UAE | Employment
Illegal workers on frenzied money-making mode
Some illegal workers are making the most of the last weeks of the amnesty programme to make as much money as possible before going home, no longer afraid of getting caught.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:05 July 24, 2007
Dubai: Some illegal workers are making the most of the last weeks of the amnesty programme to make as much money as possible before going home, no longer afraid of getting caught.
The UAE is giving illegal workers and residents until September 3 to leave the country without incurring any penalties.
Rany Pudin and Sinta Lara, both absconding housemaids from Indonesia, have applied for their outpasses. However, neither woman plan to leave the UAE until at the last minute. Rany told Gulf News that she intended to make good use of the time she had left in the UAE and make as much money as possible, her main objective for coming to the UAE.
"I plan to go back on August 31. In the meantime, I want to work and save as much money as I can before I go," she said. The 23-year-old from West Java ran away from her employer about eight months ago, claiming they were abusive.
She has since made her living as a daily worker, earning about Dh100 per day. Her cousin, Sinta Lara, is doing the same. "I am relieved that the amnesty came so I no longer have to hide. Now I can leave at the end without worry," she added.
Shelter
However, it is not a completely no harm, no foul situation for Indonesian illegals. The Indonesian Consulate-General in Dubai reports an increase in the number of citizens seeking shelter at the consulate since the amnesty period began.
Dede Achman Rifai, consul in charge of labour at the consulate, told Gulf News that they have about 50 women sheltering with them, from 30.
"Their employers became afraid that they might get caught now because they were employing [the women] illegally so they ask them to leave the house," he said.
He added that the consulate could not interfere if the workers wanted to continue working and earning as much money before they went home for good.
So far, the Indonesian Consulate-General has processed about 600 outpasses and serving an average of 100 amnesty-seekers daily. It has received more than 1,000 passports from the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD).
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