Almost 900 Pakistani workers recruited by a Turkish company have been running from pillar to post for the last 16 months without pay, food and residency papers.

“We are not allowed to work, nor are we allowed to exit and re-enter the country,” said Zeeshan Khan, a worker who visited Arab News office on Tuesday evening. He was accompanied by several co-workers.

The workers have appealed to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Riyadh Gov. Prince Khalid and Ministry of Labor to transfer their visas to other companies or allow them to get proper final exit visas.

Zeeshan said he had legal documents including appointment letters, iqamas and a list of employees signed by Mapa Human Resource Manager Sufwan Khaif and Ayyat Al-Shammery.

The stranded Pakistani workers are part of a group of 1,470 men, including 200 Indians. They have been abandoned by their sponsors.

Their cases were registered at Riyadh governorate and their passports confiscated by local police. “We are investigating the situation very seriously and the Ambassador Muhammad Naeem Khan raised the issue during his talks with Labor Ministry officials and the Riyadh governor recently,” said Khayyam Akbar, deputy chief of the Pakistan Embassy.

“We also met with the laborers personally and will do our best to solve this issue,” Akbar added.

Moeenuddin, community welfare attaché at the Pakistan Embassy, said: “We are well aware of the problems of Pakistani laborers all over the Kingdom and working on a daily basis to resolve the issues efficiently.”

He said the stranded workers have been given three options: To transfer their sponsorship, leave for Pakistan or continue to work with the same sponsor.

Another worker, Maqsood Ahmed, said his visa and iqama are genuine, but the problems have become so complex that he has to seek loan from his relatives.

“The company hired the workers through different recruiting agencies in 2011, but they did not have enough work for laborers.

“When we went back to get an NOC (no-objection certificate), the company told us that our visas were fake and blamed their managers for issuing visas that never existed. The manager and his Saudi counterparts are now facing charges,” said Ahmed.

The distressed workers said when they tried to transfer their iqamas to other companies, they were denied and asked to wait.

Saudi Arabia has become the largest market for Pakistani workers in the world. The number of Pakistani expats in the Kingdom is consistently increasing and currently exceeds 1.5 million.