I am writing with regard to the letter “No need to extend the grace period” (June 18). The writer says that the three-month grace period or amnesty should not be extended because there are expatriates who have lived and worked in the Kingdom illegally for 30 years and have never made an attempt to rectify their residential status. While this is certainly true, it is also true that the demand for an extension is being made by embassy and consular officials of various countries and by those illegal expatriates who seriously wish to be legal but have been unable to complete their procedures within the given grace period. It should also be taken into consideration that the size of the problem has grown enormously because all of these illegal practices have been permitted to continue for the last 30 years and there now needs to be a reasonable amount of time allotted to correct them. Iftikhar Bashir, Online response
II. Where does the writer of this letter live? In the sky? He should go and see one day how many people are waiting in the line at the labor office and the passport department. Before you comment you have to know the facts. Three months for the grace period may seem like more than enough but can the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Interior complete all of the work in that time? One Saudi with 23 passports stood in line for four hours and when he reached the counter, the officer would only take four passports and told him to bring the rest the next day. This problem is not only for expatriate workers. Abdullah, Online response
