The Saudi Arabian government has begun permitting companies to recruit expatriates who are in the process of rectifying their work status, said a report.

Expats who leave the Kingdom on an exit visa can now return, the moment they get a new work visa, reported the Arab News, citing Deputy Minister of Labor Mufarrej bin Saad Al-Haqbani.

Earlier, the expats had faced the problem of working under unconventional job titles such as laborer, technician and other job titles that did not match their qualifications or their real positions within their companies.

However, this will no longer be the case since all companies are advised to change the profession of their employees via the Labor Ministry’s website for free, the report said.

“This was a big problem in the past as the Ministry limited more than 150 job categories to Saudis only, so companies could only get visas for other professions,” Al-Haqbani said.

But, now the number of job categories designated for Saudi nationals has been brought down to 19. “We have asked all firms to correct the job title of employees and state the correct title when applying for visas,” he added.