Ministry of Interior, Saudi Arabia. Jan, 2014

I am conducting field work on Saudi immigration policies, hosted by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. I am building on previous field work and publications on immigrants in Saudi Arabia  (such as « Nationalisme d’Etat et nationalisme ordinaire en Arabie saoudite« ) to investigate the evolution of the role of public and private actors of migration management.

This research is particularly focusing on the recent change introduced by the Ministry of Labour in the labour import system in link with the new framework for « saudization » of the national labour market. I am particularly working on 1. the perception of the Nitaqat (meaning « categories »of companies) that has been deployed in the past two years by the Saudi state to regulate more efficiently the employment of Saudis and the hiring of foreign workers; 2. the recent breakdown on illegal immigration that led to the deportation of around 1 million workers since March 2013, including over 100,000 Ethiopians.

Nitaqat: policies promoting the nationalisation of the Saudi labour market – Ministry of Labour Saudi Arabia. Source: Al Arabiya