Dubai: More than 2,000 undocumented Filipinos have gone home after being granted amnesty by the UAE since August 1, a diplomat said on Wednesday.
Philippine Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes said as many as 2,417 Filipinos, who previously stayed illegally in the UAE, have been sent home since the start of the amnesty period in August.
The Philippine missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai facilitated the repatriation and the Philippine government shouldered the repatriation cost and the exit fees, aside from the welfare assistance extended to the amnesty grantees.
Some 3,140 Filipinos have applied for passport renewal to avail of the six-month jobseeker’s visa while others already had job offers waiting for them.
Another 1,203 Filipinos applied for ‘lost passport’ so they could rectify their visa status.
The amnesty programme in the UAE was extended for another month until December 1 to give illegal residents the chance to go back to their home countries without paying a fine or getting a ban, or to rectify their visa status.
