Several thousand Bangladeshis overstaying their visas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) can return home without facing punishment after the kingdom announced a six-month amnesty for overstayers of certain categories. The grace period starts today.
The Saudi interior ministry said the amnesty will cover those who arrived in the kingdom on Hajj, Umrah, visit or any other type of visas that had expired, or violated the country’s Passport Department regulations, according to a report of Arab News, a Riyadh-based newspaper, published on September 22.
The declaration came on September 21, two days before the Kingdom’s National Day, when King Abdullah usually declares amnesty for a large number of prisoners — Saudis and expatriates — arrested for petty crimes.
An official at the Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment said the amnesty is good for some, but bad for many others overstaying their visas in the KSA, home to around 20 lakh Bangladeshis.
“It’s good for those who went there on Hajj or Umrah visas but are working now. They can return home without facing punishment,” he told The Daily Star yesterday preferring anonymity.
There are workers who overstay there to earn the money they had spent to go there, he said. They do it, as they cannot recover the money within the legalised period due to their poor wages, he added.
“Regularising such workers would have been a better option,” he said.
The Arab News reported the foreigners overstaying in the kingdom have been advised to complete the necessary procedures for their departure by reporting to the nearest Department for Foreigners’ Affairs from September 25, 2010 to March 23, 2011.
The Saudi ministry has advised all those who overstayed as well as other illegal foreigners to benefit from the clemency, and leave the kingdom within the grace period.
“Violators caught after the grace period will receive tough punishment including jail sentence and fine,” it said, and warned those who transport, shelter or employ the overstayers would also receive severe punishment.
The newspaper report said Saudi authorities have been grappling with the problem for the past several years with little success. Jeddah being a commercial and employment centre near the holy city of Mecca is considered a magnet for unauthorised migrants.
Saudi government officials have been seeking ways to resolve the problem, as the expenses of deporting them land squarely on Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom spends Saudi Real (SR) 420 million (Tk 78 crore approximately) annually to send such migrants back to their home countries.
