It could be very possible that in the days to come Saudi may become an unreachable destination for 'Hyderabadi' job aspirants. There are around seven million foreign nationals working in Saudi. Nearly one third of those foreign nationals are 'Hyderabadis' - as people from Andhra Pradesh are commonly called in Saudi Arabia. The renewed jobs-for-locals drive aimed at reducing the growing unemployment rate among Saudi citizens is worrying these Hyderbadis and many among them are apprehensive of losing their jobs to locals.

'Nitaqat' (A Saudization programme aimed at jobs-for-locals drive) isn't a new concept, but its fast approaching final date of implementaion (September 10) is what making the Hyderabadis nervous. Many Hyderabadis believe that this time the Saudi government would take stricter measures and the impact on them would be greater under the revamped Nitaqat or zones that define companies based on the percentage of Saudis on the payroll. The companies in the private sector that do not employ a certain percentage of locals are marked red and they face harsh penalties from labor ministry that include deportation of foreign workers on their payroll.

The Saudi government launched its ambitious Saudization drive in early 1990s and uptil now has spent some billions of dollars by establishing a number of colleges under Technical and Vocational Training Corporation and reserved about 25 occupations only for Saudi graduates from these institutions. Some of job categories 100 percent reserved for Saudis include managerial positions, administrative works, front desk staff such as receptionists, secretaries, telephone and computer operators, accountants, bilingual typists, salesmen, marketing executives, hotel staff, taxi drivers and clerks, to public relations and teachers among others.

A large number of Hyderabadis are said to have entered Saudi Arabia on a so-called 'free-visa' and occupied jobs, mostly reserved for Saudi nationals. In the Saudi labor rules the 'free visa', which offers a legal residency permit but not the regular employment, has no validation whatsoever. A Hyderabadi who arrives on 'free visa' is deprived of labor rights such as regular employment, accommodation, transportation, mandatory health insurance and paid vacation.

The concern among Hyderabadi 'free-visa' holders is that whether they can avail themselves of the Saudi labor ministry's five-month notification period asking the private establishment to comply with the policy of Saudization.
Such a requirement is seen as a major hurdle for those ‘free-visa’ holders, as they are working with companies in areas unrelated to their skills and without the transfer of their sponsorship.

A Riyadh-based social organization said the present drive by Saudi government is aimed at regularizing the job market by getting rid of those who have flooded the market on irrelevant visas. "The present Saudization drive is a sort of survival for the fittest and those Hyderabadis who manage to adapt to the prevailing job market can continue to work in Saudi Arabia. However, those with phoney sponsors would be forced to leave the Kingdom," said Asad from Hyderabad, who was in Saudi for the past 10 years. He said in the banking sector only one to two percent of the Hyderabadis have occupied top positions while the majority have taken up secretarial and other clerical jobs.

It is painful to note that a majority of qualified Hyderabadis went to Saudi on so-called 'Azad (free) visa' without knowing the ground realities of Saudi job market. Under Saudi labor rules such 'free visa' people cannot be reemployed in a company, once the 'Nitaqat' gets implemented.