Yemen 24: A Webblog about Yemen

By: Moneer Al-Omari* According to the General Directorate of Passports at the Saudi Ministry of Interior, about 450,000 illegal Yemeni immigrants have been allowed to correct their residency status in the kingdom and to legally work in public and private establishments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by August 2015. Based on the findings of the latest National Census for Population, conducted in 2004, there are over 1.8 million Yemeni expatriates and they by then accounted for about 5% of Yemen's overall population. This figure is, by all means, very high if compared to the world average of 3.2%. Nevertheless, caution should be exercised when using these census statistics given   the fact that this census was conducted a decade or so ago and that there are no recent statistics about the accurate number of expatriates, especially when a large number of Yemeni people traveled outside the country for work over the last 10 years and also when the Yemeni government does