U A E
To Leave with Dignity, Foreign Workers Go For Amnesty
by Meena Janardhan
DUBAI (IPS) — They come to the United Arab Emirates with stars in their eyes and dreams in their hearts. They leave with crushed desires and vacant stares, duped by agents, abandoned by sponsors, broken down by debts, and uncertain about their future.
Many therefore see consolation in the six-month long amnesty offered by the UAE government, which has enabled foreign workers without legal documents in the country to at least leave with dignity.
Around 100,000 migrants, who had either overstayed in the country or had no proper papers, have left the UAE for their homelands. That is still quite a lot of people, although the number falls short of the 150,000 that left during the 1996 amnesty.
The oil-rich country attracts huge numbers of Asians seeking work, mainly as labourers and domestic workers. Entry into the Emirates requires a local sponsor, but many stay on after their visas expire.
As many as 85 percent of the 3.1 million population of the UAE are foreigners, with Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Indians, Iranians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans accounting for the bulk of foreign workers.
Take the case of Amina Bai, a Bangladeshi domestic worker who has been living here since 1990. ''I had legal permission to stay in this country till 1997. By then, I had developed cataract in both my eyes and knew that I would fail the medical test required for visa reprocessing.''
''So I continued to stay on illegally as my sponsors had no objection — but now I want to go back and this is a God-sent opportunity,'' she said.
But many of them have not been as lucky to have sponsors as Amina did. Ahmed Khan, a Pakistani plumber, paid an agent nearly 3,000 U.S. dollars to get a passport and visa.
''The agent was to meet me at the airport with my employment visa. He met me, took my passport and left, promising to return with my visa. That was the last I saw of him,'' Khan recalled.
Unable to go back, Ahmed then took up a job as a labourer at a construction site and has been moving from one job to another for the past two years.
''Today, I can go back to my family — I have managed to save some money. The authorities are charging a pittance during the amnesty to provide us legal documents. I would be a fool to miss this opportunity,'' added Khan.
Though the initial amnesty was only from Jan. 1 to Mar. 30, the government kept extending the deadline for the next three months. The final date was Jun. 30, though last-minute applications are still being processed.
Fears of a massive crackdown after the deadline are also a reason to leave now. Already, the authorities have launched a large crackdown and search for overstayers.
The interior ministry has announced searches and raids would be made for such foreign workers, who face up to 10 years in jail and a 2,725 U.S. dollar fine.
People sheltering them would also be deported immediately without trial. Extra patrol boats have been deployed in UAE waters, while helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft would monitor the borders. House-to-house searches would also be conducted.
''Everyone involved will be held liable, the offenders and those who assist them by not reporting to the authorities,” the general director of the Directorate of Naturalisation and Residency, Brigadier Hader Khalaf al-Muhairi, said at a recent press briefing.
Over 2,000 such people have already been arrested in the past six months.
As they stand in long queues to get their outpasses processed, nagging worries plague the applicants. They now have to start their lives all over again at home. Some have large families to support back home, others have huge debts.
Many of them say that they never thought they would overstay illegally.
Maheshwari, an Indian, came to Sharjah, one of the seven emirates, on a visa provided by her husband's sponsor. ''My husband was working as a cook in one of his sponsor's restaurants. But in his desire to make more money, he took up part-time employment in another restaurant too.''
''When his sponsor came to know of his two-timing, he sacked him, cancelled his visa and sent him back to India,'' she added. ''He graciously allowed me to stay on without a visa for two years, but in November last year, his patience ran out. I am now going back to an unemployed husband and two little children. How am I to feed them?''
Standing in the same queue is Stella, a Sri Lankan domestic worker who said she ran away from her sponsor's house because he mistreated her. ''The amnesty is a great blessing. Though I have not committed any crime, I don't have a valid visa or passport and spent nearly a year in hiding and working illegally to survive.''
This year, authorities have gone into great lengths to prevent re-entry by overstayers who are leaving.
Muhairi added, ''The process includes fingerprinting, retina scanning, checking criminal records and the issuance of an exit permit. These do lead to delays, but the results are encouraging and foolproof and will prevent these illegal immigrants from returning on fake documents.”
A six-month to one-year ban for re-entry is also being applied.
''I have been given a one-year ban,'' said Shaji, an Indian electrician who has been here for two years without proper papers. ''My earlier sponsor used to make me work 15 to 16 hours and would pay me almost nothing, so I left him and went into hiding. I hope I will now find a decent job back home,'' he added.
For their part, skilled expatriate workers who have been working here illegally hope to get jobs in countries like Turkey, Cyprus, and South Korea.
Meantime, foreign workers still keep trickling into their respective embassies to check whether they can get passes to leave the UAE. The authorities are not turning them away.
''It is their last chance for a dignified exit and we would like to see them get that as the government has announced that it would not consider another such amnesty for quite some time,'' said an official at the Indian embassy.
