‘7,871 Saudis stuck abroad’

JEDDAH: There are now 2,221 Saudi families consisting of 7,871 individuals stuck in 31 countries.
The Saudi Charitable Society for the Welfare of Saudi Families Abroad (Awaser) recently created a database listing all Saudis stranded abroad, in cooperation with the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs Ministries, said Tawfiq Al-Suwailem, chairman of the organization.
The purpose is to identify these citizens so that the Kingdom can provide them with financial and other support, including aid to settle in the Kingdom, he said.
Al-Suwailem said the organization does not assist the children of Saudi women married to foreigners because the law only recognizes the children of Saudi fathers as citizens.
He said that Awaser assists many Saudi men married to foreign women abroad, including those who have fallen into debt because of bad business deals. “These fathers are often jailed, leaving their families with no income.”
However, Al-Swailem said Awaser can assist these men if they have debts running into a few thousand riyal. “We can do this immediately and see that their families can travel to the Kingdom,” he said.
Other assistance for families includes providing them jobs at Saudi embassies and companies. The organization remains in constant contact with individuals to ensure they have “moral and psychological support,” he said.
He said that sometimes families are stranded when the father dies or there are behavioral or other personal issues involved.
There are Saudis stranded in Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Philippines, Indonesia, the United States, India, Oman, Tunisia, Britain, Pakistan and Sudan.
Arab News reported recently that Awaser has found that 70 percent of Saudi fathers who marry foreign women and then abandon them and their children abroad are over the age of 50.
Al-Suwailem had said 25 percent of these fathers are between the ages of 35 and 50. Many of the Saudi men who abandon their families use the excuse that they are afraid of being jailed for getting married without the approval of the Saudi government, he said.
Al-Suwailem called on the government to speed up procedures so that children of Saudis living abroad can return to the Kingdom. He said many wives and children overseas are unaware that they can get support in the Kingdom and be reunited with their Saudi husbands and fathers.