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Oman Extends Amnesty Deadline for Overstaying Expats Expatriates

MUSCAT - The government of Oman will extend the amnesty deadline of March-end granted to overstaying expatriates to leave the country without paying fines.

This will facilitate the repatriation of the large number of expatriate workers who have registered themselves in their respective diplomatic missions in Oman.
As a special gesture to deal with the large volume of applications, the ministry of manpower office would also remain open on Thursdays to process the papers of Indians, who form a sizeable chunk of overstayers.
This assurance was given by Manpower Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Bakri to India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Shashi Tharoor who is on a four-day official visit to the Sultanate.
Tharoor disclosed that he had discussed the plight of overstaying Indian workers with Bakri, who assured him that all possible measures would be taken to ensure that everyone who genuinely wanted to return home was given a fair chance.
Oman’s ministry of manpower presently is clearing about 500 applications per day of the illegal and overstaying workers, whose number is estimated to be close to a 100,000.
The Indian embassy itself has received around 20,000 names of people who want to take advantage of the amnesty granted by the Oman government following amendments to existing labour regulations which forced companies to recruit only expatriates on valid work permits. This had rendered hundreds of expatriates, mostly blue collar workers, jobless as well as penniless.
Considering the volume of applications, it would be almost impossible to send even those who do register their names before the end of March. The original amnesty period is February 1 to March 31. In another significant move which could cheer up the working class expatriates, Tharoor revealed that the ministry of manpower had promised to look into the issue of lifting the two-year ban on re-entry of workers whose passports were stamped with the ‘deported’ status.
Tharoor also said that a few large companies with Indian managements have volunteered to provide food and shelter to a large number of Indians who are waiting for their names to be approved by the authorities to return home.
Also, the issue of companies and individuals holding passports of those wanting to go back was also brought to the notice of the minister of manpower, who said that strict action would be initiated against such violators.?
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