Amnesty seekers in UAE miss free flight to India

Dubai, Nov 4 (UNI) On the last day of amnesty in UAE, four Indian illegal immigrants missed the special flights back home due to imcomplete paperwork.

The four amnesty seekers, all hailing from Andhra Pradesh, had obtained free tickets at the Sharjah Indian Association from Andhra Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Mohammad Ali Shabeer, who had come to the UAE to escort the labourers back home.

''I was so happy to have got a free passage. Now, I was told that I should go to the Sharjah Immigration and Naturalisation Department and get my paperwork completed. No one informed me of these procedures before,'' One of the amnesty seeker, who was missed his flight was quoted as saying by Gulf News.

The special Air India Express amnesty flight took off at midnight on Friday carrying 150 passengers and was arranged by the Andhra Pradesh government to facilitate travel for illegal immigrants from the state.

The three-month amnesty period was declared by the UAE government on June 2 and it was later extended till November 3.

UNI