The US and Saudi Arabia are basically different in many ways. The US is a capitalist country with an economy based on efficiency, not on justice. A foreigner or immigrant is a means to increase the government’s tax revenue. The state does not provide free education and health services. Both citizens and foreigners have to pay an exorbitant price for all services. Even the insurance system is not cheap. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is a country based on justice not on mere efficiency and aims to improve the welfare of citizens without looking for a profit. Education is free. Schools and universities are launched even in regions where the population is sparse and economically unfavorable. The state provides subsidies for food, medicine and power.

The economies of many countries in Europe such as France and Britain are based on justice.

The French are accused of racism, which is explained as a remnant of their colonial heritage. However, France alone is not the European power that had a colonial past.

Britain had an even greater colonial past. Unlike Britons, the French are prejudiced against immigrants because they fear that they take advantage of their resources and services such as free education and health care.

That fear has prompted some politicians to attack the immigrant culture and ban symbols of Islamic culture such as the hijab and burqa. With such moves the French seek to drive out foreigners and stop the influx of immigrants in the future. In fact, they are prompted by their worries rather than by any cultural dislike.

On the other hand, Britons do not object to hijab-wearing policewomen or turban-wearing officers. But the British economic system, which stresses more on efficiency than on justice, compels immigrants to work hard, pay taxes and increase its national income rather than being a burden on it.

With the presence of millions of expatriates, the situation in Saudi Arabia is, on the other hand, quite different. Close to nine million expatriates need not pay a single riyal as tax. At the same time they put a strain on the Kingdom’s resources including fuel. They are estimated to consume two million barrels of petrol daily.

They also enjoy the benefits of a state-subsidized market of essential commodities, just like citizens. Nine million is too large a number for any country to support.

The number of expatriates in the country should be reviewed, not only as a solution to the unemployment problem but also for the rational distribution of the Kingdom’s resources and infrastructure, especially when the population is steadily growing.