RIYADH — Over one million Indians in the Kingdom have benefitted from the concessions granted by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to legalize the status of illegal workers in the country. Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao today released the figures at a press conference at the Indian Embassy, at the Diplomatic Quarter here. He also highlighted the efforts of the Embassy, along with Saudi authorities, to help Indian expatriates benefit from the grace period, to legalize the status of illegal Indian workers in the Kingdom and assist those who sought to leave the Kingdom on an exit-only visa. “The figure includes 359,997 Indians who transferred their services, 355,035 Indians changing their job titles, 466,689 Indians renewing their work permits up till mid of September, based on Saudi sources. “Also, the Embassy issued 77,054 Emergency Certificate (travel documents), till October 21 free of cost to all who applied for it and that almost 95% of the people to whom the certificate was issued have been able to get their exit visas from the Saudi authorities,” he said. “The rest of the of the people are in the process of getting their final exit. We also estimate that over 95% of those who got their exit visas have already left the country. We urge others also to approach the Saudi authorities before Nov. 3 to legalize their statues,” he added. Rao highly lauded Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for the humanitarian approach he and his government have followed in handling the issue of illegal expatriate workers in the Kingdom. “I recall the services of the Saudi officers at labor offices and Tarheel (deportation) during this period including the holy month of Ramadan and Haj holidays. This indeed reflects a humanitarian approach in handling the issue,” he added. “The grace period has benefitted many people who could not go to India for a long time and to go without facing any penal action for their illegal stay here and also with no ban on their return. 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,” he elaborated. Underscoring the role of media in creating awareness among expatriate communities in regard to the Saudi campaign to legalize the status of expatriate workers in the country, the ambassador said: “This is why this press conference was organized and so were some others in the past.” He said the Embassy has used variety of channels to achieve the objective of legalizing the Indian workers status. For example, in addition using media and Embassy premises, schools were used to communicate with communities and to be venue for conducting the legalizing activities. “Further to those achievements, more than 200 companies approached the Embassy offering jobs for Indians. The Embassy has also organized job fair in collaboration of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry that was attended by 500 companies and 8,000 workers and that was beneficially to many of these workers,” he said. Responding to a question on whether the current corrective measures taken at Saudi labor market could lead India to consider tightening its terms on recruitment made by the Kingdom, Ambassador Rao said that from the beginning India has recognized that priority of employment is for Saudis in their own country, but when the Kingdom expresses a need for our labour then we respond, we don't think in the mentality of ‘Indian terms' or ‘Saudi terms,' but rather in ‘Indian-Saudi terms.'”
