Saudi Arabia will offer a 50,000 riyal ($13,332) reward to anyone who reports illegal expats to authorities, Jamaan Bin Ahmad Al Ghamidi, consultant to public security, said during a Monday town hall meeting in Al Baha, south west of the kingdom.
Al Ghamidi warned there would be zero tolerance towards anyone who employs or hosts illegal expats.
He also added that anyone who violates the labor laws of the country would be strictly reprimanded, and went on to explain that "illegal expats present security, economic, social and health threats to society."
The reward comes as part of "A Nation without Violators" campaign, which launched in March of this year.
So far, the campaign has been successful in many cities across the kingdom, including Al Baha where "1,350 foreigners have regularized their situation in a short time," Al Ghamidi said.
Nation Free of Violators Campaign
In March, Saudi Arabia launched “A Nation Without Violators” campaign to give residency and labor law violators the chance to leave the country without having to pay penalties.
Under the campaign, which took effect on March 29, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister, announced a 3 month grace period to help undocumented expatriates regularize their status or leave the country.
At the time of its launch, Major General Mansour al-Turki, security spokesman of the Ministry of Interior spoke of the campaign during a press conference, saying:
"The campaign is aimed at all expatriates who do not hold valid iqamas (residency permits) or identification papers in the kingdom and have the residency or labor regulation or both, or those who have entered the Kingdom on Hajj or Umrah visa or transit and have not taken the initiative to depart after the expiry of their visas."
Al-Turki also explained that those who leave the country under the amnesty campaign will not be blacklisted and will be allowed to come back to the kingdom should they obtain proper work permits/visas later on.