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Oman extends amnesty for illegal foreign workers

Oman has extended an amnesty for illegal foreign workers to leave the oil-rich state without being fined, a Labour Ministry official said on Wednesday.

More than 10,000 foreigners, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, have taken advantage of the eight-week grace period which started on April 21, the official said.

"It would take time to deport all of them and that is why we extended the grace period until further notice," he said.

The amnesty applies to foreigners who remain in the country after their work permits have expired.

The Gulf Arab state says illegal workers take jobs away from nationals at a time when the government is trying to cope with rising unemployment.

Foreign workers make up about 25 per cent of Oman's 2.3 million population. In January, the labour minister said the number of legal foreign workers arriving in Oman rose to 67,487 in 2000, a 34 per cent increase over the previous year.

Diplomats say they are still compiling final figures for the number of illegal workers who have applied to leave the country.

"We have so far issued nearly 5,000 emergency certificates for those who have lost their travelling documents," Puneet Kundal, an official at the Indian embassy, said.

"I believe there are between 6,000 to 10,000 such (illegal) Indian workers in the country," he added.

The sultanate started a drive in the 1980s to replace expatriate workers with nationals and has banned foreigners from several professions.

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