Why do Jordanians minds migrate?

[Ahmed JO]

It is no surprise that the Jordanian King himself recently spoke to CNBC about the need to bring back "human capital" to the country. "That's always been our export, and if anything, my ideal long-term vision is to bring that export back into Jordan."

This statement is an indication of planning for a bright future. Opposition to such an ambition usually takes the form of individuals who are in control and make decisions at the executive level, including those who work in the royal court. Such persons usually act in the complete opposite direction of that of the royal family, especially when it comes to media and domestic policies.

It is indeed surprising to learn how noble ideas and initiatives somehow escape from the top of the political pyramid to the bureaucratic level after being proposed. Those observing the situation may even feel that the political decision-making process in the country does not necessarily translate to "political will".

An investor in the transport sector was recently subject to a barrage of extortion, bribery, and administrative complications, including being forced to deal with eleven bureaucratic committees, which caused a loss of millions of dollars. Therefore, he decided to pull out and leave his country, taking his enterprise and money to Turkey. He was later photographed alongside the light rail trains he brought to the country after being embraced by Erdogan.

Every official in Jordan talks about "an attractive environment" for investment, as well as the minds and excellence found in Jordan. But in a Jordanian city during the Arab Spring, a number of retired guards gathered and revolted against a giant poultry and egg farm. The farm owner abandoned his chickens and eggs to the guards and left the country, thus increasing the price of eggs eaten by the guards' poor children.

How and why would Jordanian "minds" return to their country while they are witnessing such tragedies occurring there? These tragedies include the revocation of citizenship from the only surgeon specialised in neck surgery in the country at the hands of some employee at the Ministry of Interior, forcing him to relocate to Canada. Another surgeon who performs ten surgeries a day and who opted to practice in his country was killed by a drug addict.

There are many such unfortunate examples that are not only caused by the mistakes of the government, authorities, and elites, but also by society itself.

In any case, we must return to the main question: What drives Jordanians emigrants to remain abroad while their country welcomes millions of immigrants from all over the world without imposing a political or economic price? What drives Jordanian youth to even think about emigration?

A friend of mind told me he needed about 18 signatures and stamps in order to receive a license to own a petrol station. Some of the authorities he needed to visit included the police, civil defence, intelligence, administrative magistrate, etc. All of these papers could have been reviewed by one employee, so why would any "migrant mind" return to the country?

I personally was dragged, with a friend of mine, into a simple administrative process involving the registration of an apartment, which should not have taken the country and community more than 5 minutes to deal with.

The King himself once spoke about the publications monitor, the king of censorship, who is "more royal than the King", and who even monitored a book written by the King.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Atef Tarawneh, told me that around 2,000 people from one of the Gulf States are willing to each invest one million dinars in a local project only if they are guaranteed not to face "complications" in the Ministry of Interior. This is a very simple condition but even the most powerful statesmen have failed to meet it.

We can never convince even the humblest Jordanian running a successful corner shop abroad to return to the country as long as they need 18 signatures from security and government agencies to simply run a petrol station. This also cannot be achieved as long as the bureaucratic processes distinguish between what Dr Anis Al-Qassem calls a "full option" Jordanian and "half option" Jordanian.

We are certainly with what the King said, and we applaud such noble initiatives, but we must first put an end to such ironies, or at the very least reduce them so we can "soar together".


-----------------------------------------------
*An honest article.

 

[UAE]

It is no surprise that the Jordanian King himself recently spoke to CNBC about the need to bring back "human capital" to the country. "That's always been our export, and if anything, my ideal long-term vision is to bring that export back into Jordan."

This statement is an indication of planning for a bright future. Opposition to such an ambition usually takes the form of individuals who are in control and make decisions at the executive level, including those who work in the royal court. Such persons usually act in the complete opposite direction of that of the royal family, especially when it comes to media and domestic policies.

It is indeed surprising to learn how noble ideas and initiatives somehow escape from the top of the political pyramid to the bureaucratic level after being proposed. Those observing the situation may even feel that the political decision-making process in the country does not necessarily translate to "political will".

An investor in the transport sector was recently subject to a barrage of extortion, bribery, and administrative complications, including being forced to deal with eleven bureaucratic committees, which caused a loss of millions of dollars. Therefore, he decided to pull out and leave his country, taking his enterprise and money to Turkey. He was later photographed alongside the light rail trains he brought to the country after being embraced by Erdogan.

Every official in Jordan talks about "an attractive environment" for investment, as well as the minds and excellence found in Jordan. But in a Jordanian city during the Arab Spring, a number of retired guards gathered and revolted against a giant poultry and egg farm. The farm owner abandoned his chickens and eggs to the guards and left the country, thus increasing the price of eggs eaten by the guards' poor children.

How and why would Jordanian "minds" return to their country while they are witnessing such tragedies occurring there? These tragedies include the revocation of citizenship from the only surgeon specialised in neck surgery in the country at the hands of some employee at the Ministry of Interior, forcing him to relocate to Canada. Another surgeon who performs ten surgeries a day and who opted to practice in his country was killed by a drug addict.

There are many such unfortunate examples that are not only caused by the mistakes of the government, authorities, and elites, but also by society itself.

In any case, we must return to the main question: What drives Jordanians emigrants to remain abroad while their country welcomes millions of immigrants from all over the world without imposing a political or economic price? What drives Jordanian youth to even think about emigration?

A friend of mind told me he needed about 18 signatures and stamps in order to receive a license to own a petrol station. Some of the authorities he needed to visit included the police, civil defence, intelligence, administrative magistrate, etc. All of these papers could have been reviewed by one employee, so why would any "migrant mind" return to the country?

I personally was dragged, with a friend of mine, into a simple administrative process involving the registration of an apartment, which should not have taken the country and community more than 5 minutes to deal with.

The King himself once spoke about the publications monitor, the king of censorship, who is "more royal than the King", and who even monitored a book written by the King.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Atef Tarawneh, told me that around 2,000 people from one of the Gulf States are willing to each invest one million dinars in a local project only if they are guaranteed not to face "complications" in the Ministry of Interior. This is a very simple condition but even the most powerful statesmen have failed to meet it.

We can never convince even the humblest Jordanian running a successful corner shop abroad to return to the country as long as they need 18 signatures from security and government agencies to simply run a petrol station. This also cannot be achieved as long as the bureaucratic processes distinguish between what Dr Anis Al-Qassem calls a "full option" Jordanian and "half option" Jordanian.

We are certainly with what the King said, and we applaud such noble initiatives, but we must first put an end to such ironies, or at the very least reduce them so we can "soar together".


-----------------------------------------------
*An honest article.

I was thinking of investing in Jordan. Now I will back off.

So many restrictions even for the locals. I would have understood if they were imposed on outsiders.

 

[Ahmed JO]

I was thinking of investing in Jordan. Now I will back off.

So many restrictions even for the locals. I would have understood if they were imposed on outsiders.

Lol I honestly didn't know it was this bad and I really hope this problem is fixed. Very few things are worse than sluggish bureaucracies. But I'm sure there are success stories for gulf investors in Jordan in various industries and as Atef Tarawneh said, a whole lot more money can come from GCC countries if it wasn't for these 'complications'.

I still have my hope of becoming a successful entrepreneur in Jordan because it's my country, I hope by then they've dealt with this issue.

 

[Ahmed JO]

I was thinking of investing in Jordan. Now I will back off.

So many restrictions even for the locals. I would have understood if they were imposed on outsiders.

Oh and actually, countries (responsible ones) actively try to attract foreign investment as, for example, Dubai in the UAE does. Jordan also does this but as you can see, the bureaucratic obstacles scare away many investors who could instead invest in Canada or something.