Mahmoud Ahmad

 

THE news of Cabinet approving amendments in the Labor Law that clearly specify that a foreign worker is not allowed to work under anyone other than his sponsor and that the sponsor is not allowed to leave his workers to engage in jobs for their own personal gains came as positive news.



It means that the job market for foreign labor will be controlled.



Sponsors, who are abusing the visa system, will be put in their places and will, now, not be having the freedom to manipulate the system and blackmail expatriate workers.



Currently, however, they are still exploiting the system and the expatriates, as many people know the labor market is still not organized.



Expatriate workers are working in jobs elsewhere when their real sponsors are 1,000 kms away. I am waiting for the mechanism in which the Labor Ministry is going to implement this decision. To ensure its success, the main thing is to maintain continuity.



In the midst of the cleaning up process by the government, many sponsors are still trying to abuse the system that the Labor Ministry is trying to streamline in order to bring about an orderly and systematic Saudization of the work force.



They are resorting to the unusual shenanigans of using the loopholes in the Nitaqat system, which is nearly airtight, to absolve themselves of labor or visa problems. Their quick fix of the issue is a very poor attempt in putting a band-aid over a deep gash, they threaten the expatriate workforce with the two scary words: ‘Reported Huroob.’ Or use this as a pretext to sack or expel an expatriate from the company or country.



This is a serious problem that the Labor Ministry needs to tackle — which is the reported “missing from work”, or “Huroob”. Saudi sponsors, to avoid Nitaqat-monitoring, tend to report expat workers working under them “Huroob” or a renegade.



Once a person is branded “Huroob” his life comes to a stand still. His bank accounts are frozen, he/she cannot apply for exit-reentry visas and will affect the family especially if there are school-going children: they will not be able to travel and the only way out of the country is through the deportation center. The person would be fingerprinted and banned from entering the Kingdom for some period of years. I have heard some shocking tales from my expatriate friends who are working in jobs but under different sponsorships. A friend of mine told me that he has to pay his Saudi sponsor extra amount each time he wants to complete government paperwork.



Government fees are known and clearly stipulated and it is paid through the proper channel. The sponsors always charge certain amount under the table to do it. It means if the worker wants to apply for exit-re-entry visa, he will have to pay ten times the amount charged for exit-re-entry so the sponsor would do it. In addition to that, some Saudi sponsors demand huge amount of money from their expatriate workers just to cancel the “Huroob” report. If that is not blackmailing, then what is?



A large number of expatriate workers who have come to this country for work, had to buy their visa so they could live their dreams. But after that rosy start they have to live through a hellish nightmare that would sour them of this country for life. For many years they have been blackmailed and have faced extortion from many of their Saudi sponsors.



Although the new Cabinet rule has come out in their favor and for their protection, they are also indirectly falling victim to it as many people are trying to slip through the loopholes existing by reporting them “Huroob”.



A Sudanese friend of mine, who was forced to buy a visa for his son, told me when the female sponsor under whom his son was sponsored was told that she could not receive social insurance money because there are people under her sponsorship, she immediately reported my son ’Huroob’.



The young man was not able to find work because he had been reported ’Huroob’ and none of the companies to which he applied wanted to hire him. He lost a golden chance to work in a local company when they wanted to hire him and sought his transfer. The company had to cancel the offer when they saw that he was reported “Huroob”.



This young man’s only choice was to line up with the illegals on the street and work on temporary jobs even though he has a university degree. In addition, the young man should be in a good shape to run away when he sees the passport department vehicle.



The Sudanese friend of mine continued, saying, “To solve this problem he had to get help from an agent who promised to solve it through his connections with the passport department. I had to pay him SR16,000 to cancel the “Huroob” report and to start searching for a new sponsor. The problem was not solved, the agent took the money and disappeared.”



Usually these agents flourish under these difficult circumstances and prey on the innocents to make profit over the pain and sufferings of these expatriate workers promising them things they cannot deliver.



Another Egyptian friend of mine faced a similar problem. His sponsor told him to search for another sponsor because his company was in the red zone or he would have to report him “Huroob” within one month. With children in school and little time to find another company, all doors were closed for my friend. My friend told me that he had to suffer even though he had nothing to do with this problem and the one-month period was not enough for him to search of a new sponsor.



I am sure that there are many other sad stories of people in these circumstances living in constant fear of being reported “Huroob”. Some get to know about their status when they are told about it. But on many occasions the person does not get to know that he has been slammed with these two scary words. In addition workers who have sought transfers suddenly find themselves victims of the capricious sponsors who do a deal among themselves to leave the workers in the lurch, or because of circumstances beyond their control use this “Huroob” card to escape serious penalties.



The irony is that some of the sponsors use this as a weapon to be vindictive if the worker under his sponsorship develops enough courage to challenge him or not pay the expected money for the services or non-services provided by the sponsors.



The Labor Ministry or the passport department should take into consideration the condition of these expatriate workers who are put in this situation and most of the time without their knowledge. The ministry and the department should devise a way to provide these people a grace period to fix their situation or else they could leave with dignity instead of being reported “Huroob”.



In addition, the Labor Ministry and the passport department should call the sponsors when the worker tries to fix his status back legally and find out the reason for declaring the worker missing when in reality the case is otherwise. A series of punishment for these erring sponsors would act as a deterrence for others seeking to abuse the system.



With the implementation of the new Cabinet decision, many companies will be in trouble as in many companies the majority of workers are under different sponsorship. Saudi sponsors created this situation and expatriate workers had nothing to do with it. There are expatriate labors, which escaped from their sponsors. That is a violation of law and they should be reported “Huroob” in local papers and at the passport department. Those who escaped from their sponsors should be punished according to law.



Not everyone reported “Huroob” is actually missing from work.

 

— The writer can be contacted at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa