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In pictures: Saudi’s illegal workers

Saudi Arabia is deporting illegal foreign workers in an effort to reduce unemployment among Saudis.

Saudi Arabia has been deporting illegal foreign workers as part of labour reforms designed to reduce unemployment among its own citizens.
Published On 7 Nov 2013

The Saudi government is enforcing labour laws, hoping that reducing the number of illegal workers in the kingdom will create opportunities for Saudi job seekers.The official Saudi unemployment rate is 12 percent, but excludes a large number of citizens who say they are not seeking a job.

However, the majority of the kingdom’s nine million foreigners work as unskilled labourers or domestic workers, jobs usually shunned by Saudis.

Illegal workers were initially given a period of three months from April onwards to fix their legal documents for work and residency.
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The security sweep comes after seven months of warnings by Saudi Arabia(***)s government, which has created a task force of 1,200 Labour Ministry officials who are combing the country in search of foreign workers employed without proper permits.
More than 16,000 people have already been rounded up, according to authorities.
Authorities say that since warnings were issued earlier this year, almost seven million foreigners in Saudi Arabia corrected their paperwork to accurately reflect their occupation and workplace.
The kingdom also issued more than one million final exit visas, which ban people from ever returning.
Saudi officials were quoted as saying that nearly half of the illegal workers were arrested near the southern border with Yemen.
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For decades Saudi authorities ignored irregularities such as working for firms that had not sponsored their visas or working in trades other than those listed on immigration documents.
Hundreds of thousands of workers left Saudi Arabia during the seven-month grace period.
However, many workers still cannot leave the country because they lack official papers, including passports.