A number of expatriates gather Monday in front of the post office, hoping to get a form for receiving SR5,000 from the government. (SG photo by Fouzia Khan)JEDDAH: A number of expatriates of different nationalities gathered in front of the post office on Gharnata Street on Monday, hoping to get a form for receiving SR5,000 from the government. Some of them told Saudi Gazette that they had heard about the news and came to ask if the form is available. “I am standing here since yesterday to get the form and many other people came as well in the hope that we will get the money from the government, but no one knows whether we will get this money or not,” said Sulaiman Shah, a guard at a nearby building. “At the moment we are just paying SR35 for the form; we have to submit our Iqama copy with it to get the money.” Another expatriate, Hassan Ahmed from India, said everyone was saying that the government is giving SR5,000 to expatriates and that Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, the Emir of Makkah Region, announced that people should submit the form and a copy of their Iqama to get the money. “So we all gathered here, but at the moment we don't know whether we will get it or not, but we are all filling out the form and paying SR35,” he said. “We have no idea if this announcement is for everyone or just for the people who are affected by the flood.” None of the expatriates outside the post office were being asked if they were affected by the flood and everyone was being allowed to fill out the form, said Rabul Islam from Bangladesh. “We are poor expatriates,” he said. “It will be real help for us.” According to a statement from the post office on Gharnata Street, Prince Khaled asked expatriates affected by the recent floods in Jeddah to send the application to him to receive compensation. According to Omar Mohammed, an official at the post office, expatriates of all nationalities can fill the form, attach a copy of their Iqama and send it by express mail to the governor's office; the service started Saturday and people can send the application through any post office and other governmental offices. “We really don't know whether they will get the money or not,” Mohammed said. “Many people are asking us and we told them that we don't know anything, but they can send the form at their own risk by attaching the copy of their Iqama and mentioning their problems.”
