JEDDAH — A recent study has revealed that 80 percent of criminal cases expatriates are involved in are of a financial nature. The reasons include businesses not paying workers on time and employees working for employers other than their sponsors, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported. The study showed that workers with no permanent jobs and their desire to make money quickly are among other reasons for increased crime rates among expatriates. The sample of the study, prepared by the Prince Mishal Bin Majed Chair on Tasattur (where foreigners run and control a business in exchange for a monthly fee paid to the registered Saudi owner), included 50.7 percent of workers on legal visas, 25.8 percent on Umrah visas and the rest on different visas. The study cited research that recommended replacing expatriate workers with Saudis who should receive necessary training and qualifications. The market is in need of committed workers who are capable, especially in small and medium enterprises that are suffering from various problems associated with expatriate workers, it said. The study pointed to the many expatriate workers who are looking for jobs. Such unemployed workers gather in groups and create havens for criminal activity in major cities like Jeddah, usually settling in slum neighborhoods, it claimed. The study said some businesses contribute to such problems by neglecting their workers. In addition, the mechanism for tracking illegal workers is not effective in realizing its goal of deporting dangerous workers who work for those other than their sponsors, it said. The study stressed that one of the most dangerous sources of unemployed expatriate workers is the black market on visas, where expatriates are brought into the country without there being a real need for their services. An additional cause is the ban on expatriates' spouses to work legally, causing them to violate regulations to provide an additional income. The difficulty of changing professions on iqamas and preventing expatriates' children who were born in the country from working also add to the problem, the study said. The study also pointed to the problem of expatriates who illegally remain in the country after they have finished their Haj or Umrah rituals. Some illegal expatriates gather around passport offices demanding to be detained and deported to their countries on the Saudi government's expense, said the study. The study cited the Sudanese community's control of the cement business, the Bangladeshis' control of the fruit and vegetable business and the Yemenis' control of house maintenance. Finally, there is the problem of government facilitators (muaqebs) who use different illegal methods to rectify expatriates' statuses for large amounts of money, claimed the study. This problem is a chronic one from which Saudi society has suffered for decades, said the research. The study said this problem is on the increase due to many social, economic and organizational reasons and the increase in pilgrim numbers, despite government efforts to deal with it. Security reports indicate that those who remain in the country after completing their Haj or Umrah rituals commit different crimes and are a threat to society. The study said that begging is one of the biggest problems caused by expatriates and that there are gangs that force children to beg during Haj. These groups even provide buses for transporting these beggar children, who live on mountains and in slums, to their designated areas. The study called for a preventive security strategy to deal with the causes of these phenomena. Security and judicial bodies are not the only bodies required to combat this trend, but society should also shoulder its responsibility by helping implement necessary preventive means, said the study.
