Indian workers facing problems legalizing their status in Saudi Arabia will be given the services of local attorneys to help them avert deportation or prison sentences, Sibi George, deputy chief of the Indian mission, said here yesterday.
“The embassy will shortly set up a panel of legal firms to assist those workers who seek initial legal assistance for correcting their status,” said Geroge.
He said Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao had a meeting with social workers on Sunday.
Amid worries that Saudi Arabia’s Nitaqat policy would affect thousands of workers in the Kingdom, Rao urged workers to use the three-month grace period announced by Saudi Arabia to correct their status.
George said lawyers would provide assistance to the workers whose residency status can be corrected or who are being harassed.
“The embassy urges all Indian nationals affected by the Nitaqat program to use the grace period to regularize their legal status or to arrange their exit visas as per the regulations of the Kingdom,” he added.
Foreign workers have been given a three-month grace period by the authorities to regularize their status after raids on workplaces last week created panic.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah directed the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor that workers violating regulations be given the grace period. “The law will be enforced against those who remain in violation following the end of the grace period,” said a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency a few days back.
In order to achieve tangible results during the grace period, the Indian Embassy has asked reputed law firms which have offices in all major cities of Saudi Arabia and want to be on the panel of the embassy to forward their company profile.
He said the legal firms will be required to advise the embassy on “the best course of action under the prevailing Saudi laws on the procedure to be followed for regularizing the legal status of affected Indians in the Kingdom.”
He said that the panel of legal firms will start work during the third week of April.
The embassy also announced to start a “Tatakal Service” to deliver the passports of Indian nationals after renewal, booklet change or after any such service required by a passport holder. The Tatkal service on passports will be available at the Umm Ul Hammam office of VFS Global from April 15. No application will be accepted in the embassy premises. The application will be accepted between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and delivery will be from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on all working days.
In fact, the embassy has entered into a contract with M/s VFS GCC LLC for outsourcing its passport, visa and consular services. The outsourcing of consular services covers areas of central and eastern regions falling under the jurisdiction of embassy of India, Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is home to over 2 million Indian workers including professionals as well as a large number of skilled and unskilled laborers.
