UAE | Visa
Air ticket scheme for illegals
No more worries for Indian amnesty seekers not having the money to buy an air ticket. They can now get a ticket under a unique loan scheme.
- By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
- Published: 01:20 November 2, 2007
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- Amnesty seekers waiting outside the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Dubai: No more worries for Indian amnesty seekers not having the money to buy an air ticket. They can now get a ticket under a unique loan scheme.
"They will have to give us an undertaking that they will give back air ticket money to their respective state passport authorities once they fly back home. This loan scheme is put in place only because we are facing an emergency situation," said R.C. Nair, Acting Consul General of India.
The loan scheme has been put in place by the Indian missions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to make sure that not a single amnesty seeker is stranded in the country after November 2.
"We have so far issued 1,157 tickets under the loan scheme. Arrangements have also been put in place to have a special Air India express flight," said Nair.
The general amnesty was declared by the UAE cabinet from June 2 until September 2 which was again extended until today. Nair said that the ticket issued under the loan scheme is endorsed in the passport of the amnesty seeker.
"For example if an amnesty seeker from Andhra Pradesh has availed the air ticket under the loan scheme, his passport will be held back by the immigration authority at the Hyderabad airport.
The immigration authority will then deposit the passport with the passport authority. The passport holder will get his passport back once he pays back the air ticket amount to the passport authority," said Nair.
Nair said that until yesterday about 40,000 Emergency Certificates (EC) have been issued by the Indian consulate.
"We had received 29,904 Indian passports from the Dubai and Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Departments of which we gave out 20,583 to their rightful owners." Nair said that there has been an unusual rush from applicants for ECs.
"For example we received 110 applications for ECs on October 30, but the crowd was nothing compared to what we use to have in the first three months of the amnesty," he said.
Sarvajit Singh, second secretary, Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi said that about 11,000 ECs were issued. "We had received 9,500 Indian passports from the Abu Dhabi Naturalisation and Residency Department," he said.
Highlighting similar views W. Senanayake, Sri Lankan Consul General yesterday said that about 2,652 ECs were issued and 1,764 passports were returned.
"The Sri Lankan amnesty seekers were very happy to have been able to go back home. We did not receive people who were looking to regularise their status. Majority of them wanted to go back and return with proper documents."
Virgina Calvez, Labour attaché, at the Philippine Consulate said that more than 5,000 ECs were issued.
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