Amnesty deadline extended for illegals in Oman

Muscat: A large number of expatriate workforce, living in Oman without legal status, have been given one more chance to leave the country without paying fines.

Shaikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Abdullah Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, on Monday announced the amnesty for the illegal expatriates, reprieving them from paying financial penalties that they may have accrued until December 31, 2009.

The ministerial decision has given expatriate workers living in Oman without legal status two months time from February 1 to leave the country without paying fines.

"This gives them the chance to leave the country for good without facing any financial penalties resulting from their illegal status," the minister said in his statement.

"This is a very happy moment for me and those workers stranded here without legal status," P.M. Jabir, Indian Social Club's Welfare secretary, told Gulf News on Monday.

Jabir, who has been advocating amnesty since the heavy crackdown on illegal workers in Oman two months ago, said that almost 25,000 Indian workers would benefit from this decision.

"The registration process is on at the embassy and we reckon that the final figure would be around 25,000," he said.

He appealed to every illegal Indian to report to the embassy and register for an easy exit.
"We have some registered since 2007 also and they will also benefit," said the social worker.

The Manpower Ministry has urged all illegal workers to approach their respective embassies and register to seek amnesty.

"Only those registered with their embassy will get a reprieve," said a source at the Manpower Ministry.

Shaikh Al Bakri said that the government decided to waive penalties in its efforts to facilitate better the relationship between businesses and the expatriate labour force working in their organisations.

"The reprieve will be affective on all expatriate workers whose contracts have expired as of December 31, 2009," he clarified.

"Finally my hiding will end and I can leave without having to worry about fines," |Bangladeshi errand boy Noor Mohammed, whose plight was featured in Gulf News.

The Minister said that following amendments to the labour laws late last year and introduction of stiffer penalties for all parties, there were representation to the government for reprieve from financial fines for workers.

"We have had requests from businessmen, companies and other organisations to look into the matter of mounting fines for those over staying after expiry of visas," he explained.

Shaikh Abdullah also urged business houses to legalised the status of their staff or change status of the job profile according to their work.

He revealed that the expatriate workforce in the country had reached 1,054,091, as of January 24, 2010.

The Minister also assured that the ministry would continue to provide and facilitate its services to employers, establishments and companies in rerouting their required expatriate labour, according to the actual needs, which will enable its functioning and to fulfill its projects.