Fake Saudi cos sponsor highest number of workers from BD, says a study

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FE Report Expatriate Bangladeshis constitute the largest group of foreign workers engaged illegally by fake sponsors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), says a recent study conducted by the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. Sponsors generally hire workers from foreign countries into the KSA and engage them in different government agencies and private companies on requirements. Among the expatriate workers, sponsored illegally by fake companies in the KSA, Bangladeshis constitute the largest number that is equivalent to 22.7 per cent of all illegal foreign workers there, said the study, published in the Arab News on Sunday. After Bangladeshis, Egyptians constitute some 19 per cent followed by Syrians (14.1 per cent), Yemenis, Sudanese, Palestinians and Lebanese expatriate workers sponsored by the fake companies in Saudi Arabia. However, the study revealed a startling fact that some 80 per cent of all undocumented foreign workers engaged in Saudi Arabia are hired by fake companies or sponsors in the Kingdom. Due to illegal practice of sponsoring expatriate workers by unscrupulous companies in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom loses some 45 billion Saudi Riyal annually in terms of revenue, said the Arab News. The study led by Prince Mishal bin Majid, a grandson of King Abdulaziz, however criticised the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) for its inaction against the vice. The study based on quarterly statistics issued by the Consumer Affairs Committee of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, claimed that SAGIA has not achieved its desired objectives and the malpractices continue unabated. The construction sector followed by the consumer goods and the general trade sections are involved in sponsoring most fake workers in the Kingdom. The study identified poor surveillance and weak control of the Saudi government on its different agencies as the main causes behind the prevalence of this malpractice by the fake companies in the Kingdom, spread across the vast Arab peninsula. The study also revealed that the rate of remittances by foreign workers have increased and the number of fake institutions have grown in number recently, indicating the strong existence of fake sponsors of expatriate workers. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh has called for an extension of the amnesty period as it has not been able to legalise about 400,000 of its nationals according to Saudi residency laws. The Bangladesh embassy has regularised the documents of some 350,000 undocumented Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia since May last and 25,000 others received exit visa as they could not produce relevant papers to stay back there. There are 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh working in the Kingdom with valid work permits. The deadline to legalise or update the immigration documents for undocumented foreign workers expires on November 4 next and it may not be possible for the embassy to update the documents of such a large number of Bangladeshi workers by the timeframe. Saudi authorities will deport or punish undocumented workers after the deadline, said Saudi Gazette on Thursday.