Several elderly expatriates here celebrated the Kingdom's National Day on Tuesday and recalled the many years they spent working to develop the country.

Many have stayed in the Kingdom for over 50 years and passed on their expertise in medicine, infrastructure development, the media, petrochemicals, oil and other sectors.

Taha Kosbah, an Egyptian journalist, has spent decades working at a major local daily newspaper. “When I came to Saudi Arabia the first time, the country needed skilled foreigners in the media. I worked with my expat and Saudi colleagues to develop the newspaper, which has gained a wide readership over the years. I see the Kingdom as my own country.”

Abdul Qader Al-Haj, a Sudanese resident who has spent 40 years in the Kingdom, said: “I came to Saudi Arabia in 1975 when the country was looking for foreigners to develop its infrastructure. I worked as a civil engineer for a foreign company developing such projects in Jeddah, Riyadh and other regions.

“I have left my job and live with my sons who are also engineers at Saudi companies. They are also passing on their expertise here,” he said. There are more than 8.4 million expatriates in Saudi Arabia. Of these, an estimated 2 million were born in the country and spent their entire lives here.

There are an estimated 30,000 third-generation Saudi-born Indians in the Kingdom. If a similar percentage exists in other expatriate communities, then there are about 820,000 living in the Kingdom.

The numbers are probably higher, say observers. According to official figures in 2009, over 14.4 percent of births in the Kingdom were registered to foreign parents. More specifically, the majority of the one million Palestinians living in the Kingdom were born here.

Arab expatriates in Saudi Arabia say they cannot return to the countries of their ancestors because they have no real ties there.

“Expats and Saudis have worked together to develop the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia was and still is the safest country in the Middle East for foreigners,” said Emad Al-Shami, who has worked as a doctor at several Saudi hospitals.