RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has extended for a month the amnesty period for all illegal foreign workers, including Pakistani immigrants, to regularise their status or so that they could return home without prosecution.
According to details, the grace period granted for the third time will be effective as of September 16.
The security forces will launch a wide-reaching campaign across the kingdom to crack down on illegal foreign workers once the amnesty has expired, the interior ministry warned.
Pakistan’s embassy in Riyadh described the extension as a “humanitarian” gesture, urging its citizens in the kingdom “to fully utilise the grace period effectively” to avoid being jailed, fined or placed on a blacklist.
In March, the government of Saudi Arabia started Amnesty plan 2017, namely “Nation free of violators”. The scheme aims to facilitate the exit of illegal foreign nationals to their respective countries. Those who can benefit from the amnesty scheme would include overstayers of Hajj, Umrah and visit visa holders, absconders, expired Iqama holders and persons without residence cards.