“The growing number of foreigners has many side effects, including the depletion of economic resources, as these workers send billions of riyals to their home countries every year, in addition to the security and social problems they cause,” Eastern Province citizen Ghanim Al-Harbi told Arab News.

He blamed Saudi citizens for increasing foreign manpower in the Kingdom. “Saudis are to blame. They recruit more than their actual needs, which creates saturation,” he said.

Al-Harbi called for regulating foreign manpower and said foreigners must be closely observed so they do not commit any violations.

Abdul Hadi Al-Suqair, a Tabuk citizen, said the problems caused by foreign manpower is demonstrated by the bad influence of housemaids and nannies on children.

“Their upbringing is totally different to ours. Our children grow up confused between what they see in society and what they learn from their nannies,” he said.

Al-Suqair said Asian workers have driven Saudis out of the market. “They have formed groups and imposed a monopoly on many professions. The Saudis are unable to compete with them,” he said.

Ahmad bin Saad Jaber, a Saudi from Madinah, called for reducing recruitment of labor from outside. “This will help provide more job opportunities for Saudi nationals.”

Meanwhile, the Arab Labor Organization in a recent report warned against the increasing growth of manpower, especially Asians, in GCC countries.

The trend was eroding financial resources and creating social problems due to differences in religion, language and traditions, the report said, calling for the formulation of new recruitment strategies that would reduce the number of foreign recruits.

The organization estimated the number of foreign workers in the GCC countries to be more than 11 million, sending remittances of more than $30 billion to their home countries every year.

The governments have to increase their expenditure on health, education, transport, security, housing, water and electricity because of the large number of foreigners, the report said.

It also said many of the deficits in trade balances in the GCC countries happened because of the large presence of foreigners. The governments have to import more because of them, the report said.

The report warned that Asian workers might demand certain rights due to their long presence in the GCC countries and might think of establishing their own societies and come up with their own ideologies, especially as new international agreements call for equal rights for both nationals and foreign manpower.

The organization recommended GCC countries to create more jobs for their citizens and replace foreign manpower as much as possible.