Overstayers have until March 23 to leave the Kingdom, which is home to some two million Indian expatriates.
A spokesman from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh said embassy staff have been requested to work extra hours six days a week to cope with the huge rush of applicants who want to take advantage of the amnesty which came into effect on Sept. 25. “During the last week, we have issued more than 3,000 emergency certificates for those who come under the amnesty scheme,” he said.
The scheme covers people who entered the Kingdom on Haj, Umrah or visit visas and then stayed on after the expiration of their visas. The amnesty does not cover individuals who fall under the “huroob” category.
The official said the Indian Embassy is keen to inform all its citizens that only those people who do not possess valid passports and are in a position to obtain exit visas from the local authorities concerned, such as Tarheel/Jawazat, should approach the Indian Embassy for emergency certificates. The embassy is not in a position to obtain exit visas from local authorities.
People who have their passports with them should travel on them and only those who do not have passports are required to apply for emergency certificates, he added.
The following documents are required to get an emergency certificate: A completed application form; photocopy of one’s passport; copy of any Indian proof of identity, such as an election card, a ration card, or a driving license; and three photographs.
The spokesman said that once an emergency certificate is issued, the embassy will not be able to issue a passport to the applicant and that the person will have to travel to India on the certificate. “In these circumstances, only those persons should apply for emergency certificates who are able to get exit visas and leave the Kingdom,” he said, adding that emergency certificates are only valid for single journeys to India.
Besides consular services, the Indian Embassy assists the next-of-kin of Indians who die in the Kingdom. Some 100 Indians die each month in the Kingdom in accidents or on account of natural causes. The mission helps families get compensation from the employers of the deceased and, if necessary, make arrangements to repatriate dead bodies to India.
The mission also has an Indian Community Welfare Fund that provides distressed Indian workers with boarding, medical care, air passage and legal assistance.
It also provides expenditure on airlifting the mortal remains of Indians who have died in the Kingdom to India, and facilitates local cremations or burials of deceased Indians in such cases where a sponsor is unable or unwilling to do so as per the contract and the person’s family is unable to meet the cost.
The ICWF, which is funded by the Indian Diaspora and Indian philanthropists, helps repatriate around 600 bodies annually, and a large number of workers benefit from its compensation scheme which offers supplementary funds to those employees whose Saudi sponsors pay them less than their due compensation. “Our motive is to assist all deserving Indians in the Kingdom and see that their stay in the Kingdom is useful both to the host country as well as to their families back home,” said the spokesman.
