The head of the Expatriates Administration at Makkah's Passports Department has said that persons in breach of labor and residency laws and found working for themselves are obliged to pay for their own deportation procedures. If they are working for other persons illegally, then those employers are liable to pay. “The government will not pay the deportation costs of illegal residents or illegal workers if they are detained for violations of regulations,” said Hussein Al-Harithy. “If workers are found to be in breach by working for someone else, then they will be deported at the expense of that employer.” If those employers fail to appear at the Administration to pay, then the Administration itself pays. “This is to ensure that deportation is not delayed, and we recuperate the sum from the employer later,” Al-Harithy said. The Administration in Makkah has stopped 331 attempts to flee the country under false names by persons wanted by their sponsors, according to Al-Harithy, while in the last month alone 20,000 persons in violation of residency and labor laws have been deported back to their home countries. “They have all been fingerprinted and eye-scanned,” he said. “The system has been a great success in preventing persons trying to leave the Kingdom under false names, and in preventing the return of deported individuals.”
