[Sana’a] — If you thought holiday-time travel was bad, think about what Ismail Ahmed, a resident of Sana’a, Yemen, had to do to get to Saudi Arabia, where he had a job offer.
First, he had to sell his taxi. Ahmed is a mechanic, but the cab provided a much-needed second income. He sold it to leave his wife Mariam and children with some cash to live on till he was settled in Saudi Arabia, and able to send money.
Then he had to borrow $300 to buy a passport—a fortune in Yemenite terms.
Why $300? Because Yemenites are desperate to get out of Yemen, and a lively and lucrative business of middlemen—and sometimes government officials— “facilitating” passports has sprung up.
Ahmed told The Media Line he waited more than a week for his passport, which he needed in order to avail himself of a new employment scheme made available by the Saudi government, now providing housing for Yemenite foreign workers.
The Houthis, an extremist Shia militia that has wreaked havoc in Yemen, now runs state Immigration and Passports Authority in Sana’a. The Authority is facing a spike in demand for passports because Yemenis want to feel the upheaval has affected basic safety and the ability of citizens to work and send their children to school.
Like every other product in the besieged country, there is a real fear the Authority may be running out passports, and, due to the restrictions imposed by the Arab Collation countries, may not be able to import the documents, that are usually made in the US or France and printed in Yemen. This possibility is behind a rush on passports; it is this sense of urgency that has driven prices up to $300, from the legal price of about $25.
Locals have taken to referring to the office as the Passports’ Black Market.
Ali Al-Saidi, the Immigration and Passports Authority’s deputy director, told The Media Line they continue to issue passports at their actual prices, but that innocent citizens are being exploited by unscrupulous individuals, both inside and outside the Authority, who promise passports will be produced on time despite the crush.
Many Yemenis are losing their life’s savings to pay the premium fee because they believe the rumors—false, according to Al-Saidi—that passports are about to run out and fear they may lose their only chance at leaving the country.
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Al-Saidi said the Authority is aware of the problem and has taken measures to investigate and control it, adding that the Authority is about to close a deal with a new supplier to meet the massive demand. The war in Yemen has created over 250,000 Yemeni refugees, and another 2.4 million internally displaced citizens.
In addition, the Authority has taken whatever measures it could to mitigate the shortage. New stickers will now extend the lives of expired passports by two years. Up to five children under the age of 14 will be added to their parents’ passports.
As of last week, only students with scholarships for study abroad or patients with medical documents proving they require treatment abroad, or Yemenis with valid work visas issued to them by other countries and their family members, and citizens bearing visas from countries in which they have parents or legal guardians, would be eligible to get passports from the Authority.
This means that if you’re a Yemeni without proof of an urgent need to be abroad, you’re flat out of luck. Or, you can pay the $300 bribe.
Yemenia Airways, Yemen’s national air carrier, is operating some of the few flights in the national skies.
One man, Ali Al-Amer who paid $2000 for two round-trip tickets when his mother required medical treatment in Jordan, said he was relived they both at least had gotten their passports earlier this year, and had only to buy tickets.
Following the new requirements imposed by the Arab Collation forces, Al-Amer’s plane stopped in Saudi Arabia for inspection before continuing to Amman, Jordan.
To come up with the $2000 needed to cover her expenses, Al-Amer and his mother sold some of her gold and living room furniture. Al-Amer’s stationery shop shut down two months into the war that started last March.
Nabil Haider, director of Yemenia Airways’ information department, told The Media Line the airline was forced to halt operations during the first four months of the war, losing 20 million dollars before partial operations were resumed in August. Since then, the company restarted flights to and from Jordan and Egypt only.
Haider added that the company’s insurance fees increased because companies that used to work with the airline would not cover losses during times of war, and this forced up the prices paid by customers. When security conditions improved, those additional fees were reduced by two-thirds.
Sana’a’s airport’s tarmac was bombed by the collation warplanes several times but has been rehabilitated and reopened and, at this moment, is operational.
The only way to leave Yemen by land is through Saudi Arabia at the Al-Wadiaa port, which is not under Houthi control.
It is much cheaper to travel by land: about $70 for a one-way ticket, but the journey is not problem free.
Ismail Ahmed, for example, got his passport and traveled by land to Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah Khalil, a Yemeni man attempted to depart via Al-Wadiaa told the Media Line he passed through many Houthi checkpoints and similar barriers set up by loyalists of Yemen’s internationally recognized head of state, Abd Rabbou Mansur Hadi. Khalil said he was afraid that clashes could erupt at any point.
When they reached the border, Khalil said, they had to walk another almost another 2 miles under the burning sun to reach the Saudi controlled port, in many cases abandoning their luggage along the way.
When they go to the port– he had a ten-hour line ahead of him.
Khalil had it easy. Some Yemenis trying walk over to Saudi Arabia are obliged to wait for up to a week often running out of food and water or coerced into paying exorbitant prices for basic goods.
Eyewitnesses told The Media Line that migrants are oftentimes reduced to scavenging, begging or stealing from one another, and that the Saudi authorities have been known to throw food and water over the border fence at the Yemeni migrants up to four times a day, hoping to avoids deaths in the extreme weather.
UN figures show that 80% of Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance. The remaining 20%, it appears, are reduced to living off savings or, as in the case of Mrs. Al-Amer, selling off their furniture.