The Pakistani Embassy on Friday urged the remaining illegal expat workers in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the special registration drive as part of the Kingdom’s effort to assist undocumented Pakistanis.

Mueenudin, community welfare attaché at the Pakistan Embassy, said: “We should respect the rules and regulations of the Kingdom. I urge the remaining illegal Pakistani workers to contact the embassy and consulate general in Jeddah for the rectification of their status.”

“Our aim is to support undocumented nationals in the Kingdom. We request them to take advantage of this new registration campaign and register themselves,” he said.

“Some 850,000 Pakistani workers have already legalized their status. The embassy has been successful in achieving the goal of legalizing the status of Pakistani workers. We don’t have the exact figures, but the number of illegal Pakistani workers remaining in the Kingdom hardly runs into a few thousand,” he added.

“Embassy officials and volunteers are still active and are always present at the deportation centers (Tarheel offices) and other focal points around the Kingdom to help the remaining illegal workers,” he said, adding that the main focus was to find different ways to help workers who arrived after April 6 as freelancers or those who were declared as runaway workers.

Mueenudin said: “We are very thankful to a large number of Pakistani workers who have corrected their status and availed of the extended grace period efficiently without penalties.”

The Pakistani community in the Kingdom, expressing their appreciation, said: “Ambassador Muhammad Naeem Khan has really worked hard. We highly appreciate his diligence and efforts toward Pakistanis.”