Life for Bangladeshi expats living in Saudi Arabia is becoming increasingly difficult, as the Saudi government comes down hard on expatriates and deports them for working jobs beyond their work permit.
As a general rule, for expatriates to work in the desert country, they need an Iqama (legal residency permit that permits expats to live and work in Saudi Arabia). It dictates the kind of jobs an individual is allowed to work amongst other things.
However, up until a few years ago the government was quite lax when it came to working jobs that are not permitted in the Iqama.
As a result, migrant workers were able to put in extra hours or have a side job that would allow them to bring in extra money, which is no longer possible.
On Sept 12, the Saudi Ministry for Labour and Social Development implemented the ‘Saudization’, a move that made 12 job areas off limits to migrant workers.
The expats are forbidden to work in watch shops, optical stores, medical equipment stores, electrical and electronics shops, outlets selling spare car parts, building material shops, outlets selling all types of carpets, automobile and mobile phone shops, shops selling home furniture and ready-made office material, sales outlets of ready-made garments, children clothes and men’s supplies, household utensils shops and pastry shops.
Before the ‘Saudization,’ the expats could still work jobs beyond their Iqama despite the illegality, but since the government deployed 200 inspectors in all regions of the Kingdom to follow up on the implementation, they can no longer get away with it.
Saudi citizens are starting to cut down their luxurious lifestyle as the economy has taken a plunge which in turn has limited job opportunities for expatriates even further.
The result was that expats are being rounded up all over the Kingdom and are being deported to Bangladesh, sometimes after serving jail time.
A large number of workers have recently returned to the country from Saudi Arabia and related their difficulties to the media.
The returnees said that they had to work for sponsors on the basis of a contract. They would pay for the Iqama from their own pockets as well as pay a particular amount to their sponsor.
However, since the renewal fee for the work permit has gone up, a lot of them had to resort to taking on extra jobs and ended up being heavily penalised for it.
“There is no work in Saudi Arabia. I got caught and came back even though I spent Tk 900,000 to come here,” Tara Mia, who returned after staying for two and half years told Bangla Tribune.
Not everyone was as lucky as Tara Mia though. A lot of the returnees were seen coming back without anything. They were caught and deported without any warning.
“They are arresting expats left and right. I lived there for 14 years but had to come back after serving three months in jail,” said Morshed Alam another returnee.
Most of the returnees said that since getting caught usually results in a fine of 20,000 Riyals, the sponsors do not wish to vouch for them.
They also complained that recruiting agencies gave them false hopes of extra work despite the low pay to send them to Saudi Arabia.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Secretary General Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman refuted the claims.
”It’s illegal to work beyond the work permit anywhere in the world.
“We repeatedly tell the recruiting agencies that it should be made clear everywhere that it is a punishable offence,” he said.
The International Labour Organization and BAIRA are working together to educate the recruiting agencies about laws, policies and ethical recruiting, said Noman.
A statement sent to the Bangladesh Embassy to Saudi Arabia, said that illegal migrant workers who were staying in Saudi and working jobs not permitted in their Iqama are being deported as per the Saudi government’s rule.
As many as 1,116 expatriates have been deported to Bangladesh between Oct 3 and 17.