Saudi Arabias Musaned platform makes e-visa easy for domestic workers

RIYADH: The Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s electronic platform Musaned has made it easier for domestic workers to gain an e-visa — with instant approval once requirements are fulfilled.

Musaned is an integrated electronic system initiated by the ministry to facilitate procedures for the recruitment of domestic workers and to increase the level of protection of the rights of all parties.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News at the Saudi Recruitment, Labor and Support Services Forum and Exhibition (RALS 2019) in Riyadh, Ahmad Alangari, senior director of the Musaned program, said: “Musaned is the umbrella of all the programs, projects and initiatives that target improving the eco-system of the domestic labor sector in Saudi Arabia.”

There are three main areas of this domain within the domestic labor sector; first is pre-arrival of labor, second is the contractual process, and third is when the labor arrives in Saudi Arabia, Alangari said.

“When we first started looking at this issue in order to improve it we went directly to the second phase ... the contractual process because it has the biggest scope and what we did is basically automate the whole process, from manual to digital,” he said.

He explained that previously people would go to the government office for such services, including to apply for a visa.

“What we did is basically replaced this manual process with an automatic process with three components; first is the e-visa, second the e-contracting and the third e-Tawtheeq (attestation),” Alangari said. “We replaced the government offices or going physically to an office to apply for a visa. Now you can instantly get your visa 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

“When we started this service, we initially had a service to issue visas within 24 hours of receiving a request. Now we have launched a new update where you can get it instantly, if the required formalities are fulfilled,” he said.

“After you get approval, you can access the same portal or the Musaned app in order to contract with the service provider. We have all the accredited service providers listed with it and you can go and look for the one you want and complete the contractual process with that office online without going there in person,” he said.

He said e-Tawtheeq was a component that provided access for offices in the Kingdom to contract with offices in the countries sending the labor and to complete the process through Musaned.