Expatriates born in the Kingdom are facing a number of problems. One of them is that they cannot transfer their fathers’ sponsorship onto themselves.

This is needed when their father becomes old and retires from work. Companies in the private sector cannot sponsor a retired man, so that man must return to his home country in case his son working in the Kingdom cannot sponsor him.

Returning to their native land is impossible because they have severed all ties with their native country. Instead, they choose to stay with their sons who work in the Kingdom.

The aged and retiring expatriates are the first generation of migrants to the Kingdom that participated in the Kingdom’s development starting with the infrastructure.

But they are left with no option but to transfer their kafalah (sponsorship) after their retirement, as stipulated by Saudi regulations.

While the number of expatriates in the Kingdom are estimated at eight million, those who are born here account for three million.

“The Passports Department cannot transfer the sponsorship of those who belong to the private sector. The Labor Office is responsible for doing that.

We only transfer kafalah at a personal level,” Col. Badr Al-Malik spokesman of the Passports Department told Arab News.

Many aged expatriates have been working for more than 40 years in private companies in the Kingdom, but changes in labor regulations such as Saudization forced them to retire.

Ahmed Ibrahim, an Eritrean expatriate who has been working as an accountant in Jeddah over the past 40 years, has been striving to transfer his sponsorship to his youngest son who is a marketing expert in a the private sector.

However, the Passport Department refused to comply with his request. He retired from work in 2005 and his company did not want to continue his sponsorship.

“In the past, a son was permitted to take the sponsorship of his father, but not now. I have visited the Passports Department and the Labor Office to find a solution to my problem, but my problem was not solved,” he said.

Expatriates who want to stay with their sons who are working in the Kingdom are now transferring their sponsorship to any private company which is willing to offer sponsorship for a fee of SR 2,500.

This is what Abu Salah, a Syrian expatriate in Jeddah who worked for 38 years as an engineer and is now 70, did when he retired and could not get his sponsorship transferred to any of his five sons. “During my stay in the Kingdom for the past decades, relations with my country, which are passing through a difficult period currently, were severed.

At this age I cannot leave my children and grandchildren in the Kingdom and stay alone in Syria. I paid SR 2,000 to a private firm to be my sponsor and will have to pay the same amount at the time of my iqama (residency permit) renewal,” he said.