Expats using Fake Degrees to be Banned from ENTERING KINGDOM
RIYADH — The Ministry of Interior has announced that it will apply statutory penalties against people found to be involved in counterfeiting academic degrees.
Forgers of academic degrees will face trial, imprisonment, deportation and a ban on entering the Kingdom, Director of General Directorate of Relations and Media of the Ministry of Interior Maj. Gen. Dr. Mohammed Al-Maro’al said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency on Sunday.
The authorities have seriously taken up the issue of fake degrees, which are easy to purchase.
A fake bachelor’s degree could be bought for about SR1,000 (£174) while a master’s degree can be had at SR1,200 (£209), according to sources.
Last year, the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) announced that it detected more than 30,000 forged engineering certificates. Some “engineers” were found to be working with forged certificates in the Kingdom for as long as 30 years.
SCE does not have any procedures in place to deal with Saudi engineers who have fake degrees.
But if a non-Saudi engineer uses fake degrees or certificates, he/she is deported as per SCE rules. There is a professional inspection team, which oversees the process of verifying all certificates submitted by applicants. Currently, there are 13,231 Saudi and non-Saudi engineers registered with the Council including.
It has emerged that along with thousands of expat engineers holding fake degrees there are thousands of public health sector workers with false qualifications.
In 2013, about 620 employees in various government departments were found to be using fake degrees during a campaign launched by the Ministry of Education and other concerned authorities. A total of 234 doctorate, 230 masters and 56 bachelors degrees were found to be fake.