Saudi Arabia reminds illegal workers of the ‘last chance’ to get their jobs regularised
The Saudi government has asked the illegal expatriates to take the last chance of an ongoing amnesty by November 4. “Expatriates are advised to process their paperwork without delay, as we will begin taking punitive action against illegals and their employers without leniency,” said a joint statement of the ministries of Interior and Labour of KSA last week.The ministries urged the workers to legalise their residency and labour status before the expiry of the amnesty to avoid punishment, report Saudi Arabian media.
Faisal Al-Otaibi, director of the department for inspections at the labour ministry, said the raid would cover institutions across cities and principalities without exception.
The ministry would not allow any black market for foreign workers, he said. “We will allow manpower supply only through licensed companies,” he added.
The Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh has urged the Bangladeshi workers, who have not taken the advantage, to take it to avoid punishment, said labour counsellor Emdadul Haque.
Around four lakh Bangladeshis had taken the advantage. Of them 40,000 returned home.
There would be work opportunities after the end of the amnesty as a good number of illegal residents from other countries had left Saudi Arabia, the counsellor added.
Arab News, a Saudi Arabian newspaper, reported yesterday that more than 200,000 illegal foreign workers left the Kingdom since the amnesty began in May this year.
Around 2 million qualified expatriate workers had not legalised their status but are available to take jobs, it said.
The Saudi authorities had set July 4 as the deadline of the amnesty.
Later, following the demand of the foreign nationals the amnesty period had been extended till November 4.
The move came as a blessing for over 1.2 million Bangladeshis who were working illegally in the Saudi Arabia, one of the largest labour markets for Bangladesh, for several years and not getting any scope to be legalised.
-With The Daily Star input
