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Workers victims of visa mafias
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 15 : Every day. dozens of disheartened foreign workers, who thought they could make a fortune in Kuwait, line both sides of a highway and wait for day Jobs. They are victims of the visa mafia. Some carry paint brushes to Indicate their skills, but most are ready to do any menial Job.
Their eyes light up with hope when a Kuwaiti in a shiny car stops by the roadside. They scramble to the car, poke their heads inside the window and try in breathless, expectant voices to promote themselves for the Job he has to offer.
These men are part of an estimated 100.000 workers who were lured to Kuwait by false promises of work and
riches from visa mafias, or what these desperate men call "vendors of Illusion." Most of the workers are Egyptian, but there are other Third World nationals as well from Bangladesh. Srl Lanka. Afghanistan and India.
In many cases, they sold their cows, their land, their furniture or their wives' bracelets to pay up to. 400 dinars ($1,400) for a once-ln-a-lifetime chance to make a fortune in Kuwait. But as soon as they set foot In the Emirate they realised they were victims of a network involving Kuwaitis and agents in their own country who have made fortunes from selling visas.
Some workers could not find their Kuwaiti sponsors.
others were told the companies they were supposed to work for were still being rebuilt and the lucky few who have found Jobs are getting less than one-third of what they were promised back home.
A source at the interior ministry cohfirmed that some Kuwaiti sponsors, whom he described as "immoral." were involved In selling visas and said the authorities were trying to track them down. "Their companies will be blacklisted," he said. "These are Innocent workers who have been cheated and what has happened is bad for our reputation."
But he added that apprehending the culprits could take time. He said the workers
made up roughly a third of the 300,000 labourers who have, entered Kuwait since its liberation. He that If the workers could not find a Job they would be deported eventually.
Feeling cheated and frustrated. but with no money to leave, the workers are trying to make the best of their miserable situation. Most of them live five or more to a room. Their main fear is that they will be taken to prison.
Mohammed Ahmed. 25. said he was told he could save 45 dinars ($157) from the 60 dinars ($ 210) a month he would be making In Kuwait. "I was told that 15 dinars ($ 52) would be enough to survive on for a month," he said. "How was 1 to know that even 60 dinars isn't sufficient to live a mediocre life ?" — (Courtesy: KhaleeJ Times, October 8. 1991)