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CHENNAI: Several Indians, including at least 5,000 workers from Tamil Nadu, who went to work in the UAE and stayed on as illegals are set to return home. The UAE ministry of interior on Tuesday announced an amnesty for illegal residents, allowing them to leave the country without any penalty within two months starting from December 4 or face legal punishment, including imprisonment and fines.
Most of the illegal Indians were from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, M K Lokesh, India's ambassador to the UAE, told TOI from Abu Dhabi, adding that more than 40,000 Indians benefited from the 2010 general amnesty.
While Lokesh said exact numbers was not immediately available, activists working among labourers said more than 5,000 Tamil Nadu residents could be among those set to return. "After the pardon period for illegal residents to leave the country without penalty ends on February 4, there will be no extension. This will be their last chance to leave the country with dignity," major-general Nassir Al Awadhi Al Menhali, assistant undersecretary for naturalisation, residency and port affairs at the Ministry of Interior of the UAE, was quoted as saying.
Major-general Al Menhali also clarified that those who had overstayed would be allowed to stay back if they were able to change their legal status before the general pardon period expired. He said those going for residency amendments before the deadline expired can do so by paying the fines (dirhams 25 or 375 a day for overstaying) and other charges for the documentation process.
Welcoming the move, ambassador M K Lokesh said Indian diplomats would soon have a meeting to develop a mechanism for the fast and efficient process of documents to allow illegal Indian residents to return home without any trouble under the amnesty. All the consular staff members will be advised to expedite services during this period, he added.
The amnesty exercise at the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian consulate in Dubai is a big exercise requiring the assistance of volunteers in filling up the forms of the applicants, most of whom are illiterate.
Middle men, touts and brokers make a killing during this period, promising applicants the required "out-pass" within a few days with the help of their 'connections.' (An out-pass is a one-way travel document issued to illegal Indians to leave the UAE).
5,000 illegal labourers from Tamil Nadu set to return from UAE - The Times of India
Most of the illegal Indians were from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, M K Lokesh, India's ambassador to the UAE, told TOI from Abu Dhabi, adding that more than 40,000 Indians benefited from the 2010 general amnesty.
While Lokesh said exact numbers was not immediately available, activists working among labourers said more than 5,000 Tamil Nadu residents could be among those set to return. "After the pardon period for illegal residents to leave the country without penalty ends on February 4, there will be no extension. This will be their last chance to leave the country with dignity," major-general Nassir Al Awadhi Al Menhali, assistant undersecretary for naturalisation, residency and port affairs at the Ministry of Interior of the UAE, was quoted as saying.
Major-general Al Menhali also clarified that those who had overstayed would be allowed to stay back if they were able to change their legal status before the general pardon period expired. He said those going for residency amendments before the deadline expired can do so by paying the fines (dirhams 25 or 375 a day for overstaying) and other charges for the documentation process.
Welcoming the move, ambassador M K Lokesh said Indian diplomats would soon have a meeting to develop a mechanism for the fast and efficient process of documents to allow illegal Indian residents to return home without any trouble under the amnesty. All the consular staff members will be advised to expedite services during this period, he added.
The amnesty exercise at the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian consulate in Dubai is a big exercise requiring the assistance of volunteers in filling up the forms of the applicants, most of whom are illiterate.
Middle men, touts and brokers make a killing during this period, promising applicants the required "out-pass" within a few days with the help of their 'connections.' (An out-pass is a one-way travel document issued to illegal Indians to leave the UAE).
5,000 illegal labourers from Tamil Nadu set to return from UAE - The Times of India
.Middle East has been a big magnet for states like Kerala whose money order economy is dependent on remittances from Keralites in `gelf`
