Latest news on dependent fees in Saudi Arabia

There have been many statements made by the government officials recently regarding cancellation or reduction of this fee due to which, people in Saudi Arabia often search for the latest news on the dependent fee.

We have compiled all the latest news about the dependent fee which has been published in different newspapers in Saudi Arabia.

The latest news on dependent fees in Saudi Arabia

• The latest news on dependent fees in Saudi Arabia
• Will the government cancel the dependent fee in 2020?
• Some rumors about the fee

Feb 10, 2020: The Shoura Council called on the Ministry of Commerce to carry out a study about the possibility of retaining the fee for expatriates and their dependents at the level of 2019 for the fiscal year of 2020.

Jan 28, 2019: Minister of Finance Muhammad Al-Jadaan said that the government has no intention of making any changes in the expatriates’ fee or dependent’s fee at present.

Dec 30, 2019: In the latest news about the dependent fee in Saudi Arabia, members of the Shoura Council called to carry out studies on the negative impact of the dependent fee imposed on expatriates.

Nov 03, 2019: In response to the Shoura proposal, the Ministry of Finance gave a blunt statement that there would be no change in the dependent fee. They said that the government is already budgeting a lower revenue for the year 2020 as compared to the year 2019. In this scenario, there is no chance of reducing the dependent fee in Saudi Arabia. 

Oct 16, 2019: The Shoura Council called to carry out a study to keep the dependents fee on expatriates for the fiscal year of 2020 at the same level of what is being charged for the current year.

Dec 25, 2018: Mohammad Al Jaddan announced that there is no intention to make any kind of change in the policies of the expatriate fee.

Nov 06, 2017: The Ministry of Finance denied social media reports and rumors claiming that the dependent fee will be reduced. He also denied the fact that expatriates are angry with the imposition of the fee.

Will the government cancel the dependent fee in 2020?

It is not an easy question to answer but I will try to use my knowledge, experience and the latest news about the dependent fee posted in newspapers to determine the possibility of cancellation in 2020 or 2021.

Many people are hopeful that the dependent fee will be canceled after June 2021 as the government announced the rates only up to this time. In my humble opinion, the fee will not increase after June 2021 and that’s what we have used even in our Saudi dependent fee calculator.

Coming back to the question, I don’t see any chance of cancellation of the fee. If you look at the latest news about the dependent fee we have shared above, every time the Shoura asks for a proposal, it is bluntly rejected by the Ministry of Finance.

Some rumors about the fee

A news clip has been in circulation on social media claiming that King Salman has canceled the dependents fee with immediate effect. The news clip is from Al Riyadh Newspaper website and it is clearly written there that King Salman has waived off the dependent’s fee.

The news clip also states that the Saudi government does not rely on dependent’s fee to run its operations. Before reaching any conclusion, let’s postpartum the news clip.

If you closely look at the news clip, it has been taken as a picture with a mobile camera from the website of the Al Riyadh Newspaper.

• Al Riyadh Newspaper is a well-known Saudi newspaper but when you try to search for this news there, you will not find it at all. Either the news clip which was once published has been removed or someone used his Photoshop skills to make it viral.
• If you check the SADAD banking accounts, they are still taking a dependent’s fee from expatriates. SADAD has not changed the system, if this news was true, the system of SADAD would have been changed. 
• People are still not able to renew their iqama without paying the dependent’s fee. 
• The date of the news about the dependent fee is July 02, 2017, which by all means not the latest. If the news was broken a long time ago but no action was taken after that which means that the news is fake.