Over 20,000 Indians to return home from Saudi under 90-day amnesty period

Saudi govt launched a 'A Nation Without Violations' campaign to give residency and labor law violators 90 days to leave the country without penalties.

The Saudi Arabia government on Monday had set up an exclusive centre in Riyadh for Indian nationals who want to exit the country under a 90 day amnesty period that the kingdom's government has offered them.

According to Anil Nautiyal, counsellor at the Indian embassy said that around 20,321 Indian nationals had applied till Monday evening to return home under the amnesty scheme.

He also said that Saudi officials are giving exit visas free of charge to applicants. While they are facilitating the exit process, the applicants have to pay the flight cost.

Among them, 1500 are blue collar workers from Tamil Nadu and other workers who are availing the scheme are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. However, the numbers are fewer than during the 2103 amnesty period.

Also, the Indian embassy appealed all the Indian nationals staying in Saudi to use the amnesty scheme and come back to India.

In 2013, a similar campaign took place to legalize the status of undocumented workers in the Kingdom. Back then, a three-month amnesty was announced in April 2013 before late King Abdullah extended the grace period to November 2013.

OneIndia News