Fees waived for Indians seeking to leave Saudi Arabia

The India government has exempted Indian workers in Saudi Arabia, seeking to leave that country, from paying fees for issue of emergency certificates (ECs) for one-time travel to India, according to the Indian embassy in Riyadh.

However, the waiver is applicable only for those EC applications made during the grace period announced by the Saudi government, which is currently under way and will end July 3.

Indian workers are thronging the embassy in Riyadh and the Indian consulate in Jeddah after a new labour policy was implemented in that country.

The "Nitaqat" or Saudisation policy makes it mandatory for all Saudi companies to reserve 10 percent of jobs for Saudi nationals.

There are around two million expatriate Indians in Saudi Arabia, many of them blue collar workers.

The embassy had earlier appealed to Indian workers to either rectify their residency status or leave that country.

According to the latest statement from the embassy, those who want to avail this waiver scheme should have to fill up an additional application form expressing their desire to avail this scheme.

The application format has been uploaded on the embassy website www.indianembassy.org.sa, and those who have already applied for ECs can fill this new form at the time of collecting their ECs, the embassy said.