Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi

 

No one has any doubt about the soundness and reasonableness of the goals as well as the justification of the Ministry of Labor in its campaign to correct the labor and residency status of illegal expatriates in the Kingdom. This campaign involves several social, economic, and security aspects. Every sane and civilized human being wants to live in a society which is governed by the law of the land where peace and security prevail.



Any violation of the law or misuse in its application poses a danger to public peace and is  a blemish on the structure of society as well as a burden on its systems, services and even infrastructure. Imagine a situation in which hundreds of thousands of people –if not millions - are living illegally in a country without being subjected to its laws and regulations. Eventually, it will not be possible to protect the laws and regulations of the nation.



On the other hand, with due respect to and appreciation of these goals and justifications of the ministry, I believe that the ministry’s method of handling the situation in its attempt to achieve the correction of the status of such a large number of expatriates was not done in the best way possible. This is because of the ministry’s lack of planning as well as its use of threats and its haste in attempting to correct a grave problem has become worse over tens of years during which no decisive measures had been taken except the issuing of occasional directives that illegal residents should leave the country. Sometimes in the past, such directives were accompanied by threats. But almost immediately afterwards, these threats vanished and things returned to the old situation, and more illegal expats began arriving in the country.



Labor and residency law violators have been classified into a number of categories. These include those who infiltrated across the border and those who overstayed their Haj and Umrah visas. There were also those who ran away from their sponsors and those who came on so-called free visas and found no jobs with their sponsors. The ministry should have worked out plans and fixed priorities to correct the status of each category of illegal resident in a way suitable to their situation and size so as to avoid the flaws that occurred and the interests that were affected. The ministry should not have stopped the work (of status correction) that has now come to a halt. I say this because those affected  by this situation are citizens in the first place as well as the country and its economy.



It would have also been possible for the ministry to show leniency while dealing with all these categories of violators as pointed out by prominent Saudi businessman Jameel Farsi. While participating in a television program, he said that it would have been possible to ask all those illegal expatriates who did not have a passport or iqama (residence permit) to go to their embassies or consulates and show any document proving their nationality, and then allowing them to work with any sponsors who wanted their service. He also suggested that in such a situation, the Nitaqat status of such sponsors and the colors of their firms should not be taken into account. According to Farsi, no fees or fines should be imposed on these violators because of their illegal stay and work in the Kingdom. He noted that such an approach would have helped in correcting the status of many illegals, and hence the worker's nationality, and workplace would no longer be unknown to the authorities.



Likewise, it is possible to correct the status of all expatriates who worked with those other than their sponsors due to their huroob (runaway) status or to the fact that they are holders of free visas. As for runaway workers, they would have some problems with their sponsors. Therefore, it would be best not to carry out any investigations or trials as these would not lead to any positive outcome as the worker is the weakest party, and hence he should be exempted from fines and other fees in the process of correcting his status.



With great respect to the ministry and its officials, I have to say that the grace period given to millions of expatriates to correct their status was not sufficient. This is especially the case when one takes into account the ministry’s inadequate facilities and arrangements to streamline the correction procedures of hundreds of thousands of unregulated expatriates. This has become a great problem not only for expatriates who want to correct their status but also for their new sponsors as well as the officials in charge of undertaking this great mission. The heavy rush for completing paperwork also proved to be to expensive for  many people. Those who approached expeditors (muaqqib) found that they were demanding exorbitant charges as if they were part of a flourishing black market. This dashed the hopes of many expatriates who wished to correct their status as they could not afford to pay such a large sum of money as well as  fees and fines. Even though officially these expenses were the responsibility of the sponsor, most often they fell on the shoulders of the expatriate workers. Apart from this, some sponsors forced their workers to pay a fixed amount of money in a month or year to them. I do not wish to generalize and must point out that there were several God-fearing sponsors who interacted with those who work for them with compassion, fairness and justice.



Let me quote the words of Jameel Farsi again: “It is a must for us to correct our status before correcting the status of unregulated expatriates.” By this, he meant the visa traders whose unethical practices must be stopped. Former member of the Shourah Council and Chairman of Asbar Center for Research Dr. Fahd Al-Harthy, who also took part in the same TV program, agreed with Farsi in this respect. Both of them demanded that the issue be addressed with wisdom and carefulness.



It is important to point out that the process of replacing foreigners with Saudis is a major goal of the ministry. Even though the ministry has worked hard to achieve this goal, it has not so far had any noticeable success. It is also a well-known fact that there are several trades that have been severely affected by the departure of illegal expatriates and these include the work of cleaners, barbers, plumbers and the like. Saudis are not ready to take up any of these jobs. Here, the biggest victims are ordinary citizens who cannot find anyone to extend such services to them. If they do find anyone working in such trades, they have to pay them high fees for their services and will most likely face other difficulties as well.

 

— Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]