.

Huroob of Domestic workers: Your friend is being a house driver; he cannot approach labor court because his profession is not comes under the provisions of Saudi labor law. As per Article 7, some categories of employees shall be exempted from the implementation of the provisions of Saudi labor law. They are:

1. Domestic helpers (House driver includes in this category)
2. Sea workers working on board of vessels with a load of less than five hundred tons.
3. Some kind of Agricultural workers
4. Non-Saudi workers entering the Kingdom to perform a specific task for a period not exceeding two months.
5. Players and coaches of sports clubs and federations.

So in case of any labor problems they cannot approach the Labor courts, to get a relief. They have to go back to home country through Tharheels. But they can try to seek remedy through Amaraas (Governorates) and file a complaint against his sponsor there.