Dubai police chief calls for expat quota system

DUBAI - Expatriates are a threat to the UAE's national identity and the country should impose quotas on all nationalities to keep the population in check, Dubai's police chief said in remarks published on Monday.

"Today Emiratis are very concerned about their national identity, as the number of foreigners is rising rapidly and nationals are now a minority in their own country," Lt General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told local daily Khaleej Times.

"To keep the balance, I recommended a quota system that would ensure that the number of other nationalities should not be more than UAE nationals and Arabs," he added.

The UAE, like other Gulf states, is heavily reliant on expatriate workers to drive its economy. Expatriates account for around 85 percent of the population and their proportion of the workforce is even higher.

The UAE's economic boom that lasted for much of the last decade saw large numbers of expatriates flock to the country to take advantage of tax-free salaries and year-round sunshine.

However, the influx of foreigners has raised fears about the erosion of local culture and rising unemployment among nationals.

Tamim described expatriates are a threat to the UAE's national identity, heritage and language and said the government had the right to protect these, according to Khaleej Times.

"Each country has its own rules and conditions and we have to do the same to preserve our national identity," he was quoted as saying.

The UAE and other Gulf states have been looking at ways to address the increasing proportion of foreigners that make up their populations for several years.

One idea that was discussed at the annual summit of Gulf leaders was to impose a cap on how long an expatriate could live in any one Gulf state.

Source : By Yahoo! Maktoob

Dec 27, 2010