THE grace period granted by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to foreigners violating the work and residency system to rectify their status is about to end. The amnesty was granted to foreigners to correct all kinds of violations, including “huroob” (fugitive) status of those who ran away from their legal sponsors, working for people who are not legal sponsors and the like. The grace period will end on July 3, which is very close. Why are many people now calling for an extension to this grace period? I am surprised by the extension requests. Haven't we been complaining about the presence of a large number of foreigners in our country? Haven't we been decrying the “tasatur” (cover-up) operations being undertaken by foreigners in the name of Saudi citizens? Do not we realize the economic, social and security impacts of the large number of undocumented foreigners on our country? The grace period should not be extended for a simple reason, which is “the credibility of reforms”. People will lose confidence in the government if the amnesty is extended. We are sick of decisions that are not implemented. We should realize the huge damage caused by illegal foreigners to our economy. Do you know, for instance, that the government subsidy to fuel reached about SR513 billion in three years from 2009 to 2011? The millions of illegal foreigners have exhausted the economy of our country through this subsidy. This is in addition to the growing consumption of food, water and electricity. The country is bleeding as a result of providing transport, housing and other services to the large number of illegal foreigners. Billions of riyals have been spent on recruiting foreign manpower while our young men and women remain jobless. Any extension of the grace period will mean that we are not firm enough in implementing decisions. There is tremendous pressure to extend the amnesty period, succumbing to which means we will never be able to reform the labor market. We want our country to change for the better after July 3. We should make sure that the grace period is never extended. This will be for the welfare of the country and its citizens.
