Muscat: Foreign workforce stranded in Oman without legal papers will get a further two-month reprieve as the Manpower Ministry extended their deadline to leave the country without paying fines.
In January, the government gave overstaying expatriates three months to complete all the paperwork and leave the country without paying fines or to regularise their status with the Manpower Ministry.
The deadline was first extended up to May 31.
A large number of overstaying expatriates, mainly blue-collar workers, will have to either regularise their status or leave Oman.
"We have had requests from diplomatic missions to give further extension for the partial amnesty and a formal announcement to this effect will be made tomorrow (Monday)," a senior official at the Manpower Ministry told Gulf News on condition of anonymity.
On Saturday, Manpower Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bakri said that the ministry was studying the proposal.
The minister was in a meeting on Sunday with senior officials to finalise the extension proposal and a formal announcement is expected to be made on Monday.
The minister also said that the ministry had already transferred sponsorship of 27,000 workers between companies in the last four months.
Shaikh Abdullah praised the private sector cooperation with the ministry in providing employment to 180,000 Omanis. On the other hand, he pointed out that the number of licensed foreign workers in Oman reached 163,000.
The overstaying Indians have responded in larger numbers to the partial amnesty compared to the workers from other countries.
However, over 8,000 expatriates, who had registered for repatriation, have not returned to complete the formalities, like fingerprinting, before exiting the country.
According to P.M. Jabir, Welfare Secretary at the Indian Social Club, some of them may have regularised their status in the interim. "Some are taking chances and staying back," he told Gulf News.
Considering that there may be some duplication in 21,000 plus registered with the Indian embassy, 11,500 had completed the fingerprinting process, mandatory before clearance for the exit is granted, he said.
"There could be around 7,000-8,000 workers who have not come forward to complete the formalities," he said.
Over 10,000 Bangladeshis have registered for exit without paying fines with the embassy, while nearly 2,500 Pakistanis have come forward to leave the country.
Sri Lankan mission had nearly 350 registrations, mostly housemaids, and some of them have already left for their home.
