Saudi Arabia’s long-awaited Kafala reform goes into effect

Workers will be able to switch jobs without their employers’ permission.

Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia are now able to switch jobs without their employers’ permission after the long-awaited labour reforms in the Gulf region’s most populous country went into effect. In November last year, the country’s ministry of human resources and social development announced plans to amend the Kafala system under which workers are tied to a single employer who alone can renew or terminate their residency and work status in the country. Rights groups have said the system makes workers, particularly those working in construction and doing domestic work, vulnerable to abuse by their employers.