KUWAIT CITY, June 25: “We are calling on all Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Kuwait who have no iqama or whose visas expired before Feb 24 of this year to leave the country or legalise their stay here before the amnesty period ends on June 30,” urged Philippine Vice Consul Sheila Monedero on Saturday as the Philippine Embassy made its final call to all illegal residents to avail the amnesty.

Monedero disclosed to the Arab Times that there were about 1,500 Filipinos who have availed of the amnesty since the Kuwait government announced it on March 1. “Half of them went home while about half of them had legalised their status here by paying the stipulated fines,” she stated. She informed that as of June 23, 2011, a total of 3,184 travel documents have been issued by the embassy.

She pointed out that the embassy is issuing travel documents to OFWs whose passports were lost and want to leave the country. “We are extending all the possible assistance to them so they can leave before the amnesty deadline, because we’ve been informed that the Kuwait Immigration authorities will be very strict in their campaign against illegal residents,” she stressed.

Advantage
Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) is also taking advantage of the amnesty period to repatriate the more than 300 distressed OFWs who are temporarily housed at the Filipino Workers Resource Centre (FWRC) in Jabriya.

“We are racing against time and we hope that we can repatriate a big number if not all the 320 stranded OFWs at the FWRC before the June 30 deadline,” explained Philippine Labour Attache David Des Dicang.
He disclosed that they have already made a formal endorsement for 32 distressed OFWs with absconding cases to the Kuwait Immigration Authorities. “Aside from that, we will also be endorsing another 80 and we are trying our best to increase the number as much possible before the amnesty ends,” he stated.

He added that they have also sent some 176 wards on Thursday for fingerprinting to ascertain their status. “We want to know who among the 176 wards have theft or absconding cases or those who have no cases. If they have no cases, then we will submit their names to the Office of Domestic Workers Affairs and the Kuwait government will provide their air tickets in going home while those with cases, we will refer them to the concerned authorities so they will be cleared and can finally go home,” pointed out Dicang.

Also:
KUWAIT CITY: Nearly 40 percent of the total residence law violators in the country benefited from the Amiri amnesty and have either left for their home countries without paying fines or have legalized their stay, reports Al-Anba daily.

An informed source said 28,668 residence law violators left the country so far and 13,879 have corrected their status. The amnesty offer ends on June 30, 2011. - Arabtimes