Expats are feeling the heat from government bans on recruitment in Gulf States start to bite.
The latest move comes in Oman, where a six-month ban on expats taking posts has been extended.
Saudi Arabia is also clamping down on the number of expats while taking steps to retool the economy and employ more nationals in key positions.
In Oman, the government is forcing companies to employ locals rather than expats.
More than 150 companies have been fined for ignoring the law as each hired more than 40 expats to fill roles.
Million expats netted in crackdown
“In case of non-compliance with the Omanisation rate prescribed and determined by at least 10%, the Ministry will take the necessary legal action,” said a statement from the Ministry of Manpower.
The six-month ban imposed in January covers 87 business sectors, including the media, engineering, marketing and sales, accounting and finance, IT, insurance, technicians, administration and human resources.
“An update will be issued regarding this decision once the six-month period temporary ban is completed,” said the ministry – which has now added carpentry, metal, aluminium workshops and brick factories to the blacklist.
In Saudi Arabi, the government reports more than 1 million expats have been caught violating residence, work and border security laws.
The authorities have already deported 305,000 expats. Many thousands more have left the country voluntarily due to a rising cost of living due to the introduction of sales taxes and fees for bringing dependants to the country.
Many of the deported expats are illegal immigrants escaping from the civil war in Yemen, which lies on Saudi Arabia’s southern border.
Kuwait ban for expats under 30 cancelled
Kuwait has cancelled a ban on employing expats aged under 30 years old with university degrees from July.
Menial jobs, such as driving, cleaning and some factory workers were exempt.
The Manpower Public Authority (PAM) had said the government wanted to attract only experienced and qualified expats aged at least 30 to work in Kuwait.
The aim was to ‘guide employers and private companies’ to employ Kuwaiti nationals and create jobs for young Kuwaitis with university graduates.
Although the Gulf States are discouraging expats to take jobs, many professional and management posts are still open to them.
Saudi Arabia:
1. Fire all Bangladeshi street sweepers because all they do is sleeping in the mosque hamams (i.e. ablution areas and toilets) and watch iPorn.
2. Fire all Indians because they are incredibly arrogant and want to boss everybody around including White people who are not in their chain of command.