Faiza Rizvi Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The three-month grace period granted to expatriates to rectify their residency status has put an end to the problems of several expatriates. However, for a large number of them this period is not enough to fix their iqama problems and are under extreme pressure. Many of them cannot work under sponsors, either because they are not qualified or their sponsors cannot regularize their paperwork. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, a Bangladeshi worker who earns only SR500 a month in a barbershop expressed his dismay at the situation. He said: “My sponsor says he can't help me and I will have to go back to Bangladesh. “I took a loan of SR20,000 to pay the recruitment agent when I came here two years back. “My mother is sick and I'm the only breadwinner for my family. “My loan hasn't been paid and with the fear of new laws, I don't know what to do.”
Saeed, a Pakistani, who works as a receptionist in a Jeddah clinic, said the clinic's management clearly refused to help him. He added that the management is asking him to pay them the prescribed fee in order to get his sponsorship changed legally. But with an income that hardly fulfills his family's basic needs, he knows three months is definitely not sufficient to gather the amount that the clinic management is demanding. He said: “My wife and I have been living here for more than 20 years but due to the announcement of a three-month period to rectify our visas or else leave the country, we are petrified about what would happen. “In Pakistan, we don't even have our own house. What are we going to do? We don't want to go back home after three months.” A private business owner who runs a small-scale textile business in downtown Balad and wished to remain anonymous said he was helpless with the current situation. “Most of the retailers I deal with are Saudis and are aware of the fact that I don't possess a legally sponsored iqama. “Due to the new labor laws, they feel I will be forced to leave the country after a few months and don't want to deal with me anymore. “I got a call from my most important retailer today and he said he wants to look for alternate solutions and will stop dealing with me. “I'm terribly upset because if this situation continues, my business will soon come to an end.” Sami, a Filipino worker at a local bakery, is frantically looking for another job where the company would offer him legal sponsorship. He said: “I'm not qualified enough to get a job in a company and none of the bakeries where I went to ask for work want to employ me.” He added that his wife and three kids in the Philippines depend on his income for their survival. “I just wish that these three months never come to an end.”
