According to an order from the minister of Labour and Social Development, Ali Al-Ghafis, visas issued for government services and domestic workers will be exempt, reports local newspaper Gulf Business, citing the Saudi Press Agency.
It is not clear at this stage if the cost of issuing and renewing work visas will also be cut in half.
The decision was based on article 11 of the Labor Law, under which the minister can make any changes deemed necessary for improving the efficiency of the labour market.
Fee rises
The change comes ahead of expected increases to work permit fees for foreigners due to come into effect next year.
Currently, private companies are charged SAR200 (£40, $53, €45) per expat employee where they outnumber Saudi or Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) workers. Moving forward, the levy on all expats will gradually be increased, in a bid to encourage companies to hire more Saudis.
From January 2018, where there is an equal or lower number of expats compared with Saudi/GCC workers, companies will pay SAR300 per month, rising to SAR500 a year later, before hitting SAR700 in 2020.
When the number of expats exceeds Saudi/GCC employees, companies will be charged SAR400 per month from January 2018. This will rise to SAR600 in January 2019 and increase again a year later to SAR800 per month.
In addition, from July 2017, expats in the Kingdom have had to pay the government SAR100 each month per dependent. This levy will increase by SAR100 each July before plateauing at SAR400 in 2020.
