"After watching Shiites displacing Sunnis and Sunnis displacing Shiites, we felt that the situation had just become intolerable," said the 63-year-old who has now made a new life in the north for his family. "We had to come here."

Unlike many others, the family found a local person to sponsor them and give them residency, but in return for security, they now have to deal with high prices and the struggle to find jobs.

"My sons leave every day to find work while the others stay home," said Chalub. "My daughters lost their jobs and have now become housewives."

Already hundreds of thousands of Iraq's best and brightest have fled the increasing violence and chaos in the rest of the country, with most going to neighboring Syria and Jordan.

Increasing numbers, however, have decided to settle in the north of the country, where the Kurds -- jealous of their security -- give the new arrivals only a grudging welcome.

"Because of the difficult security in other Iraqi regions, we take such measures to protect our citizens and the immigrating families and prevent terrorists infiltrating Kurdistan," said Lieutenant Colonel Harish Khalid Azkaye, director of the Arbil residency office.

Those hoping for residency in the Kurdish autonomous region must find a local sponsor, preferably a government employee, which is not easy for people from central and south Iraq who have had little contact with the Kurds before.

"This measure reduces immigration, especially the Arab families into Kurdistan as they find it hard to find a sponsor," said Azkaye.

Under its own administration since being put under international protection in 1991, the autonomous area of three Kurdish provinces in the north has managed to avoid the insurgent and sectarian violence plaguing the rest of Iraq.

There have been a few terrorist attacks on Kurdish cities, admitted Azkaye, but new security measures imposed over the past year have ended these and now keep the region safe.

This security has been a magnet for migrants from the rest of the country, and since 2004 2,054 families have moved to Arbil from elsewhere in Iraq, with similar numbers settling in the other Kurdish cities of Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah.

"The worse the security gets, the more people arrive," Azkaye said. "Sometimes we have to limit to 20 the number of families we can process per day to avoid congestion at the office."

Residency has to be renewed every three months.

Karim Sinjari, the interior minister for the region, however, denies that potential residents need sponsorship or that obtaining residency is a difficult process. He is also quick to confirm that all Iraqis have the right to settle in the Kurdish region -- as long as they pass the rigorous security checks.

"There is no law or instructions requiring sponsorship, but families or citizens that come from the outside wanting residency often bring a sponsor from the region at their own initiative to facilitate security checks and shorten the procedure," he told the pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat on Saturday.

For Abu Abbas, who sold his house in southern Baghdad's Zafaraniyah neighborhood to move to Arbil, achieving residency is definitely a problem.

Now living in a cramped housing complex near Arbil city center, he managed to get residency for his wife, but not for his daughter or son-in-law.

"A relative sponsored me in Arbil but refused to include my son-in-law who cannot leave the house to get a job," said the 45-year-old. "Two days ago I convinced someone in the complex to sponsor him, but he changed his mind the next day."

Professionals such as doctors, professors and engineers have an easier time of it and can be sponsored by the hospital or university interested in employing them.

A year ago, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani -- himself a Kurd -- called on doctors and engineers to move to the Kurdish provinces with their families and continue to "serve their country", rather than emigrating to Jordan or Syria as so many have done.

Security comes at a price, however, and as more people move to Kurdistan rents and prices of basic goods have soared, meaning that families like that of Abu Abbas have a much lower standard of living than before.

Fakhr Homondi, a real estate broker in Arbil, said that rents for houses are not less than 300 to 500 dollars a month, up to three times what they are in Baghdad, with many landlords demanding six months' rent in advance.

"Everyone looking for houses are Arabs," said Homondi. "Every day I have five to six families coming to my office looking to rent a house."

Abu Abbas and his son leave their modest new home each day to look for work, which is often scarce, especially when it rains.

"We opened a women's hairdressing salon in our housing complex that my wife and daughter work at, but there are few customers," he said.

As they eke out a new living in the north, however, many of the Arab immigrants long for the day when they can return to their homes in central Iraq.

"I had to leave Baghdad with my family for Arbil for security," said Zakiya Ali Ahmed, 61. "But I watch the situation closely and I hope it will quiet down so we can go home soon."