Most Nepalis currently living illegally in the country are those who gained the status of 'illegal immigrant' after the amnesty programme was launched in April.

Around 50 Nepalis have been arrested in Saudi Arabia after authorities in the Gulf country launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants following the expiry of the amnesty period, on Monday.

The Saudi government, in the first week of April, had asked all undocumented workers to leave the country or get legal status to continue working in the kingdom. At that time a deadline of three months had been issued which was later extended by four more months.

The move to flush out illegal immigrants was aimed at generating more job opportunities for locals in the Gulf country.

“Since the introduction of the amnesty programme over 95 per cent of around 40,000 illegal Nepali immigrants had filed for amnesty. They have already left the country,” the Nepali ambassador to Saudi Arabia Uday Raj Pandey told The Himalayan Times over the phone today.

However, a few of those undocumented Nepali workers, who chose to stay behind, were arrested after the crackdown was launched early this week, Pandey said.

“Those arrested, if proven guilty, will be deported to Nepal after the Saudi government gives the embassy permission to issue necessary travel documents,” Pandey further said, confirming they would not be prosecuted.

However, Saudi Gazette, a local newspaper, reported that the Saudi government had even warned it would jail arrested illegal migrants. “But that will apply only to those facing criminal charges,” ambassador Pandey clarified.

Most Nepalis currently living illegally in the country are those who gained the status of ‘illegal immigrant’ after the amnesty programme was launched in April.

“Since these workers were not listed as illegal immigrants when the amnesty was announced, they chose to buy time to fix their legal status but failed,” ambassador Pandey said.

Others turned into illegal immigrants after they resigned from their workplace but could not get placement in another company as they had hoped, while a few simply bet on the chance that the government would further extend the amnesty deadline, Pandey said. “To pave the way for the departure of such people, we expect the Saudi government to give some grace period.”

Saudi Arabia is the most favoured labour destination for Nepali migrant workers. The country has so far absorbed over 440,000 Nepali workers, of which around 97,000 accepted job placements in the last fiscal.

Published on: 7 November 2013 | The Himalayan Times