Illegal Ghanaian immigrants in Saudi Arabia asked to return home
The Ghana Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has asked all Ghanaians living illegally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the general amnesty offered by the Saudi authorities to leave the country peacefully without paying any fines or facing any penalties.
Advertisement
In line with that, the mission says the Ghana Embassy has reduced the cost of processing emergency travel documents for Ghanaians from 200 Saudi Riyals (SR200) to SR50.
A statement signed by the acting Head of Mission, Mr Marcel Domayele, said the mission had also made the necessary arrangements to help secure air tickets at a discount for groups of more than 20 people who would take advantage of the amnesty to return home.
It said since the general amnesty was announced two months ago, the Ghana Mission had processed more than 500 emergency travel documents (travellers’ certificates) for Ghanaians who had violated their residency and work permits, enabling them to take advantage of the general amnesty to leave the Kingdom.
Amnesty
It said the 90-day general amnesty for illegal residents to leave the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would expire on June 25, 2017.
“The Ghana Embassy, therefore, wishes to advise all Ghanaians living in the kingdom illegally to, as a matter of urgency, visit the embassy in Riyadh or the consulate in Jeddah to process their emergency travel documents to enable them to leave the kingdom peacefully,” it said.
The statement warned that any “illegal Ghanaian resident who fails to take advantage of this general amnesty programme should be ready to face any penalty or consequences thereof as a result of their actions or inaction”.
“Both the embassy and the consulate should not be blamed for any unforeseen occurrences after the expiration of the general amnesty programme, given that the mission does not have any more resources to troubleshoot self-inflicted consular problems,” it warned.
Caution
The statement cautioned Ghanaian youth living in Ghana, especially ladies, who had made plans or were thinking of travelling to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states for so-called greener pastures to be extremely mindful of the unfavourable working conditions for foreign unskilled workers such as housemaids and labourers.
“It is regrettable to note that both Ghanaian agents and their foreign counterparts mislead prospective Ghanaian workers by promising them non-existent juicy offers which turn out to be hell for most of these workers,” it said.
It said the Ghana Embassy was currently overwhelmed by cases of Ghanaian domestic workers (housemaids) who had fallen victim to such unfortunate pranks and misrepresentation of those agents.
It said it was against that background that the “embassy, in the strongest possible terms, warns the youth of Ghana to desist from making any plans of travelling to GCC states to work as unskilled workers”.
“We urge the young people of Ghana to seek information from the Ghana Embassy about any shoddy contracts even before embarking on their travel to these countries,” it stated.
It said the Ghana Embassy could be contacted on 011-4545126 (for those in Saudi Arabia) or +966114545126 (for those in Ghana), or send an email to [email protected] for further details.