Gulf states attract expats from KSA

JEDDAH: Several construction firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are hiring expat workers who failed to legalize their work status in the Kingdom. Several cities in the UAE have benefited from the existence of these laborers-in-limbo thanks to huge, pending mega-infrastructural projects and a shortage in manpower. Many of the Kingdom’s 8 million expats, especially those under the sponsorship of their fathers, continue to face obstacles in transferring their sponsorship onto the companies in which they work. According to Saudi laws, residents above the age of 25 must change their status on their residency permits from being students to being employed or find new sponsors altogether. Many major employers stall sponsorship transfer, placing additional pressure on job seekers and youth who end up in a legal limbo and resort to looking for employment elsewhere in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “Expat workers will naturally move between Gulf states in pursuit of opportunities when they fail to achieve security where they are,” said Fadel Abul Ainain, a consultant for several private companies. “They can’t, however, directly migrate to a neighboring country. Expats usually go back to their home countries in order to be able to get a new visa to another Gulf country.” This crisis has come to the advantage of many neighboring states. “Several firms in Qatar and the UAE are interested in hiring skilled and experienced expat workers who have spent many years in the Kingdom,” economist Ali Hamdan told Arab News. “Qatar has huge financial wealth, but faces a labor shortage due to its small population.” Qatar plans to spend as much as $205 billion on infrastructure between 2013 and 2018 as the country invests its vast hydrocarbon wealth in a development boom, said the acting head of project finance at the state’s largest lender. “The Gulf Arab state is spending billions of dollars in the transport, electricity and water generation and housing domains in an effort to improve the overall economy and in a bid to contend for hosting the 2022 World Cup,” he said. Arab News