Runaway workers in Saudi can register on Tawakkalna app

RIYADH — Runaway (huroob) workers can register on Tawakkalna application, the app management team said in a statement on its Twitter account.

The case of huroob involves when a foreign worker escapes from the workplace of his employer and finds job with another employer illegally, and subsequently the employer reports about it to the Ministry of Interior.

There have been many cases of expatriates who come to Saudi Arabia for work and then escape from their sponsors and work at a different job in an illegal way.

The Tawakkalna app recently announced that expatriates can register themselves on it even if the validity period of their residency permits (iqamas) has expired. It is also permissible for those who are staying in the Kingdom on visit visas to register on the application. For this, their presence in the Kingdom is mandatory. The authorities have made downloading and activation of Tawakkalna mandatory when entering commercial centers and markets in all regions of the Kingdom.

It is noteworthy that Tawakkalna is the official app approved by the Ministry of Health to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and was developed by the National Information Center. The number of Saudi citizens and expatriates who have registered on Tawakkalna has exceeded 17 million over the last nine months since its launch.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) announced in May 2020 that the access to Tawakkalna is free of charge and that is in cooperation and coordination with mobile telecommunications service providers to accelerate access to the app services through digital solutions and alternatives.