Overstayers' last chance

The concessionary rule will apply only for those who have overstayed their Umrah, Haj and visit visas to the Kingdom. According to sources in Jeddah, the Tarheel authorities have set up a special cell with five counters to attend to the cases of overstayers.

The authorities have not stipulated a deadline for the intake of such overstayers. However, prospective applicants are routing their applications through their respective missions with the necessary travel documents.

A public announcement has been displayed on the notice board of the detention camp requesting people who have overstayed their visas to report personally for repatriation home.

Applicants should submit their passports or the outpasses issued by their respective missions together with air tickets. The applicants will be fingerprinted to ensure that they have come into the Kingdom for the specified purpose.

Those who have overstayed their visit visas will be required to pay a fine in accordance with the length of the period of overstay.

S. D. Moorthy, consul (welfare) at the Indian Consulate General in Jeddah, said that this is good news for the overstayers. He said that his mission had so far issued 200 outpasses.

The government offered an amnesty for visa overstayers for a period of one year from September 2010 to September 2011. During the last amnesty period, he said the consulate repatriated some 15,000 Indians, who came under the category, Moorthy said.

He estimated that there would be another 10,000 Indian overstayers, who are living in the region. “We request this category of stranded workers to report to their consulate and process their repatriation as quickly as possible before the authorities close their doors to such applicants,” Moorthy noted.

Sri Lankan Consul General Adambawa Uthumalebbe said that this category of overstayers is minimal among Sri Lankans. “We have issued a few outpasses last week and we have requested such overstayers to report to the mission immediately to process them for repatriation,” he said, adding, during the last amnesty period, there were only 25 cases repatriated to Sri Lanka from the western region.

Of the 550,000 Sri Lankan workers spread across the Kingdom, it is estimated that there are some 150,000 living in the region.