Saudi Arabia’s Undocumented Workers Repatriated

Since the 1970s, Saudi Arabia has employed thousands of foreign workers in many of its sectors and continues to do so as long as they enter the country and obtain work legally and according to the regulations. However, over the years more and more illegal expatriates cross the borders of the Kingdom or remain in the country after the expiration of a Hajj or Ummrah (religious pilgrimage) visa or other forms of expired visas. To solve this problem, Saudi Arabia announced earlier this year that it would be deporting undocumented workers in an effort to streamline immigration laws and regulations. The Ministry of Labor announced a seven-month grace period for illegal expatriates to correct their visas and labor status before the authorities begin to enforce immigration laws on November 4.

Since the end of the grace period, the authorities began implementing the immigration law and initiated the deportation process. Due to an incident in the capitol city of Riyadh, various international media have criticized this initiative while disregarding the responsibility of every country to safeguard its rule of law.

Many countries have taken similar steps but have received very little attention in the media. In 2012 the United Sates deported 400,000 illegal immigrants making it the largest amount in the nations history as reported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Similarly, Belgium ordered the deportation of 80,000 foreign nationals categorizing them as illegal immigrants in 2012. With the deportation of 37,000 illegal immigrants, France also broke their records as the number of deportations rose 12% from 2011.

Throughout this process the Saudi Arabian government has been working with various foreign embassies to help the illegal expatriates return to their countries in an organized manner. The Ministry of Labor also announced the enforcement of the immigration laws through every available medium to ensure all expatriates in Saudi Arabia were equipped with the right information before the grace-period commenced. Around 900,000 workers with expired visas were able to renew while more than 2.4 million managed to transfer their visas.  At the same time, some of the workers that were not able to acquire the correct immigration status turned themselves into the appropriate authorities. India’s Overseas Affairs Minister confirmed that as many as 134,000 Indians returned to India during the seven-month grace period.

Contrary to what has been reported in International news, the Spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry stated that the campaign is being carried out throughout the kingdom including cities, villages and rural towns. He also affirmed that along with the deportation efforts, authorities will also arrest or heavily fine employers that hire workers who have not followed the regulations. Many articles that reported on this issue highlighted the clash between a group of illegal workers and Saudi citizens.  Except for this single incident, Saudi officials as well as foreign officials have reported a smooth deportation process. The Interior Minister announced on Tuesday that more than 60,000 illegal expatriates have already been deported since the beginning of the campaign two weeks ago with the number expected to increase as the campaign continues.

This initiative is important all for all expatriates that aim to work in Saudi Arabia. Undocumented workers put their rights at risk, as they would not be able to report any injustices to the authorities and become subjected to low wages and harsh working conditions. It allows workers to be employed in a legal manner, which would eliminate many of the problems, both workers and employers could potentially face in regards to contracts, obligations and terms of employment. There are currently about nine million expatriates employed in both the private and public sectors of Saudi Arabia that are working under the correct legal status. The campaign is not targeting foreign workers in general or any workers from specific countries, but rather is enforcing the laws and regulations already in place to preserve the rights and obligations of all foreign workers.