What is the ruling on one who brings in workers from abroad for an employer and takes from them the price of the visa, one thousand riyals?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
His EminenceThe Shaykh : What is the ruling on what the owner of an establishment takes from recruitment offices, whether abroad or domestically, from the workers they bring in? One form of this is that some individuals are willing to bring workers from abroad for the owner of the establishment and give him one thousand riyals per person, and all he has to do is issue the visa. The employer only has to issue the visa. What is the ruling on this money?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I dislike bringing in workers in the way people do today, because bringing in workers has become a trade that people engage in. You find a person taking a visa when he does not need it, but he takes it to sell it to so-and-so and so-and-so, or he takes it and exploits the workers by taking from them, whether in the offices here or in the foreign offices. So I dislike this absolutely, and I say: a person should not bring in workers except those he truly needs, and in that case, he cannot sell the visa, nor take from the worker.
Then how do we say that he takes from the worker, when one of the known conditions between them is that the worker comes for a period, I think three months, for a trial, and then if the months end and the recruiter does not approve him, he returns him to his family, so he has taken money from him without right. But yes, if he takes the money from him and says: if he does not accept him, he will return what he took to him, then that is less severe.
So now we have two points with us: The first point is that we do not see the permissibility of bringing in workers except for one who truly needs them, such as the owner of an establishment or a farm or something similar. As for one who brings them in to trade with them, that is not permissible.
Second: if he needs them and then they give him money to present them over others, then if it turns out that he was not successful with this worker, let him return to him what he took, so that his taking it is not without right. Yes.
His EminenceThe Shaykh : What is the ruling on what the owner of an establishment takes from recruitment offices, whether abroad or domestically, from the workers they bring in? One form of this is that some individuals are willing to bring workers from abroad for the owner of the establishment and give him one thousand riyals per person, and all he has to do is issue the visa. The employer only has to issue the visa. What is the ruling on this money?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I dislike bringing in workers in the way people do today, because bringing in workers has become a trade that people engage in. You find a person taking a visa when he does not need it, but he takes it to sell it to so-and-so and so-and-so, or he takes it and exploits the workers by taking from them, whether in the offices here or in the foreign offices. So I dislike this absolutely, and I say: a person should not bring in workers except those he truly needs, and in that case, he cannot sell the visa, nor take from the worker.
Then how do we say that he takes from the worker, when one of the known conditions between them is that the worker comes for a period, I think three months, for a trial, and then if the months end and the recruiter does not approve him, he returns him to his family, so he has taken money from him without right. But yes, if he takes the money from him and says: if he does not accept him, he will return what he took to him, then that is less severe.
So now we have two points with us: The first point is that we do not see the permissibility of bringing in workers except for one who truly needs them, such as the owner of an establishment or a farm or something similar. As for one who brings them in to trade with them, that is not permissible.
Second: if he needs them and then they give him money to present them over others, then if it turns out that he was not successful with this worker, let him return to him what he took, so that his taking it is not without right. Yes.