The 29-year-old young Ahmed Al-Farhan, who holds a university degree in chemical engineering, did not expect that his attempts to immigrate legally or illegally from Jordan would fail, and he would return to work in a private school with a low salary as a science teacher.

“I traveled to Turkey in 2018, and from there I went to Greece with the aim of entering Europe through smuggling, but unfortunately, I was arrested and deported to Jordan, so I went back to work in a private school with a salary of 280 dinars ($ 400),” Al-Farhan told Al-Jazeera Net.

Al-Farhan added, "After I graduated, I looked for a long time for work, and unfortunately, salaries are low and working conditions are not decent, so I submitted my papers to European embassies, America and Australia for immigration, but I did not succeed so far, and I will keep trying until I succeed in that, and live a comfortable life other than what I live in."

Young people are thinking of immigration

There is hardly a house empty of Jordanians' homes unless there is someone in it who thinks about immigration from Jordan, especially if we know that 45% of Jordanians are thinking of emigrating abroad, so they are driven by a set of living and economic reasons and life pressures, according to the results of an opinion poll of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan.

The doctor working in the Jordanian Ministry of Health (YAH) spends most of his time wandering around the offices of the embassies of European countries, Canada and America in search of immigration to improve his living conditions.

"After I finished my university studies with a financial cost that exceeded 50 thousand Jordanian dinars (70 thousand dollars), and after waiting for years to continue I was appointed as a general physician," the doctor tells Al-Jazeera Net, preferring not to be named.

The surprise was that his monthly salary was 600 Jordanian dinars ($ 850), which was a shock that prompted him to constantly search for immigration to Canada, Germany or America, as he tells Al-Jazeera Net.

Security forces in front of the US embassy to arrange auditors (Al-Jazeera - Archive)

Emigration of doctors

Labor expert Ahmed Awad told Al-Jazeera Net, "If a new study is conducted today, we will find that the percentage of those who want to immigrate from Jordan, especially among educated and qualified youth, will rise to much higher levels than the previous 45%."

Awad attributed the reason for this to the high unemployment rates that reached 40% in some governorates, and the dismissal of tens of thousands of workers from their jobs, in addition to the low wages, miserable working conditions and the high cost of living, which makes the door to immigration an escape from a bitter reality.

Awad, director of the Phoenix Center for Economic and Informational Studies and a researcher in economic and social rights, told Al-Jazeera Net that 70% of graduates of Jordanian medical schools are immigrants to European countries such as Germany, England, Canada and America, and that this has led to a severe shortage of specialist doctors in the Ministry of Health. If you search for the reason for their emigration, you will find it in miserable working conditions and low wages.

The migration of Jordanian talent - according to Awad - is a state of depletion and emptying of vital institutions, which negatively affects those sectors and services provided to citizens, and the government health sector is the best proof of that.

A youth demonstration near the Presidency House, angry at the economic situation and the lack of job opportunities (Al-Jazeera - Archive)

Does immigration have advantages?

Opinion polls expert Walid Al-Khatib is more likely to change the poll results if we conducted it today.

The reason is the introduction of new influencing factors, the most important of which is the spread of Corona in the world, and its negative consequences for the economic situation on various countries of the world, including America, which formed the first trend towards migration for Jordanians.

Walid, Director of the Opinion Polls Department at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, added, "I expect that Jordanians will not consider immigration or going to work in the Gulf countries, as a result of the financial crisis they are suffering from, and their dismissal of thousands of Jordanian and foreign workers."

Immigration, in spite of its many negative aspects, has positive aspects, which will reduce unemployment rates among the educated, open new job opportunities, in addition to the remittances sent by workers abroad from Jordanians, and constitute an important source of income for the Kingdom, especially as it reaches 2.4 billion dinars (3.7 billion) Dollars) annually.

A citizen waving his passport after stamping it, leaving the Kingdom (Al-Jazeera-Archive)

Jordanian minds and competencies

Minister of Labor Nidal Al-Batayneh told Al-Jazeera Net, "Jordan is a maker of scientific competencies, and one of the highest educated countries interested in education. The alienation of competencies to the labor market in countries of the world does not affect the Kingdom, because our universities and academic institutions are able to compensate for any deficiency."

The minister continues that a government delegation visited Germany at the beginning of this year, and examined the need for the labor market there for the specializations of nursing, medicine, pharmacy, and engineering of all kinds, and it was agreed to create a type of exchange of benefits between the two parties in a way that achieves the interest of the Jordanian and German labor markets, with 5,000 as a first payment.

"We are not here targeting the brain drain and Jordanian competencies" - Batayneh continues his speech - "We seek to provide our youth with new skills in global labor markets, and to reduce unemployment among young people in the Kingdom."

The percentage of Jordanians who think about immigration is the second highest in the Arab world after Sudan, and the young age group of 18-29 is the highest, reaching 59%, and the percentage of those with higher education reached 52%.

America and Canada ranked the highest as a preferred destination for immigration by 40%, followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, 31%, and Europe 16%.