According to the circular, the amnesty will apply only to those who had overstayed their Umrah, Haj and visit visas to the Kingdom.

In its circular, the ministry requested all foreign embassies and their respective consulates to extend their cooperation by urging their citizens who are overstayers to report to the government department concerned to verify their travel documents and leave the Kingdom within the amnesty period.

“Those visa overstayers who do not comply with the ministry's instruction may have to face penalties,” the circular said.

A public announcement have been displayed on the notice board at the deportation camp in Jeddah requesting overstayers to report to the authorities so they can be repatriated home.

According to sources from Jeddah, the Tarheel (deportation camp) authorities have set up a special cell with five counters to attend to cases involving overstayers. Arab News learned such services in deportation camps in other cities in the Kingdom are currently not available, since the ministry is targeting Umrah and Haj overstayers who are staying in and around the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

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 at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, said all affected Indian nationals are being directed to take advantage of this amnesty opportunity without fail. “If anyone is still in the country after the set deadline, he will be severely dealt with by the authorities,” the diplomat added.

The official advised affected Indian nationals to approach the Tarheel center immediately with passport and air ticket to get the exit visa stamped on their travel documents after the fingerprints scan. The passport must have the visa sticker on it. If the passport is damaged, he said the applicant has to get the computer printout from the Jawazat (Passport/Immigration Department) confirming his visa status before approaching Tarheel authorities.

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, Moorthy said the consulate repatriated some 15,000 Indians.

Moorthy estimates that another 10,000 Indian overstayers are living in the Western Province. He said a team of officials from the consulate is sent daily to the Tarheel to assist Indian expatriates who go there for repatriation.