Posession of Employee's Passport

While there is NO PROVISION in Saudi labor laws that require an employee to turn over his/her passport to their employer, it has seemed to be treated as policy for many years. Since there are no laws on the subject it thus must be considered illegal, but it is not being treated that way.

The International Labor Organisation (ILO), which confirmed that retention of passports was not required by Saudi law and that the organisation had advised the country that it was violating the Forced Labour Convention, to which it is a signatory, by withholding passports.

The practice is still common however, but you certainly can try to refuse to turn over your passport. Some very important points to make to your employer in your refusal are as follows:

1.  Passport retention IS NOT required under any Saudi law.
2.  It violates international labor law and Conventions to which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a signatory nation.
3.  A passport is FIRST AND FOREMOST the property of the nation that issues it, it is only secondarily the property of the individual to which it has been issued. (It is exactly for this reason that a passport may be cancelled and a government may demand its return)
4.  You intend to report request for the retention of your passport to your country's Consulate-General and do ONLY as they instruct you to do.
5.  The only situation under which a passport must be surrendered is by Court Order.

While it may not work, and your employer may still insist on your passport, he/she has at least been put on notice that it will have consequences. Then report the retention of your passport immediately to your Consulate.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team