Foreigners entering the country on visit visas seeking jobs could end up in jail and penniless, officials have warned.

They should not rely on middlemen in their countries who promise jobs after entering Bahrain on visit visas instead of work visas, said the officials.

The call comes after two Nigerian men, who came to Bahrain on visit visas hoping to find a job, ended up spending most of their stay in Bahrain in jail and now they are penniless.

Ayilara Akinkunmi Saheed and Adeoye Adetunji Odumade came to Bahrain on April
4 with help from an agent in Nigeria who they claim to have paid $3,000 (BD1,131) in cash to arrange their visit visas and hotel stay.

However, on their day of arrival they were arrested at a hotel in Seef because apparently their agent had used a fake credit card to pay for their accommodation.

They were released after 19 days after the court acquitted them, but they are now penniless, with no source of income and expired visas.

General Directorate of Passports, Nationality and Residence (GDNPR) finance and human resources director Nayef Al Sherooqi said that it was risky for foreigners to come here on visit visas by people they hardly known.

“People usually come here on visit visas and look for jobs,” he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

“Their visas maybe arranged by strangers who ask to be paid for their services. Such middlemen cannot be trusted.

“It is always best to be on the safe side and enter the country with a work visa issued by the company they are going to work with.

“Otherwise the chances of falling into such traps are high. When caught they may even be punished and deported and stand to lose the money they spent to come here.”

Saheed said that they heard about Bahrain being a business friendly country.

“Being university graduates, we decided to seek jobs here,” he said.

“While searching online for a Bahrain sponsor we came across a hotel in Seef which offered to get us a visa.

“So we contacted a travel agent in Nigeria to help us with the whole process and paid him $1,500 (BD567) in cash for each visa.

“But he used his credit card to pay the Bahrain hotel. Two weeks later the agent got us our visas and the confirmation of our hotel reservation.

“At the hotel, we explained that we were here for a job and they assured us that there was no reason to worry.

“During check-in the receptionist asked for our credit card, but we don’t own one.

“We explained that we paid cash to the agent, who used his credit card to pay the hotel.”

Saheed said that he provided the hotel with the agent’s number in Nigeria to confirm the booking.

“They were on the phone for more that three hours and the next thing we know, the police was here,” he said.

“They checked our money to confirm it was genuine. They took us to their office in Adliya.

“We spent 19 days going to the Public Prosecution and the court and finally the judge found us not guilty.

“Throughout our days in custody we were not allowed to speak to anybody.

“When we were released we asked the hotel why they did not do anything to help us.

“All they said was to go back to Nigeria. We requested them to extend our visa and
help us find jobs here, but they refused.

“Meanwhile, a security company offered us jobs as guards, but they demanded a release letter from the hotel.

The hotel rejected this also.

“We really need to get out of this mess and start earning because we have nothing left for us in Nigeria.

“We came to what we thought was business friendly Bahrain and went through all this unnecessary inconvenience, when we were all along innocent visitors.”

“We are now almost penniless after spending $3,000 (BD1,131) for our visa, air tickets and hotel stay.

“We had another $2,700 (BD1,020) with us, which is almost running out now.”

The Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS), which met with the men, believed that they were two genuine visitors who went through a very tough time for no fault of theirs.

“Their visit visa expired on May 4 and their return ticket is no longer valid,” said society vice-chairman Alfredo D’Souza.

“They have almost finished all their money. We had a meeting with them and, sincerely, find their case to be genuine.

“What has happened to them is really unfair. They don’t have any money left on them and the MWPS has decided to support them.”-TradeArabia News Service