Saudi Arabia issued about 24.3 million work permits to private sector employees in the last three years, with professional services and engineering accounting for 45 per cent of them, media reports said.

The number of licenses issued last year fell by 3 per cent, with 8.25 million licenses issued, while with 8.52 million work permits issued in 2015, Arab News reported, citing statistics revealed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.

In 2014, 7.52 million work permits were issued and renewed, Al-Eqtisadiah reported.

Foreign workers in Riyadh, Makkah and the Eastern Province registered the highest number of work permits, up by 65 per cent over the past three years.

The ministry announced the prohibition of issuing permanent, temporary or seasonal work visas for a number of professions in the Saudi market, as well as preventing new licenses from being issued to a number of other professions, which are now prohibited for expatriate workers in the Kingdom.

Nineteen professions have been dedicated to Saudi-only employees. These professions include senior human resources managers in government and private establishments; director of personnel; director of labour and workers affairs in enterprises; director of personnel relations; as well as personnel specialist.

The list of prohibited professions also included personnel clerk; employment clerk; attendance time clerk; general receptionist; hotel receptionist; patient receptionist; complaint clerk; treasurer; private security guard; interpreter; transcriber or key repairman; clearing agent; as well as female workers in the shops selling women’s supplies.