For many foreign workers, the chance of a job in Saudi Arabia, which compared with wages back home is extremely well-paid, is highly valued so much so that many are prepared to run the risks of working here illegally. In the last nine months, over 67,000 foreigners have been caught in the Kingdom, all, in one way or another, because they are not supposed to be here. These include around 8,000 who had slipped, or been smuggled into the country and the same number who had overstayed their Haj or Umrah visas. There was also a significant number of workers, by no means all of them laborers, found to be working for people other than their original sponsors. This unfortunately makes clear that some Saudi employers are prepared to collude in this illegality. The whole point of the employment and residence rules for expatriates who wish to work in the Kingdom, is to ensure that everyone here, locals and guests alike, can live safe and secured lives. The problem with illegal workers is not simply that they are breaking the rules on immigration and employment. By the very nature of their avoidance of the authorities, they place themselves in the shadows, where both criminality and exploitation can thrive. The authorities continue to uncover and break-up gangs of criminals among expatriates who are involved in robberies and extortion. And then there are those relatively few unscrupulous Saudis who prefer to hire illegal workers, because they know that they can pay them a pittance and also treat them in a manner that is unacceptable under regulations for illegal workers — for instance making them work more than eight hours a day and lodging them in sub-standard, unsanitary conditions. Very often tricked into such illegal employment, for all too many such illegal workers, there is no way out. Lacking proper papers and maybe even have their passports confiscated, they can find themselves unable to make remittances to their families back home, through proper banking channels. Instead they have to rely on unofficial and expensive money transfers, which sometimes do not in fact take place at all. The illegal workers therefore find themselves trapped, as virtual slaves and totally unable to support their families, which was the reason they came to the Kingdom in the first place. Moreover, they fear to go to the authorities and complain, because they know that this will result in their being sent home. It has to be a matter for regret that Saudis who employ illegals and typically take advantage of their vulnerability, rarely suffer the level of punishment that will stop them from reoffending, and discourage others from breaking the employment laws. Put simply, if the opportunities for illegal work were not there, the whole issue of expatriates working outside the system would not exist. Meanwhile, the authorities should be commended for their persistent drive to root out what amounts to a dangerous trade in human beings, dangerous for Saudi society and for many foreigners who become involved.
