About 12 lakh illegal Indian workers have made use of the concessions offered by the Saudi government to legalise their work status, ahead of the November 3 Nitaqat deadline.
Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ali Rao told a news conference in Riyadh on Tuesday that 3.55 lakh Indian workers had got their job titles changed, Saudi media reported. Also, 3.60 lakh workers transferred their services and 4.67 lakh got their work permits renewed.
Rao also said the embassy had issued emergency certificates to 77,000 Indians to leave Saudi Arabia without penalty. The Saudis granted exit visas to around 95 per cent of them. The huge majority of those granted exit visas have already left for India and the rest will leave by November 3.
“The grace period (granted by the king for enforcing the Nitaqat rules) has benefited many people who could not go to India for a long time. They could leave the country with no bar on their return,” Rao was quoted as saying by the
“This was in addition to letting a lot of them to legalize their status. These are major achievements that we should all be very grateful for,” Rao said.
The Saudi king had twice extended the deadline for correcting the work and residency permits of illegal workers in the kingdom. This was part of the preparations for enforcing the Nitaqat programme aimed at reserving a percentage of jobs in Saudi companies, businesses and offices for Saudi nationals.
Indians are the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia, estimated at over two millions. The largest segment of this community comes from Kerala.
The Nitaqat enforcement had expected to hit several lakhs of Indians, but the concessions and the grace periods granted by the Saudi government helped most of them to renew work and residency permits and stay on in the kingdom.
However, when the Nitaqat norms come into full force on November 4, the Saudi authorities are likely to be very tough with the remaining illegal workers.
basheer.kpm@thehindu.co.in