RIYADH, 24 August 2004 — A new study has called for easing curbs to facilitate expatriates living in the Kingdom to bring their families to the country. The move will substantially reduce expatriates’ remittances exceeding SR80 billion annually.
The study prepared by the economic affairs department of the GCC General Secretariat here said that “an expatriate’s remittance decreases if his family is with him in Saudi Arabia”. But, a large number of expatriates have failed to reunite with their families because of the restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Labor on those companies that have not met the Saudization targets. The workers of such companies are the worst sufferers because their requests for family visa or change of profession are not entertained by the government agencies concerned.
The workers have complained that their requests for profession change or family visa have been denied on many occasions until the concerned company hired the required number of Saudi workers. “Such papers are only processed by the Passport Office or the Ministry of Labor, when the company furnishes proof of employing Saudis, thus meeting the Saudization target,” said Ajlan A. Sharif, an executive handling HRD affairs for a local company.
Besides recommending family status to a larger segment of expatriate population, the GCC study also called for easing restrictions imposed on the movement of expatriates inside the Kingdom. The expatriate workers, according to the study, have remitted about SR585.4 billion during the past 10 years, which is equal to the funds required by the Kingdom for infrastructure projects until 2020.
Moreover, remittances by the country’s more than eight million expatriates have increased by two percent annually despite the Saudization drive. The study, titled “The Remittances of Foreign Workers in the Kingdom”, explained that there was a relation between expatriates’ remittance and the length of their stay in the country. The remittances go down as the period of stay becomes longer.
It also called for removing restrictions on investments by foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. The study pointed out that “the local banking sector has failed to attract a substantial part of the savings of foreign workers and that there was a need to plan and encourage the expatriates to invest their savings in the Kingdom”.
More investment channels need to be opened for expatriates in different sectors particularly in share trading, business or banking products.
A total of 8.8 million foreigners, including dependents of expat workers, live in Saudi Arabia. The figure is equivalent to nearly 40 percent of the indigenous population.
