Indian embassy in Riyadh to process 12,000 more passes

The Indian embassy in Riyadh will start the verification and delivery process of a third batch of 12,000 applications for emergency certificates sought by expatriate Indian workers in Saudi Arabia who want to leave that country for good.

The embassy has already issued 24,000 exit passes and the third batch will be processed from Monday, the Saudi Gazette reported Thursday.

Indian workers have been thronging the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah ever since a new labour policy was implemented in that Gulf nation.

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

Affected Indian workers are trying to take advantage of a grace period announced by the Saudi government that will end July 3.

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