Kerala: Dull response to Saudi amnesty

Thiruvananthapuram: Only a few Malayalis have so far turned up to avail the three-month amnesty announced by Saudi Arabia for illegal immigrants.

According to NORKA-Roots sources, about 21,000 Indians have registered with the Indian embassy in Riyadh for seeking amnesty. But the number of Malayalis among them was less than ten. Most of the others were from places like Bihar and West Bengal.

"Our information was that there were also six Malayalis among the 21,000-odd Indians registered at the Indian embassy in the kingdom. We are in close touch with the external affairs ministry to extend assistance to Malayalis who seek amnesty,"said NORKA-Roots chief executive officer K. N. Raghavan.

He also said that a good number of Malayalis who were illegally working in Saudi might have legalised their documents earlier.

The three-month amnesty started on March 29, and hence the chance of a rush towards the end of the three-year term in June is also not ruled out. The Malayali associations were also appealing to the illegal immigrants.

Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust chairman K. V. Shamsudheen also said that many Indians had legalised their visa during the Nitaqat in 2013.

"I had a chance to meet many Indian expatriates in Saudi recently. What I could learn from them was that many had legalised their visas. Hence there won't be any rush of Malayalees for the amnesty," he said.