Shitwi Al-Ghaithy
The Kingdom’s latest economic changes include cutting down public expenditure, cancelling allowances and bonuses for government employees and lifting subsidies from petroleum and electricity. One of the changes includes imposing monthly fees on expatriate workers of all nationalities, except for Burmese, Yemeni and Syrian nationals.
No official details about the fees have so far been released. We do not know whether the fees will differ based on the occupation of the expatriate worker. We should differentiate between expatriate workers born in the Kingdom, or those who have lived here for over 30 years, and who spend their money inside the country. They are different from the expatriate workers who have been working and living in the country for only a few years. There is a big difference between the two. The latter spend their money outside the country.
There are expatriates of certain nationalities who were born and raised in the Kingdom. Their parents have been living in the country for decades. They even have Saudi relatives or have married into Saudi families. These expatriates do not have Saudi nationality but they act and think like Saudis because they have never traveled to their countries of origin.
An example is the Mauritanian community in the Hejaz who are known as Shanqitis. This is a large community. Some of them have Saudi nationality while others do not. The majority of them have been living in Saudi Arabia for more than 50 years. Most of them have never visited Mauritania.
Therefore, the decision that was issued recently regarding the imposition of fees on expatriate workers needs to take into consideration such communities. We have members of different expatriate communities who have lived all their life in the Kingdom but who for one reason or the other do not have Saudi nationality. In fact, they act and speak like Saudis and have grown up accustomed to Saudi traditions and culture.
I have suggested more than once that these expatriates should be given permanent residency status and be excluded from the sponsorship or kafala system. I believe the system has become obsolete and ineffective. Moreover, it hinders the lives of many. Therefore, we need to take the above facts into consideration before implementing any new changes.
