Fees exemption for Indians seeking to leave Saudi Arabia

India has exempted its nationals living in Saudi Arabi without any travel documents from paying the fees for issuance of Emergency Certificates for one time travel to India following a new labour policy in the Kingdom.
This waiver shall be applicable only for those EC applications made during the grace period announced by the Saudi authorities, Indian Embassy in Riyadh said in a statement.
Applicants desirous to avail this waiver of fee shall have to submit an additional application indicating their wish to avail this scheme.
The Embassy has already released a list of 2,528 Emergency Certificate applicants whose passports are available with the Embassy.

The Embassy has released a list of 169 passports available with the Mission from the ECs applied at Dammam VFS office.
The 'Nitaqat' law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. There has been widespread perception that the new policy will lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there.

All cases against expats related violation of immigration laws are expected to be dropped once the Nitaqat law comes into effect.
Saudi Arabia has handed over about 15,000 passports of stranded Indian workers, surrendered by Saudi sponsors, to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, in a bid to resolve cases of immigration law violations.

The Saudi government is implementing the Nitaqat law to cut unemployment in the country.