Saudi Arabia ends amnesty for overstayers

.....That of the total, 15,571 had obtained official manpower documents from the Saudi government while 6,035 others had been given exit permits to return to Indonesia".....

Jakarta (ANTARA Jambi) - The Saudi government ended on Sunday the amnesty it had given since in the past several months to foreigners, including Indonesians, who had over stayed their stay permits.

"The Saudi government will soon conduct raids on overstayers. Indonesian migrants who are raided will be held at an immigration detention house before they are deported," Jumhur Hidayat, the head of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Overseas (BNP2TKI) said here on Sunday.

Jumhur said that information he got from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the number of Indonesians who had attended to travel document in lieu of passports (SPLP) totaled 95,262.

He said that of the total, 15,571 had obtained official manpower documents from the Saudi government while 6,035 others had been given exit permits to return to Indonesia. Of the 6,035, a total of 5,973 had returned to the country.

Thus, Jumhur said, there are still 73,655 who have not yet obtained manpower documents or exit permits.(Ant)