RIYADH/JEDDAH: The Ministry of Interior has clarified that the six-month general amnesty announced by the Saudi authorities covers illegal foreigners who overstayed after arriving in the country on Haj, Umrah or visit visas.
Quoting the Immigration Department, the Consulate General of India stated that those coming under any of the three categories should directly approach the deportation center with their passports and air tickets to get an exit visa stamped on their travel documents.
The consulate issued the advisory after scores of people have been crowding its premises since the amnesty was announced on Sept. 21.
On Sept. 22, more than 100 overstayers visited the consulate, hoping diplomats would arrange for their deportation.
"We have since been advising such visitors to report to the deportation center instead of the consulate," a consulate official said.
The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh was also flooded with many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) asking whether maids and drivers who have run away from their employers are included in the amnesty.
One affected OFW is a mechanic in a car workshop in Badiyah district. He said his wife, a former maid who ran away from her sponsor, had even approached the authorities in the hope that she would be detained and deported for being an illegal resident.
"She was hoping that she'd be jailed for some time as her papers for deportation were still being processed," he told the embassy, adding that for one reason or another, the authorities would not detain her.
The mechanic said that when her wife's sponsor was asked to release her, he refused.
Eventually, he said, they moved in together. Now, they have three children, one of who is of school age, but they could not be issued with visas because their mother is an illegal resident.
"For this reason, they cannot travel with me to the Philippines. I have not taken a vacation during my 16 years of working in the Kingdom," he said.
He added that aside from his wife, who is from Cotabato in southern Philippines, there were eight other women in the building where they live. Six of them were also illegal residents for having escaped from their sponsors.
"They came here to work as maids but they ran away from their sponsors and eventually moved in with Filipinos who were legal residents like me, and each gave birth to two to three children who are now almost of school age," said the mechanic from Zambales province, northwest of Manila.
Another OFW was a former maid who escaped from her employer and now working in the black labor market, earning SR1,500. "I'd earn more if I were not a runaway," she said.
She said that even though she has a good job now, she'd like to take advantage of the amnesty if she is covered. "I want to legalize my stay in the Kingdom," she said.
Separated from his husband and raising two sons, aged 11 and seven, she left the Philippines to work in the Kingdom to support them. She's now living with a Filipino and they have one child together.
Rico Moncada from Cabuyao, south of Manila, said that he's also interested in taking advantage of the amnesty. He's now working as a family driver with a monthly salary of SR1,200.
"I used to work as a family driver in Nasseem district but I ran away because I was being intimidated by my sponsor. I was afraid of him. That's why I escaped," he said.
According to the official announcement, the amnesty is meant for the hundreds of illegal foreigners overstaying their visas. They will be allowed to leave the Kingdom without punishment.
The Interior Ministry has stated that the amnesty will cover those who arrived in the Kingdom on Haj, Umrah, visitors or any other type of visas that had expired, or those who had violated Passport Department laws.
They have been advised to complete the necessary procedures for their departure by reporting to the nearest Department for Foreigners' Affairs until March 23, 2011.
By RODOLFO C. ESTIMO JR. & K.S. RAMKUMAR
© Arab News 2010
