By MARIAM NIHAL | ARAB NEWS
JEDDAH: Saudi law does not offer citizenship to people who have spent a substantial part of their lives in the Kingdom nor to those born and brought up in Saudi Arabia to immigrant parents. This often leads to a constant search for lost identity and a state of internal conflict among expatriates. The problem primarily afflicts the second generation, who was born in the Kingdom and follows local lifestyle and values.
The generic feeling among most Saudi-born children with foreign parents is being lost and deprived of what they claim is their birthright. “I was born in Saudi and everything I know was fashioned and formed in this way. When I go abroad and people ask me where I am from, I don’t say India, because Saudi Arabia is my home and I cannot imagine living anywhere else,” said Jumaimah Asif, a designer living in Jeddah.
Bilal Asghar, 49 years old and hailing from Pakistan, has been working in the Kingdom as a driver for over 25 years. “My father brought me here when I was around five years and since then, we moved around the Kingdom.” Asghar is married, but his family lives in Pakistan. “I know more about this country than some Saudi kids, but I always feel they look down upon me because I am not a Saudi. Nonetheless, I love this country and wish I could live here for the rest of my life. I am loyal to this land, and even though I live apart from my family, I cannot imagine myself anywhere but in Saudi.”
In Saudi Arabia, foreign workers need to have a local sponsor, known as a kafeel. All expatriates pay a fee for an iqama (residence permit) to their kafeels. As a result of this system, expatriates live in a constant state of uncertainty, not knowing how long their kafeel will keep sponsoring them. One of them is Tariq Kashif, a 47-year-old laborer in Jeddah. “I live at the disposal of my kafeel, to whom I have to pay a regular fee to renew my iqama. This dependence is very hard for me, because I am afraid to lose my iqama one day. I never want to leave Saudi Arabia!”
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article559980.ece
Categories: Asia, Saudi Arabia