Oman- Around 8,000 avail amnesty embassies say number may rise

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Of the over 8000 illegal workers of various nationalities availing amnesty close to 6000 have left Oman's shores. Some embassies say more such workers are likely to register before the amnesty period that began on May 3 ends on July 30.

As per the amnesty programme undocumented immigrants those who have violated the Labour Law or the Foreign Residency Law can avail the opportunity to return home without having to pay any penalty.

 

The Bangladeshi Embassy in Muscat has registered 4785 people and expects more registrations. Rabiul Islam from the embassy's Labour Wing in Muscat said 'As many as 4785 people will be leaving. Of these 4300 have already left the country. The rest will follow soon.'

He added 'We are assuming that around 19000 more will avail the amnesty. It has been a very challenging time to handle the amount of people at the embassy.' An official from the Pakistan Social Club said that 3258 people have registered to leave the country. Of these 2000 are in the process of making travel arrangements and 1200 have left.'

He added 'The process has been very slow during Ramadan and we think more people will approach us after Eid. 'Earlier we had 80 to 100 people visiting the embassy in this regard. The number these days is around ten. Our team has been coordinating with the Pakistani Embassy.'

According to the Pakistani Embassy around 5000 illegal Pakistani workers live in Oman of which more than 3000 reside in Muscat while the rest are in Sohar and Salalah. A senior official from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Muscat said that 162 illegal workers have registered to go back home.

'We are not expecting any more registrations 129 of these have already left and the rest will be departing before the deadline.' As many as 200 illegals from the Philippines have availed the amnesty and more than half of these have left. The Indian Embassy declined to comment on the matter.

According to the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Manpower 2487 illegal immigrants were deported between June 14 and 18 while 2367 were deported and 1370 had registered for deportation between June 21 and 25.