Saudi amnesty not for all overstaying OFWs – report

The six-month amnesty offered by Saudi Arabia for overstaying foreign nationals is limited to three categories and may not apply to all Filipinos now staying there, according to a news report. Saudi-based news site Arab News reported Thursday this clarification issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry following several queries on the matter. Arab News said the six-month general amnesty covers foreigners who lapsed into illegal status by overstaying after they arrived in the country with visas for Haj and Umrah, both of which are Islamic pilgrimages, or with any other kind of visit visas. In late September, Saudi’s Ministry of Interior announced a blanket “Royal pardon" for residency law violations, and advised illegal residents to complete the procedure for their departure at the foreigners’ personnel offices of the Kingdom. (See: Help illegal OFWs avail of Saudi pardon, group urges RP) According to the official announcement, the amnesty is meant for the hundreds of illegal foreigners overstaying their visas. They will be allowed to leave the Kingdom without punishment. The Ministry clarified, however, that the amnesty will cover those who arrived in the Kingdom with visit visas, or those who had violated Passport Department laws. They have been advised to complete the necessary procedures for their departure by reporting to the nearest Department for Foreigners’ Affairs until March 23, 2011. The Arab News report said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh had been flooded with inquiries from many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) asking whether domestic helpers and drivers who ran away from their employers are included in the amnesty. One affected OFW, a mechanic in Badiyah district, cited in the article the case of his wife, a former helper who ran away from her sponsor. He said his wife even approached the authorities in the hope that she would be detained and deported for being an illegal resident, but authorities refused to take her in. They moved in together eventually and now have three children, one of whom is of school age. However, he said they could not be issued visas because their mother, a native of Cotabato, is an illegal resident. “For this reason, they cannot travel with me to the Philippines. I have not taken a vacation during my 16 years of working in the Kingdom," he said as quoted in the article. He said that aside from his wife, there were eight other women in the building where they live. Six of them were also illegal residents after escaping from their sponsors. “They came here to work as helpers but they ran away from their sponsors and eventually moved in with Filipinos who were legal residents like me, and each gave birth to two to three children who are now almost of school age," said the mechanic from Zambales province. Another OFW was a former helper who escaped from her employer and now working in the “black labor" market, earning SR1,500 (about P17,250). “I’d earn more if I were not a runaway," she said. She told Arab News that while she has a good job now, she wants to take advantage of the amnesty if she is covered. “I want to legalize my stay in the Kingdom," she said. The woman, separated from her husband and now raising two sons aged 11 and seven, said she left the Philippines to work in the Kingdom to support them. She said she is now living with a Filipino and they have one child together. Rico Moncada from Cabuyao in Laguna province, meanwhile, said he is interested in taking advantage of the amnesty. He now works as a family driver with a monthly salary of SR1,200 (about P13,800). “I used to work as a family driver in Nasseem district but I ran away because I was being intimidated by my sponsor. I was afraid of him. That’s why I escaped," he said in the Arab News report.—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV