Irregular migrants avail of amnesty
More than 278,715 irregular migrant workers have taken advantage of the UAE's three-month amnesty offer to either regularize their stay or leave the country, said Brigadier Mohammad Salem al-Khayili, head of the Naturalization and Residency Department in Abu Dhabi. In Dubai, the number of irregular migrant workers who applied for amnesty totaled 184,873. Of this 121,605 were issued outpasses to return home while 63,268 were assisted in regularizing their status. In Ras Al Khaimah, some 9,493 benefited from the amnesty, most of whom were Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who had overstayed their visas. Fujairah, in turn, granted amnesty to a total of 2,640 irregular migrant workers, who were also largely made up of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. The amnesty, which ends on 3 September, has been extended for two months to allow amnesty-seekers enough time to leave the country. However, this extension does not apply to those seeking to regularize their stay, whose deadline remains on 3 September. Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan urged all concerned to take advantage of the "golden opportunity" offered by the extension to leave the country without penalty or fine.
Regarding the dependents of irregular migrants, the Abu Dhabi Naturalization and Residency Department (ADNRD) offered two options for those who regularized their status under the amnesty program. Dependents may either regularize their stay by leaving the country without paying any fine and coming back on a fresh sponsorship or they may opt to pay the fines and complete the paperwork without having to leave the UAE.
100,000 Indians benefited from UAE amnesty
More than 100,000 Indian migrant workers in the UAE allegedly availed of the amnesty offer. Officials say some 70 percent of all Indian amnesty seekers were from Andhra Pradesh. Indian consulate officials in Dubai disclosed that they received 41,050 applications for Emergency Certificates from amnesty seekers. Local immigration authorities also turned over to the Indian mission close to 27,710 passports belonging to Indian nationals. Of this number the consulate was able to return 20,145 to their rightful owners.
Indian amnesty seekers get free air tickets
On 1 September, some 165 Indian amnesty seekers were able to board a chartered Air Indian Express flight free of charge at the Dubai International Airport. The flight had been chartered by the Kerala Muslim Cultural Center. In Abu Dhabi, 105 Indian amnesty seekers likewise benefited from free airline tickets offered by the Indian community organization, Indian Islamic Center.
Visiting former Indian MP, Jitendra Reddy, revealed that two workers who recently availed of the UAE's amnesty offer have committed suicide after returning to their homes in Andhra Pradesh. The men – Banoth Bhaskar from the Nizamabad district and Chandra Nail from Tadkapalli Village – are believed to have committed suicide because of their inability to pay off their debts from money lenders.
Filipino amnesty seekers repatriated
Philippine officials said that at least 1,000 of the 3,000 Filipino irregular migrants in the UAE have been sent home under the three-month amnesty program. According to Rafael Palencia Jr. of the Philippine Consulate's Assistance to Nationals section, many Filipino irregular migrants were hesitant to avail of the amnesty because they could not afford the airfare back to the Philippines while others who initially wanted to regularize their status failed to meet the requirements on time. The consulate has issued more than 700 travel documents to Filipino amnesty seekers in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, Palencia added.
Meanwhile, Eulogio Aquino Jr., who suffered brain damage following an accident in Ras Al Khaimah last year, was able to return to the Philippines on 11 August under the amnesty program. His relatives in the UAE applied for the amnesty on his behalf. Aquino is now undergoing physiotherapy at the Philippine General Hospital to regain his ability to walk and speak. Aquino was working as a sales executive with the Al Mustajer Real Estate company in Dubai when his car collided with a van. He suffered brain injury from the impact of the collision and was confined at the Saqr hospital's Intensive Care Unit for three months. His relatives in the UAE said they intend to file a case against Al Mustajer for failing to settle Aquino's hospital bills and for not providing any repatriation assistance.
1,750 Indonesian amnesty seekers issued travel papers
Indonesian Consul Dede Achmad Rifai said that the consulate has issued some 1,750 travel documents to its nationals in Dubai and the Northern Emirates who availed of the amnesty. Rifai stressed that the Indonesian government will take stricter measures to ensure that all workers who come to the UAE for employment are armed with the proper documents. According to the envoy, under his country's recruitment policy, all those who wish to work in the UAE should have their work contracts authenticated by the Indonesian missions in the country and the Indonesian Labor Department in Jakarta.
According to the ADNRD, the three-month amnesty program has led to a shortage of domestic workers. As a result, the demand for domestic workers has doubled, with the ADNRD receiving some 700 applications daily. The construction industry has also been severely affected by the departure of thousands of irregular migrant workers under the amnesty program. Mike Carney, director of the construction consultancy firm, EC Harris, disclosed that some 300,000 construction workers appeared to have disappeared from the labor market. The situation has caused several complaints of worker shortage in various building sites. Meanwhile, the amnesty also affected some businesses – sales in cafeterias have allegedly gone down after the departure of many of their regular clients while supermarket sales went up as departing workers started making purchases to bring home to their families and friends.
The Ministry of Labor announced that foreigners found working in the UAE while holding visit visas would be slapped with a life ban while their employer would be fined Dh50,000. In addition, employers found to have hired a person who turned out to be an infiltrator will face fines of up to Dh100,000. The new rules imposing stiffer penalties against labor law violators were drawn up by the ministry in a bid to ensure that irregular migrant workers would no longer be part of the country's workforce.
Meanwhile, the ministry warned companies not to employ workers who are sponsored by the free zones. These so-called free zones are under separate administrations with their own set of regulations and procedures and are not under the supervision of the labor ministry.
During the first six months of this year, a team of 74 officials from the Passport Control section at the Dubai International Airport seized a total of 299 forged passports and prevented the holders of these passports from entering or leaving the country. The 74 officers were honored recently for their efficiency in detecting travel document forgery.
The Sharjah Transport Corporation (STC) remained firm over its decision to stop the services of unregistered private buses plying the Sharjah-Dubai route to prevent irregular migrant workers from renting these buses to transport people. STC told private firms that they would face fines if they do not get a trade license from the Economic Development Department and a vehicle registration plate from Sharjah.
The Ministry of Interior and the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking organized a two-day seminar in Abu Dhabi starting 1 September. The aim of the seminar is to highlight the problem of human trafficking and explore various ways to fight it. Participants included representatives from the immigration departments, police officers and public prosecutors.
Hundreds of Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Egyptian workers from a contracting company who were on their way to the Ministry of Labor to file a complaint against their employer on 3 September were told to return to their quarters with the assurance that their grievances would be properly addressed. The workers complained of not being provided air tickets for their annual home leave, salary deductions for not reporting to work on holidays and not having weekends off. In addition, a small number of workers also complained of non-payment of salaries. Company officials later promised to give the workers a two-dirham wage increase and weekends off in the presence of labor officials.
Indian officials have temporarily suspended the attestation of all contracts for domestic workers until New Delhi decides on their final wage rate. The Protector of Emigrants in India and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs had earlier set a new minimum monthly salary of $400 (Dh1468) for Indian domestic workers, up from the existing rate of Dh600. However, in the light of strong objections by sponsors to the proposed pay hike, Indian officials have found it hard to start implementing it.
Andhra Pradesh's Minister for Energy, Coal and Minorities Welfare Mohammed Ali Shabber met with Brigadier Mohamed Ahmed Rashid Al Marri, director of the Dubai Naturalizaton and Residency Department (DNRD) in Dubai on 10 September for talks regarding long-term solutions to the problem of irregular immigrants. Shabber thanked the UAE government for the three-month amnesty given to irregular migrant workers and for the speedy processing of exit passes for concerned Indian workers. He reassured UAE authorities that the Andhra Pradesh government is doing is best to stop the influx of irregular migrant labor to the UAE and to prosecute unscrupulous recruiting agents responsible for this flow.
Runaway Sri Lankan domestic worker found in Sharjah
A UAE family from Abu Dhabi expressed relief over reports that their missing Sri Lankan domestic worker, Madhushika Rajakaruna, had finally been traced in Sharjah and subsequently deported. Madhushika allegedly ran away from their home in December last year. However, her family in Sri Lanka did not believe her employers when they claimed to have no knowledge of her whereabouts and even accused them of killing the domestic worker.
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