Several illegal expat beggars have begun working as car cleaners across streets in Jeddah for fear of being arrested by security patrols. Many of these cleaners, however, are below the legal age to work.

Many expat beggars from Yemen and African countries are illegal Haj and Umrah overstayers. Most of these beggars have since disappeared from the city’s streets or have begun working as carwash men.

“Around 80 percent of illegal expats work as beggars,” the Ministry of Social Affairs told local media. “Yet the ministry is not responsible for legalizing the status of these workers.”

The number of foreign beggars has decreased by 15 percent since the raids, according to the ministry.

Khalid Al-Thubaiti, the ministry’s spokesman, said the decrease can be attributed to campaigns waged by the ministry during holiday seasons over the past two years.

We will continue to arrest illegal expats in order to reorganize our labor market, Nawaf Al-Bouq, Jeddah police spokesman, told Arab News in a previous statement.

Saudi Arabia and the International Labor Organization signed an agreement last month stipulating 15 as the minimum age for work. Labor Minister Adel Fakeih and Guy Ryder, director-general of the ILO, had signed the agreement in Riyadh.

The agreement obliges the Kingdom to ban children under the legal age from working and requires them to complete compulsory schooling.