An upshot of Saudi Arabia’s Nitaqat labour and migration reform programme is that it has thrown up near-exact number of Indians working and living in the kingdom.

Quoting Saudi Arabian official sources, Indian Embassy Charge de Affaires Sibi George on Tuesday said in Riyadh that there were more than 28 lakh Indians in Saudi Arabia. Until recently Saudi Arabian officials and media put the Indian expatriate community’s strength in the 20-24 lakh range.

During the seven-month amnesty that ended on Monday, all illegal workers and expatriates, including from India, were required to sign up with the government. They were asked to correct their work and stay status and a series of concessions was granted by the Saudi Arabian government. About 14 lakh Indians made use of these concessions and got their residency and work status legalised. This meant that lakhs of workers who had been outside the official databank signed up with the Government. It is quite possible that the number will go beyond 28 lakh as still thousands of Indians have not been able to get their status legalised or could not even apply for regularisation.

According to a recent household survey by the Kerala Government, there are 4.5 lakh Keralites living in Saudi Arabia.

(The largest chunk of the Keralite diaspora of 5.73 lakh is in the UAE.)

Indians make the largest segment of the expatriate population in Saudi Arabia. Of this, according to recent data, about a sixth is from Kerala. Saudi Arabia recently estimated that 30 per cent its foreign remittances went to India.

Sibi George pointed out that during the seven-month amnesty, 4.81 lakh Indian workers had got their professions changed in their documents and 4.35 lakh got their services transferred to other companies. About 4.7 lakh workers got their iqamas (residency permits) and work licences renewed and 1.34 lakh left Saudi Arabia as they did not have the documents to get their stay and work papers legalised.

>basheer.kpm@thehindu.co.in

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