Thousands of illegal Indian workers wanting to go home will get their emergency travel documents within two weeks, the Indian ambassador said in a statement issued yesterday.
Hamid Ali Rao said the embassy staff and volunteers were working long hours to ensure this happens.
“We hope to complete the process of issuing ECs (emergency certificates) to all those wanting to leave the country within the next two weeks,” he said. “Then our focus would be on their exit without facing any penal action.”
Rao also emphasized that workers should not pay anyone fees for these services. “I have always urged that no money should be paid to anyone to get travel documents ... The volunteers are undertaking non-remunerative and voluntary services.”
“The authorities of Saudi Arabia have also reiterated that no money should be paid at the labor offices, Jawazat (passport) offices and Tarheels (deportation centers) ...”
“The exit from Saudi Arabia is free. No money should be paid to anyone outside Tarheels to get an exit. I urge the volunteers to spread this message across the Kingdom among the Indian community.”
He said that in the two weeks since the Saudi government announced a range of concessions for workers to regularize their status in the country, the Indian missions’ efforts have “started yielding good results.”
“The feedback I get is that all across the Kingdom, the Indian community is involved in working toward achieving this goal. The thousands of telephone calls and e-mails that the embassy receives, even from smaller towns of this vast land, indicate that our community is working together as a team to help each other.”
He said the missions have also been in constant communication with the Saudi authorities on the concerns of Indian workers. He said many Indian workers are using the concessions to rectify their status, change sponsors and find new jobs.
Rao said he met Riyadh Gov. Prince Khalid bin Bandar last week to brief him on the progress made around various issues concerning Indian workers. He said he had also met the deputy minister of interior to inform him about the “difficulties” faced by workers at the passport and deportation centers.
He said that the Indian diplomatic staff should now “double our efforts” to ensure the necessary work is done to help workers “within the stipulated time,” a reference to July 3, the end of the three-month grace period.
Rao said many volunteers visit the embassy regularly and “work silently to help us update our database” and also head out to the passport offices and deportation centers to help Indians with translation and interpretation services.
Indians to get travel papers ‘in two weeks’
