Abu Dhabi: Blue-collar Indian workers whose passports have been endorsed as Emigration Check Required (ECR) will be prohibited from travelling overseas if their prospective job offers are unrecognised by the e-Migrate system, an official told Gulf News.
E-Migrate system, which was launched by the Indian government on June 1, aims to reduce the number of fraudulent job offers in India, particularly targeted at the country’s working class.
In response to residents’ concerns on how the system will assist India’s lower income segment who are not as tech-savvy, Mohammad Shahid Alam, second secretary at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News: “Blue-collar workers who used to receive a lot of false job offers will have to go through the Protector of Emigrants (POE) offices in India prior to travelling abroad.”
Located across nine prominent locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur, Alam told Gulf News that representatives from POE offices always look to certify whether workers’ secured job offers and salaries have been verified by the e-migrate system.
“If the system fails to identify them, these workers will not be allowed to travel abroad,” he explained.
Foreign employers’ registration
When asked about the number of registrations, Alam told Gulf News that the embassy has seen a dramatic upsurge.
“The number of foreign employers who registered through the e-Migrate system has gone up from 18 to 195,” he added.
“Since the last media interaction the embassy arranged to increase awareness, we have actively taken part in iftars that were organised during the month of Ramadan across the capital to spread the word and further promote the system.”
As a result, several inquiries have come from foreign employers, he said.
“We have received multiple inquiries from foreign employers about what procedures are required, whether this system has really been implemented and how to register. Despite the fact that we did not expect to see a huge increase in the number of registrations in such a short period of time, we are still aiming to have every foreign employer in the UAE register through the e-Migrate system,” he added.
Several activation tactics are in the pipeline to ensure that the system’s momentum is maintained; more details will be revealed in due course, he said.
As far as voting overseas is concerned, Alam explained that this is being studied by the Indian government; however, the status of this initiative remains unconfirmed.
Alam said that he urges people to call the toll-free number at 800 463 42 or send an email to help@iwrcuae.in to clear any doubts or concerns.
-Maisoon Mubarak Is a trainee at Gulf News
