Top 10 Middle East stories of 2017
By Tom Carnegie, 27 Dec 17
A new family tax in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi’s biggest ever scam and the UAE pushing ahead with a major life industry overhaul were some of the most read stories by our Middle East audience in 2017. To see the others, click through the slides.
The top read story for 2017 was Saudi Arabia’s government announcing in July that expats would have to pay a newly-introduced family tax upfront if they wanted to leave the kingdom.
Under the new tax, expats have to pay SAR100 (£20, $27, €23) each month, per dependent, to the Saudi government. The fee will increase each year by SAR100 until it reaches SAR400 – at which point it will plateau.
Under Saudi’s visa system, known as iqama, expats leaving the country must pay an exit and re-entry fee for themselves and their family members.
This has now been extended to include the new expat tax which means those leaving the kingdom must also pay the levy in advance for the months remaining on their residence permits.
To read the full story, click here.
