Several embassies, which approached senior Saudi officials with request to include huroob cases in the amnesty, have no idea as how to deal with this new problem.
“Clearly the system of general amnesty announced by the Kingdom did not cover all categories of illegal workers,” said an African diplomat.
“The Jeddah-based Indonesian Consulate General could issue only 3,000 outpasses, mostly for Umrah overstayers,” said Didi Wahyudi, a consulate spokesperson.
“The number of travel documents issued from the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh was also not that high,” said spokesman Wishnu Krisnamurthi.
A number of illegal Indonesian workers were not entitled for the concessions because they were technically not covered under the amnesty.
“The number of Bangladeshi huroob offenders alone will exceed 5,000,” said a Bangladeshi Embassy official on the condition of anonymity.
“The total number of African workers, including Sudanese facing huroob charges or blacklisted because of some other violations, will be in the range of 15,000 to 25,000,” said Essam Al-Shafi, a Sudanese community leader.
Asked about the number of illegal Sudanese workers, Osama Mahjoob Hassan, counselor at the Sudanese Embassy, could not provide the exact number of the workers who benefited from the amnesty.
But, a number of workers were left stranded because of huroob or other categories of violations. Al-Shafi said that the amnesty directive by the Interior Ministry covered only those who arrived in the Kingdom on Haj, Umrah and visit visas and overstayed here.
Asked about outpasses issued by the Bangladesh Embassy, Haroonur Rashid, the embassy's labor counselor, said that about 17,000 travel documents were issued to Bangladeshis during the whole amnesty period.
In the case of Indian workers, “80 percent of those who applied for emergency travel certificates, were runaway workers not covered by the Saudi amnesty,” said a report quoting Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad. Ahmad said that he discussed the issue with Labor Minister Adel Fakieh during a recent meeting.
According to an estimate, the total number of illegal Indian workers ranged between 35,000 and 55,000 before the amnesty period. This is in addition to 1,200 Indian prisoners currently serving jail terms in the Kingdom.
The number of Indians awaiting trial is not known, as is the case with many other Asian and African nationals. “Undoubtedly, their number will be in thousands,” said an Asian community leader.
The Sri Lankan Embassy has issued only 80 emergency travel permits.
Irfan Shoukat, a spokesman of the Pakistan Embassy, said that more than 5,500 outpasses were issued by the embassy. A large number of Pakistani workers, who are facing huroob cases, were not allowed to leave the country without settling their disputes with employers. The Nepalese Embassy issued about 5,000 outpasses, said a spokesman. Of course, a number of Nepali workers are also involved in huroob cases.
