By IANS
Dubai : The Indian Consulate here has received more than 30,000 applications for emergency certificates from Indian workers wanting to use the special amnesty scheme for illegal expatriates, launched by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government.
Due to a heavy rush of applicants, the mission has decided to operate its collection centres in Indian High School, Dubai and Indian Association, Sharjah, on Saturday also, a press statement said.
The UAE cabinet last month had announced a three-month grace period for foreigners present illegally in the country to regularise their status according to the law or leave the country without penalty.
Out of the 40,000 passports of Indian nationals received from the immigration authorities, the mission has already distributed around 14,600 passports to the Indian workers.
Employers here take the passport and other travel documents of foreign workers and the document is deposited with the UAE immigration department. The passport is usually given back when the job contracts of employees expire.
Last week, Air-India and Indian announced a special airfare scheme for the Indian expatriates opting to return to India.
There are around 1.4 million expatriate Indians in UAE, many of whom work as contract workers. In Dubai alone, Indians comprise over 60 percent of the city's total population of over 1.4 million.