Qaisar Mutawie Al-Madinah The decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to extend until Nov. 4 the grace period for violating foreigners to correct their status has made both expatriates and Saudi employers very happy. The first amnesty period of three months was not enough for the foreigners to rectify their situations. This period was full of mistakes and problems that we should avoid this time. One cause of these problems was that the concerned departments, particularly the Passport Department (Jawazat), was not quite ready to receive the large number of foreigners wishing to rectify their status. The procedures were slow and the reception centers were few. This led to chaos at these centers. Large crowds of foreigners stood for long hours under the scorching sun to complete their procedures. The bad organization and the inefficient use of technology were very obvious in these centers. The Jawazat did not have sufficient personnel to handle the paperwork. There were no clear-cut instructions for the foreigners to follow. There were no translators available for the non-Arabic speaking foreigners. There were no cleaners to clean the areas around the centers, which looked like landfill sites. On many occasions, the Jawazat personnel lost their temper and took out their anger on the helpless foreigners. On the other hand, many foreigners had suffered from the bad treatment of their sponsors and employers. Many of the expatriates could not locate their sponsors to complete their procedures. Some sponsors refused to release the expatriates even though they did not work for them, while other sponsors asked the foreigners to pay them large amounts of money before giving them a release. For these reasons some foreigners missed the chance to rectify their status during the first amnesty period. We hope that the dignity and honor of the foreigners will be respected during this new grace period. The mistakes and violations that happened during the first grace period should not be repeated this time. There should be better organization, faster service and complete respect for the humanity of the foreigners. We should create more service centers, man them with sufficient personnel, provide translators and facilitate the procedures of status correction for the foreigners. It is also necessary to find a solution to the issue of the sponsors who are either not available or are asking the foreigners for large sums of money to release them. Let us make this new grace period a real opportunity for all violating foreigners to correct their status. The other concerned government departments should fully cooperate with the Jawazat and the Labor Ministry to correct the status of foreigners. These include the municipalities and chambers of commerce who should issue or renew licenses and authenticate papers quickly. Mistakes have marred the first grace period. We hope that this new period will be flawless.
