The Vice President of the Philippines, Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay said on Monday that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) declined to extend its amnesty program for undocumented migrants including thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers.
With the decision of the Saudi government, they will continue with its crackdown on undocumented migrants as the amnesty lapsed on Sunday, November 3, 2013, allowing authorities to round up, jail and deport illegal aliens inluding undocumented OFWs.
Although Vice President Binay confirmed the non-extension of the Amnesty program, he said that Filipinos should not be alarmed since OFW’s who are already undergoing the repatriation process won’t be arrested.
According to VP Binay those whose papers are being process won’t be arrested, only those who are still working and have not applied for repatriation will be arrested, Binay stated. He also (–foul word(s) removed–)ured the Filipino public that a P2-billion fund has been set aside for the re-integration program of OFWs returning to the country.
The Commission on Overseas Filipinos estimates that some 108,000 undocumented Filipinos were staying in Saudi as of December 2012. Right now there are 1,500 OFW’s were at the Philippine Emb(–foul word(s) removed–)y in Saudi who are waiting for their immigration clearances and exit visa.
The Philippine government estimates that there are more than 1.1 million documented OFW’s currently working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the largest concentration of OFW’s worldwide.