Gulf nations tightening borders to keep out illegal migrants

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, which together have the highest per capita income in the world, are cracking down on overstaying expatriates in a bid to forestall turmoil in local labour markets.

Saudi Arabia has also warned that it would take action against visitors who come on pilgrimage to Islam's two holiest shrines of Mecca and Medina in the kingdom, and attempt to stay on.

As its people become more assertive, the oil-rich region is tightening borders, trying to reduce the region's dependence on expatriates, a large numbers of whom are from South Asia and have helped transform the desert into modern cities.

Saudi Arabia, the largest and most powerful country in the regional grouping Gulf Cooperation Council, is in the midst of a massive ''nationalisation'' of its workforce. Late last year, it issued a list of countries whose professionals would not be given permits to work in 14 areas. Authorities said it was part of a drive to raise domestic employment.

Tens of thousands of expatriates stand to lose their jobs, sparking off fears of an exodus of similar proportions to the one witnessed in the United Arab Emirates last year.

''We'll impose strict punishment on the overstayers (sic) as well as those who give them protection,'' said Major General Asad Abdul Karim, director-general of the Saudi passport department.

Saudi authorities have deported 76 minor Indian girls last month, who were either abandoned or sold by their parents and found begging in Mecca and Medina during Ramzan, the month of fasting for devout Muslims.

Most of the children, some as young as six years old, had lost a limb or were scarred with burn marks, making them more successful as beggars on the streets of the oil-rich kingdom.

In the first two weeks of Ramzan alone, a particularly lucrative time for beggars, Saudi authorities arrested more than 120 Indian children suspected of being the victims of well-organised trafficking rings.

Immigration and labour authorities in Saudi Arabia and its five GCC partners -- Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE -- almost daily round up illegal migrants who are assisted to stay on by locals for a monetary consideration.

The raids are usually targetted at Asians, who account for the bulk of the expatriate low-paid labour. Most of them work in the construction sector as well as shops, garages, restaurants, and other small enterprises and are mainly from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

In the UAE, a crackdown on illegal migrants last year, police say, has resulted in a drop in the numbers of offenders. ''We are intensifying our campaigns to check and apprehend all those who violate the residency law,'' Major General Humaid Ali, inspector general at the UAE interior ministry, told the local press.

Under the law, any UAE national or resident or manager of a company hiring a foreigner sponsored by another individual or company will face up to three years in jail and/or a fine ranging from 2,500 to 8,000 dollar for every declared absconder who has been hired.

Every expatriate in the Gulf has a sponsor who could be a locally-registered company or individual. Referring to some nationals who sell visas, Major General Ali said a company or individual who sponsors foreigners to come to the UAE and then fail to give them work or allow them to work for others would face the same penalties.

Last year, around 200,000 foreigners who had overstayed or entered the UAE illegally were allowed to leave without being fined or imprisoned during a four-month amnesty declared by the government. More than 150,000 workers, however, managed to legalise their stay in the UAE after the December 31 deadline.

UAE Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Saif al-Jarwan said there would be surprise raids in the day and at night to stop violations. ''The raids will also target those labour places which recruit women and children illegally and which do not stick to safety regulations,'' he said.

Police records showed more than 25,000 Asians were arrested between 1970 and 1995, and most of them had come by sea from neighbouring Iran. UAE officials say the new laws need to be supported with intensified air and naval patrols and severe punishment for those recruiting illegal immigrants.

Expatriates from South Asia account for more than half of the UAE's population of 2.3 million and two thirds of its workforce. Asians were attracted by the UAE's previously lax immigration laws, poorly-guarded coasts, the presence of a large Asian community that could help them find jobs, and a high per capita income of around 16.5 dollars.

UNI