The move is apparently to cash in on the Hafiz unemployment
assistance program. “There is a rush on the part of some Saudis to submit the
passports of their workers at the Passport Office after putting them on the
‘hurub’ (run away list). Many Saudis who run small establishments are also coming
forward to cancel their commercial registration with an eye on taking advantage
of the Hafiz program,” he said, adding that this is more obvious in the case of
individual sponsors who have a limited number of workers, such as housemaids
and drivers, Al-Watan newspaper reported Sunday. These Saudis are eager to
register with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) as jobless people to
take advantage of the Hafiz assistance.
Col. Al-Nasir, who is also director of the Halat Ammar
border point passport office, said this trend has become a big headache for the
passport officials. “The Passport Department is struggling to cope with the
rising tide of complaints about runaway workers. We are forced to intensify
inspection raids to catch the runaways,” he said, adding that this puts a heavy
burden on the passport officials. “There are also difficulties in looking after
a huge number of those arrested at the deportation center,” he said.
Al-Nasir said it was revealed to the passport officials
after investigations and inspections that most of these complaints about hurub
are baseless. “Most of the workers who were put on runaway list have not
escaped from their sponsors,” he said.
Echoing the same view, Mansour Al-Sharif, director of labor
office in Tabuk, said his department has received several complaints from
workers against their sponsors during the last four months. “Their complaints
were attached with evidence to support their claim that they are still with
their sponsors and not runaways,” he said, while attributing such false
complaints to sheer dishonesty.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Bazie, chairman of the Tabuk Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, sees something positive in canceling the commercial
registration of smaller establishments that are virtually nonexistent. “It is a
blessing in disguise with regard to regulating the commercial sector if
nonfunctional commercial firms are scrapped from records,” he said.
Abdullah Al-Balawi, owner of a public service and
recruitment office, underlined the need for introducing a mechanism to protect
the rights of workers, as well as to frame strict conditions to avoid the
situation where employees run away from their sponsors. He also called for
reviewing the existing system that allows sponsors to put their workers on the
runaway list.
Meanwhile, an Arab national who arrived in the Kingdom on a
labor visa four months ago told the newspaper that his sponsor warned that he
would be put on a runaway list if he failed to get a release within a short
period of time. According to the worker, the sponsor’s warning came after
cancellation of his establishment’s commercial registration, apparently to take
advantage of the Hafiz unemployment assistance.
