Amnesty for illegal migrant workers ends Wednesday:

Around 99 percent take advantage of Saudi Arabian amnesty

Rasika Somarathna

Around 99 per cent, out of nearly 14,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers staying in Saudi Arabia illegally have completed formal registrations to take advantage of an amnesty ending Wednesday that would allow them to either stay and work with legal status or return home without prosecution.

The Saudi King announced the amnesty on April 3, granting foreign workers three months to regularize their residency or leave the Kingdom to avoid being jailed and fined.

Those who failed to oblige the call will be prosecuted and may face a two year jail term and a fine of Saudi Riyal 100,000 (Rs. 3.5 million).

"Around 99 per cent of workers staying illegally have already registered with the embassy. Their details have been sent to relevant Saudi authorities. Around 3,000 have requested to correct their status and work further while others have consented to come back home," spokesman for the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foriegn Employment Mangala Randeniya said.

According to Randeniya already 2,400 Sri Lankan's who accepted the amnesty have returned home and others will be brought back within a stipulated time period (within 2-3 months).

Meanwhile, foreign media reported that illegal expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia are in a race against time to take advantage of the grace period ending Wednesday and many embassies have requested for an extension.

When questioned Randeniya said Sri Lanka too would welcome an extension as this would allow several others who have not regularised their status so far to come forward.

After the anouncement the Lankan embassy in Saudi worked round the clock with additional manpower been deployed to assist Lankans staying illegally in the Kingdom. They issued temporary passports to workers who need them and guided them to contact the Immigration Police of Saudi to obtain the exit permits.

Here the workers had to produce Iqama (workers ID card), a copy of the visa page or entry number. If workers cannot find any of the above they were encouraged to contact the SLBFE with the help of a local relative to assist to find the necessary details by contacting the foreign employment agency which recruited them. However, delays have been reported when issuing the exit permits by Immigration Police in Saudi. When questioned Randeniya said that this will not affect the Sri Lankan workers who have failed obtain the permits so far as authorities will issue exit permits for all duly registered people.

However, if any Lankan worker has serious criminal records pending against him or her in Saudi Arabia the Immigration Police will not grant exit permits to them.

Saudi Arabia is the topmost destination for Sri Lankan migrant workers and over 600,000 Sri Lankans are employed in the kingdom. Currently there are around 1.7 million Sri Lankans in overseas employment.