The Move

Each one of us living in Saudi Arabia today have faced or face the challenge of making a choice. Do we stay here forever or should we move now? Each night, almost every man, even many Saudis, think. They define and redefine. They search for options. Every man and woman in KSA has it in the back of their mind that they need to leave soon.

But, where to?
Let alone the ones that have been living here for many decades, even those that have lived here for 5 years find it very difficult to go back home and adjust to a life they left once. Where do we go?
How do we move all that we have accumulated over the many years to a place we are not used to anymore?
God, what an issue! What a dilemma!
In this situation, families fall apart when a child grows up and ventures out into the world for college and higher education OR when the jawazat refuse to renew his/her iqama because by law they can no longer be dependent on their parent. Parents are too used to KSA, and won’t leave (until SENT by force), children leave and time flies.
Our parents made the choice of being here regardless of the reality. The reality of Saudi Arabia and it’s policy for expatriates. Today, every parent is missing at least one or more of their children and have not seen them in ages! So, no one is really settled. The journey began decades ago, and it continues!
Forget about a possible change in the system here. It will not happen. Our generation, just as the previous one, will sit and worry about being ‘settled’ or ‘at home’ if we continue what we are doing. And that is: wasting our youth in Saudi Arabia.
Time passes quickly people. Your 2 year old will be 20 soon. They will ask you why you gave them a home that can never be home. They will get frustrated. And they will leave. What are you going to do here? Live in rented homes? Worry about sponsors? Be a number with no definite identity? Think.

I sometimes agree with the 6 year rule. It is actually a blessing. It should motivate a person to make all that they can and then leave. Build a life in a country they can be citizens of.
Here is what the issue is: we become fearful if we live here too long. We start to fear our own countries. And, we do not want to go back until we are sent back or HAVE to go back.
The key is to conquer this fear of change at the right time. What is the priority? 24 hour electricity or a united family? Independence or dependence on a sponsor? Paying huge rents or living comfortably on your own property? Being just a number or living amongst loved ones? Being restricted, or being free? Earning enough happily or earning a lot unhappily?
Logic WILL destroy the fear and wisdom should make one act.
I think that all people with little children should make this their last year in Saudi Arabia. For the sake of those little angels.
They, just like you and me, have no future here. You are paying huge amounts for school fee and the education given is incomplete! Why?

Saudi Arabia has bigger issues. They will need to accommodate their growing population. Their own youth who are frustrated and lost. The expatriate has no role in this.
Plan your move.