Pakistani Ambassador to Saudi Arabia HE Muhammad Naeem Khan emphasized on compatriots to respect and abide by the Saudi laws. He also advised Pakistanis not to overstay after performing Umrah and Hujj. He was addressing Pakistani job seekers who had gathered at the Job Fair this past Thursday night at Pakistan International School at Nasiriyah in Riyadh aka: PISR-N. “It is illegal to overstay after Umrah and Hujj and the Saudi authorities would come down very hard on all such violators of the Saudi laws”, he informed. About job fair and the Pakistanis seeking job, he advised that the jobs in the market are plenty and all it needs is hard work and scouting from those who are seeking jobs. “Please do not sit at home and expect jobs to arrive in a platter. It is very important that you people take this issue seriously and make some more efforts at your ends also.
The Embassy is there to help you and shall extend all kinds of support in this matter”, Ambassador Khan mentioned. Khan said the purpose of these job fairs is to extend all help and assistance to the compatriot Pakistanis so they are able to correct their job status here and hence become a legal resident. “My mission is to see to it that every Pakistani here is able to regularize his job status and that no Pakistanis are forced to leave on final exit”, he added. He informed that he has plans to hold more such job fairs in Jeddah and Taif also. “In Taif this would be the second job fair in a row”, he informed. About a question of requests from the Pakistani community in Madinah to also hold such job fair in Madinah, Ambassador Khan informed that there are plans afoot to hold similar job fairs in Madinah as well and it will be done in due course.
He further said that this second extension of grace/amnesty period is a blessing and all should make best use of it. “Every Pakistanis present here should know that it depends on them entirely as to how best they are able to use this extension in time. “We are there to help. If God forbid any one is not able to find job before the end of this grace/amnesty period then my advice to them is to leave the Country gracefully. This way there will be no penalty and fine on them. There will be no ban on their return and they can safely return to another job on a proper job visa”, Khan advised. He said there is a huge job market in Saudi Arabia as it is a performing economy and it won’t be difficult to find jobs. Finally answering a query, Ambassador informed that according to the statistics shared with him by the Saudi Ministry of Labor, about 250,000 Pakistanis have been able to correct their job status and hence are documented and became legal. “This is a huge number and we remain happy and satisfied of this service”, he added
Speaking to Mueenuddin Memon – Community Welfare Attaché, Mueen informed that this job fair was the third in a row in Riyadh. “We remain satisfied as more than 50 employing companies are present with their agents this evening and have hundreds of jobs to offer in all trades and disciplines. We are also happy about the turnout and according to a rough estimate close to 2000 Pakistanis have visited the job stalls so far”, Mueen informed. Syed Hammad Abid – Community Welfare Attaché informed that on next Thursday (26 Sept) another such job fair is scheduled to be held in Jubail and on the following day on Friday (27 Sept) in Al-Khobar. “The venues are the Pakistani Schools at both the places and the timing is the same that is from 05:00 PM in the evening till 10:00 Pm at night”, Hammad informed.
Upon a query both Mueen and Hammad expressed their satisfaction at the arrangements made for this job fair by the PISR-N management. Speaking to the Principal Mian Iqbal and Chairman of the PISR School Management Council - Tariq Mahmood - both informed that the success of this job fair is due to the HE Ambassador, staff and officers of the Embassy of Pakistan together with the following members of the School staffs and faculty members: Khadim Hussain Choudhry, Saadat Ullah Khan, Anwar ul Haq, Tahir Raza, Saleem Asghar, Javed Mirza, Waqas Maqbool, Naeem Hayat Ghumman, Atif Hameed, Khurram Shahzad, Hayatullah, and Azmat Butta. Young Arsalan Baloch – a former student of PISR-N - also volunteered and contributed a lot.