Early efforts 'have curbed illegal Pakistani expats'

Dubai: Pakistani missions have repatriated 5,000 expatriates over the last eight months and do not expect a heavy rush of illegal workers wanting to go home during the three-month amnesty period declared by the UAE.

"We received about 150 applications from illegal [Pakistani residents] during the first three days of the amnesty [period] and it is much lower than what we expected," noted Naveed Elahi, Passport Counsellor at the Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai.

He said the number of illegal Pakistani workers has decreased considerably over the last few months because the Pakistani mission in Dubai has been issuing outpasses, or temporary travel documents, to facilitate repatriation of the illegal workers.

"The number of applicants seeking repatriation increased over the last eight months since the local authorities relaxed rules for the illegal expatriates who want to go back," he noted.

Relaxed rules

Elahi explained: "Earlier, we used to issue outpasses only to those referred by the jail authorities but later the procedure was simplified and we were authorised to issue outpasses to illegal expatriates approaching the missions.

"It encouraged more [of them] to ... go back to their country."

Crackdown by Pakistan government on agents involved in human trafficking during the recent months has also helped to reduce the number of illegal expatriates in the UAE.

He said the number of illegal Pakistani expatriates were curtailed because around 5,000 have already been repatriated during the last eight months.

The Passport Counsellor in Dubai said a special team has been formed following directions from Chaudhry Abdul Hameed, Consul General of Pakistan in Dubai, to facilitate people during the three-month amnesty period announced by the UAE government.

The Pakistani Consul General has also recommended the Islamabad government to conduct short courses for workers coming to the UAE and other Gulf countries.

"Apart from vocational training, they need to know etiquettes about how to dress up, how to behave on roads, beaches, shopping centres and even how to cross a road," he added.

Most importantly, he said, the workers would be educated on problems of having illegal status in foreign countries.