Manama: Saudi Arabia is to deport foreigners who stay or work illegally in the country as part of a new tougher policy.
“We will be very strict with any foreigner who breaks the rules and laws of the country,” Sulaiman Yahya, the general director of passports, said. “We will be strict with everyone and we will promptly deport violators, including those who come from countries where there are conflicts, such as Syria,” he said, quoted by local news sites Akhbar 24 and Al Marsad.
Syrian nationals will be not be deported directly to their country and will have the option to choose where they want to go, he added at a press conference held in the capital Riyadh on Sunday.
The announcement of the new strict policy was welcomed by online surfers as a “much-anticipated crucial step to address a depressing situation.”
“The country is overfilled with foreigners and the situation, accumulated over the years, is increasingly compounded,” a blogger, writing under the moniker of Truth, said. “Addressing the situation is a Herculean task and I pray for you. If there are around one million foreigners staying illegally, you need at least 1,000 days to apprehend all of them. The problem is that when you hold some people, others are brought in.”
‘Formidable task’
Night Darkness, another blogger, said the best solution would be to enlist assistance from volunteers.
“The task is formidable and the competent authorities need all the help and assistance they can get,” the blogger said. “We are ready to extend our hands and help in every way we can if your numbers are not sufficient to apprehend the high number of people breaking the laws of the kingdom. We live today in a critical situation and there are high risks to our security and economy. We feel we are under tremendous pressure and we need solutions to deal with this problem,” the blogger said.
Another commenter said tougher measures were needed against those who cheated the system and helped with the massive presence of foreigners, mainly marginalised workers, in the country.
“Those who are benefiting from lucrative illegal operations should be made to face legal action,” Grandson posted. “Remember what the Ethiopians did in Riyadh and how they sparked riots. This is only one case and you can imagine what would happen if foreigners from other countries were allowed to live by their rules,” he said.
Bin Al Waeeda insisted that the issue had to do less with the rules and laws and more with their application.
“Those who are tasked with applying the law often fail to perform their job properly,” he said. “There are many violations and those who benefit from the presence of foreigners do their best to protect them. It is saddening that the laws are not applied fully, but we hope that the new zero-tolerance pledges will be implemented,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is home to around nine million foreigners. They are mostly unskilled labourers and domestic helpers from Asian countries. The expatriate communities make up around one third of the total population.
