Saudi gov't won't extend grace period for 'illegal' workers

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities in Saudi Arabia have denied the requests of embassies as well as public and private sectors to extend the grace period for "illegal" workers to legalize their status, a migrant workers' rights group said Monday.

Migrante Middle East and North Africa coordinator John Monterona said that according to reports they received, the Saudi labor ministry has declined the Philippines' request for giving extension to the 90-day grace period, which ends Monday, June 3.

Mid-April this year, Saudi authorities ordered a crackdown of undocumented and overstaying expatriate workers by rounding them up at their job sites and in known accommodations of undocumented migrant workers.

Hundreds of "illegals" were apprehended but the Saudi King Abdulla ordered a halt to the crackdown following demands from public and private sectors.

King Abdulla gave a 90-day grace period to let all "illegal" migrants to legalize their status and for others to leave the Kingdom without any penalty.

"Saudi labor ministry is really serious to clean up the Kingdom from overstaying and ‘illegal’ migrants in line with its Saudization policy via Nitaqat or the localization of labor giving employment priority to its own nationals over expatriate workers," Monterona said.

He said that a national daily in Saudi Arabia had reported Saudi Labor ministry spokesman Hatab Al-Anazi as saying that the grace period was based on a royal decree and that only another royal decree can extend it.

Last May 31, Monterona said he had communicated with an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, who confirmed that the DFA had already "made a request to the Saudi envoy to the Philippines Ambassador Hassan to extend the said grace period to enable all ‘illegal’ Filipinos in the Kingdom to legalize their continued stay and work."

"We join the calls by the Philippines government and other migrant-sending governments to the Saudi government and direct our appeal to Saudi King His Highness King Abdulla to consider providing an extension to the 90-day grace period that will end on July 3 for humanitarian considerations,” Monterona added.

He said there is a huge number of "illegal" migrant workers in Saudi Arabia of at least 1.2 million, mostly from India, Pakistan, Egypt, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and from other Asian countries.