Eight years ago, big dreams flashed in the imagination of the Yemeni young man in his twenties (Adel Al-Falahi), who was looking forward to getting a job opportunity in Saudi Arabia, in exchange for giving up his university learning, which he refrained from in fulfillment of his obligations towards his parents and brothers, since he had become their sole breadwinner.
Adel had succeeded to save enough money to obtain a “visitor ID,” which was his legal mean to obtain the opportunity to work in Saudi Arabia. Currently, after ten years of hard work, Adel, and many of his Yemeni expatriate counterparts in Saudi Arabia, see that reality no longer matches what was in his imagination to the extent that his dreams of providing what would keep his family alive and preserve what remains of his dignity among the people of his village when he returns home as he told Khuyut.
The dream of immigrating for work
Under the influence of the conflict devastating consequences and the series of recurring setbacks of the Yemeni crisis, the option of emigrating from the homeland has become a dream for a large segment of Yemeni youth who dream of affordable livelihoods that were impossible to obtain in their country. The dream of immigration has become a forced escape from the frustrations of the country's reality, which is becoming increasingly miserable and complicated at all economic, security and social aspects.
Although this reality has existed for decades, but it has further escalated more noticeably than before in the recent years, despite the travel obstacles and restrictions that coincided with the outbreak of conflict in the country, and the resulting collapse of the local currency (the riyal), the interruption of employee salaries in the public sector, and the restrictions of air traffic to and from Yemen, to the narrowest extent.
Under such circumstances, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remained, as before, the first destination for Yemeni labor, while others sought job opportunities in other Arab countries such as the Sultanate of Oman, Jordan, and Egypt. However, they are a smaller percentage compared to the approximately two million Yemeni immigrants in Saudi Arabia, in spite of the cumbersome legal procedures related to working or obtaining residency in the country of emigration, they found themselves facing options that were all bitter.
There are many immigrants who have gone through a similar experience and share the same impressions regarding the unexpected deterioration that Yemen has fallen into over the past two decades, as well as the dwindling opportunities and increasing the complexities in labor laws in the neighboring countries.
Some unofficial estimates indicate that there are about 5 million Yemeni expatriates distributed in different countries of the world, including about 1.8 million Yemenis working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including a significant percentage of those who do not hold official work permits (residency), given that they are unable to pay the visa fees, which amounts to a minimum of 10,000 Saudi riyals. This huge amount of money was a real challenge for most Yemenis who are forced by need and poverty to leave the country and search for work opportunities in wealthy neighboring countries.
Additionally, illegal expatriates who do not have official residency are forced to work in exploitative conditions and receive low wages, in addition to the burden of hiding from the authorities who track down violators and deport them back to Yemen. However, a significant percentage of these workers are trying to cling to their uncomfortable situation, for reasons related to their obligations towards their families, most of whom have become without breadwinners, especially with the continued interruption of salaries for public sector employees in Yemen since August 2016, and the limited job opportunities, in addition to the collapse of the local currency as well as the dramatic rise in prices of basic goods and services is minimal.
Years of fruitless migration
Al-Falahi said in an interview with Khuyut: “I arrived in the Kingdom in 2013, after a friend advised me to obtain a visitor’s Visa, which cost me 4,000 Saudi riyals at the time, in addition to 3,000 riyals for issuing a passport. At first, I got a job with a Saudi citizen. I agreed to work for him for two thousand riyals a month, and although some months he did not pay anything, I remained in my job with him for nearly two years, and the total I saved was only about 10 thousand riyals.”
“After that, we had to obtain official residency, find a sponsor or an institution, and it cost me about 12 thousand riyals because I was self-employed, I used to pay 450 riyals every month (to the registry and to the sponsor). This continued for a whole year. After that, I had to renew my residency, and I actually paid the sponsor an amount of 9 thousand riyals in residency renewal fees, me and 40 other expatriates; (Yemeni and non-Yemeni). Nonetheless, I was surprised that the sponsor had already filed a report against me for escape, since I was not working for him because the Saudi authorities closed his business for not paying the insurance debts he had accumulated. However, what saddened me most was that all the amount I paid to the sponsor was in vain without him renewing our expired residency. Although he does not deny receiving the amount, he used the excuse that he did not have the money to repay me or renew the residency.” Al-Falahi added.
He continued further: “Then someone advised me to join a sole proprietorship, which I did later. It cost me about 4,000 riyals (transfer of sponsorship and insurance fees). After completing the procedures - on the basis that it was a sole proprietorship - when I was preparing to receive the permission from the labor office, I was surprised by the request to renew my residence permit for the previous year, meaning that I had to pay 7,500 riyals for the previous year. Unfortunately, I did not have that amount, so when I returned later to obtain a work card, I was told that I had to pay 18,000 riyals as a double fine and a penalty for being late in paying the installment fees for the previous year, i.e. the amount spent by the sponsor.”
Al-Falahi recounts many other details of challenges that he experienced in this manner of complexity, saying: “Most of my income went to cover the fees for legal arrangements, or was dissipated in a maze of complications or fraud sometimes. Despite all that, from time to time I managed to wire transfer a small amount that was not sometimes exceeds 200 Saudi riyals for my family in Yemen, but that is no longer possible now due to the cessation of my work as a mobile booth owner during entertainment festivals that are held temporarily and moving between Saudi cities.” Al-Falahi said
This unpleasant reality has made many Yemenis immigrants outside the country to think about returning home, but Al-Falahi - and those in his situation - are still waiting for a breakthrough that will relieve him of the embarrassment of returning to his family empty-handed: “I think a lot about returning to Yemen, but I don’t even have 5 thousand riyals, even though I spent many years abroad, and I do not want to return home unrewarded as the day I left.”
Option to return home
In view of the harsh reality like this, the option of returning home has become an urgent option for a significant percentage of Yemeni workers working in Saudi Arabia or other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, especially in the recent time following the tightening of legal procedures regarding expatriate workers during the past ten years. However, a large percentage of expatriates are still afraid not to take this risks, for fear that their living situation will deteriorate again, especially in light of the catastrophic crisis that Yemen has descended into, which has made many people look forward again to remain in their work in the diaspora without being helped by conditions and procedures that are witnessing rapid change over time.
In an interview with Khuyut, Sa'ad (74 years old), who left Yemen to work in Saudi Arabia in his early teens, and from there he moved to Kuwait, where he spent the first decade of his early youth: “We did not feel any difference in rights or treatment from the people of the country at all. That period was one of the most beautiful and most profitable periods of my life.” He confirmed.
"I hope those days will return. It was a mistake that I decided to return to Yemen, while the conditions were suitable at the time to bring my family and settle there, but I did not expect the situation in Yemen to deteriorate to the extent we are today." Uncle Sa'ad added in a tone filled with sadness and nostalgia for the past.
There are many immigrants who have gone through a similar experience and share the same impressions regarding the unexpected deterioration that Yemen has fallen into over the past two decades, as well as the dwindling opportunities and increasing the complexities in labor laws in the neighboring countries.
Moreover, Mohammad Al-Saeedi (43 years old) told Khuyut about his journey in search of a job opportunity in the Sultanate of Oman, which he arrived in mid-2017, when procedures were still relatively relaxed for Yemenis at that time: “When I arrived, I decided to build my own project. I came up with the idea of opening a small restaurant. I actually managed to collect some money, and borrowed from people I knew, and when everything was almost ready, I decided to return to Yemen to visit my family and bring some young people from my village to work for me in the restaurant. Unfortunately, this was a grave mistake because in the same week I arrived in Yemen, the Omani authorities tightened their procedures regarding the entry of Yemenis into their lands so that I lost everything.” Al-Saeedi said.
Government failure
For more than a third of a century, the ruling political elites in Yemen have failed to correct the situation of Yemeni expatriates in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, especially in Saudi Arabia. Instead, it directly caused the largest devastating crisis for Yemeni expatriates during the First Gulf War in 1990 on the background of the Yemeni government position. In fact, the Yemeni government stance was described as "complicit" in response to the Iraqi regime's invasion of Kuwait, after the Yemeni Foreign Ministry abstained from voting in the Arab League regarding the decision to form a military alliance to liberate Kuwait. As a result, this unwise decision led to the cancellation of the privileges enjoyed by Yemeni workers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, while their financial remittances exceeded two billion dollars in that time, which is a huge amount compared to Yemen’s national product in that pivotal era.
Thus, the negative position of the Yemeni government at that time caused the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni expatriates, in a sudden economic shock followed by a chronic and successive faltering recovery. This was considered by some observers to be irresponsible decision by the ruling authority, and a risk to the relationship with Kuwait, which was the most generous supporter of Yemen ever, especially in the education and health sectors. Most importantly, all these grants were unconditional support and without manna or harm.
