Expats married to Saudi women entitled to pension

The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has confirmed that foreign men married to Saudi women are eligible to receive retirement benefits, provided they are under the sponsorship of their wives and registered in the system as “special expats,” like foreign women married to Saudi nationals.
Amal Al-Ghamlas, chief of GOSI’s women’s division in the Eastern Province, also confirmed during their monthly meeting on Tuesday that individuals cannot receive a salary and retirement benefits simultaneously, unless their total income is SR3,000 or less. The exceptions to this regulation are widows, who can receive both a salary and retirement benefits without any limits.
Women who are no longer eligible to receive retirement benefits because they have jobs will only become eligible again once they resign.
Meanwhile, Hind Al-Zahid, head of the Women’s Business Center, requested during the meeting for GOSI to raise the limit to more than SR3,000, arguing that many women now have jobs and are earning over this amount.
She said many women in these positions do not inform GOSI that they are working because they do not want to lose their retirement benefits.
In response, Al-Ghamlas said that such women and their employers are breaking the law by not registering with GOSI. The electronic links between GOSI, the Passports Department and the Ministry of Labor specifically aims to prevent this phenomenon.
Mai Oraini, an employee in GOSI’s women’s department, said the system allows employers to have their fines reduced if they have broken the law once, or can justify their late registration and payments.
She said the Wage Protection System, which covers all Saudi women working in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, is to ensure their retirement rights in the future.
She said that employers must register all their foreign workers in Saudi Arabia on their date of entry or the date that their iqama is transferred from another employer.
Al-Ghamlas also made it clear that the dependents of Saudi women married to non-Saudis — her husband and her children — have the right to benefit from her pension in the event of her death, and if applicable, receive a survivor’s pension.
However, dependents must be registered in the GOSI system as “special expats” and foreign spouses of Saudi women must be under her sponsorship to receive benefits, as per the new regulations, which took effect after the amnesty period ended. Arab News