DAMMAM — The Ministry of Labor's status rectification campaign has obliged a large number of expatriate business owners operating under tasattur (a business defined as one where foreigners run and control a business in exchange for a monthly fee paid to the registered Saudi owner), to transfer their savings and experiences to their home countries because they are unable to rectify their status. According to Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, these expatriates have dominated commercial activities in the retail sector such as the fruit and vegetable market, poultry, carpentry, construction, furniture, repair and maintenance workshops, clothes and tailoring, private transport and many others. Omar Al-Shaikh, a legal Yemeni expatriate, said he benefited from the long experience he gained from working for a Saudi fish company which enabled him to establish his own private fish business under tasattur with a number of his Saudi friends. “The Saudi partners played no role in the company other than finishing governmental paperwork and making a profit from the company,” he said. Al-Shaikh said his company was a great success and he established a number of fish restaurants. “Through the commercial licenses of my Saudi partners, I was able to recruit some of my relatives. However, after the status-correction campaign, many of my workers had to either to leave the country or transfer their iqamas to other establishments,” he said. Al-Shaikh said he decided to move his savings and experience to Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates. “I will also consider pursuing the same profession in my home country,” he said. Mohammed Qamar, an Indian, said he could no longer manage to run his curtain and decoration shop after many of his workers left because of the status-rectification campaign. “I am preparing to go back to India to set up the same business there,” he said. Akmal Salim, a Bangladeshi security guard in Dammam said, he was able to open a fruit and vegetable store. “I asked one of my compatriots to look after the shop which was making a lot of money. My secret partner had to leave because he could not correct his status,” he said. Salim said he would take the money he had made to his country to open a similar shop there. Dr. Khaled Al-Ghamdi, a specialist in small and medium enterprises, expected Saudis to make sufficient profits in the retail business after the expatriates are gone. “Saudis will take over this business, which has been dominated by expatriates for a long time,” he said.
