UAE | Visa
Embassies try for amicable solutions with sponsors
A number of embassies said they have received complaints from workers that their sponsors are demanding money to release their passports.
- By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:36 August 15, 2007
-
Companies return passports
Companies persuaded to return passports of absconding labourers
-
Workers fear passports will be withheld
With weeks left for amnesty to expire, workers fear passports will be withheld
Abu Dhabi: A number of embassies said they have received complaints from workers that their sponsors are demanding money to release their passports.
The Bangladesh Embassy has received the maximum number of complaints. "We received about 700 complaints from amnesty seekers that their employers were asking for money to release passports", said a senior official. "Although we intervened in all the cases, only 15 per cent of employers were ready to accept our request."
Indian Embassy officials said they received a lot of complaints and a special team constituted by the embassy intervened.
Discussions
"The complainants said their employers demanded
Dh500 to Dh5,000 to release their passports. We spoke to the companies or sponsors and found amicable solutions in many cases. Wherever the embassy's efforts did not succeed we advised the complainants to approach the Ministry of Labour," said an official.
A senior official at the Pakistan Embassy said: "We tried to reach amicable solutions by talking to the employers in many cases. We have officially informed the authorities also," said Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, First Secretary at the Embassy. The Sri Lankan Embassy has received 50 complaints from illegal workers , said a senior official.
"Most of the complainants are from construction and cleaning companies. They said companies or individual sponsors demanded Dh250 to Dh500 to cancel the labour card ... But the embassy was able to find an amicable solution in 90 per cent of the cases" said Madurika Weninger, Charge d'affaires (interim) of the Sri Lankan Embassy.
Abdi Satya Utama, information officer at the Indonesian embassy said most of complaints came from housemaids.
Share this article
Related Articles
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
The best reader pictures from around the UAE this week
UAE Editor's choice
-
Interactive Quiz: Fish of the World
Test your knowledge of the deep by taking our aquatic quiz
-
The world's tallest tower in 24 hours
Changing face of world's tallest tower Burj Dubai from dawn till dusk
-
Yoga under a full moon
Some classic yoga postures that are perfect to perform when the moon is full.
