By Naushad Katipalla for TwoCircles.net,
Riyadh (Saudi Arabia): A group of 22 Indian engineers, who have been desperate to return home for over 15 months, heaved a huge sigh of relief on Thursday when their first batch left for India after their case was set on following the intervention of the Riyadh Governorate.
Earlier somebody forged the official papers of one company and attained 50 visas of various nationalities and Indian visa has been sold to ABT, Recruitment Agency, Mumbai, India.
ABT, Mumbai sent 22 engineers from India to Saudi Arabia in December 2008. These engineers are from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi.
Once they reach Saudi Arabia they found that no vacancy existed in that company and company refused to accept them as their employees. They approached Indian Embassy. Embassy helped them to approach different authorities like Ministry of Labor, Fraud Investigation Commission, Riyadh Passport Authority – Forgery Prevention Dept with the supports of different social workers. Labor Office in Riyadh declined to listen to their plea “since their case was under investigation for forged visas.”
Their basic demand after the company’s refusal to offer them employment was to return home on exit-only visas. But the company refused to send them back to India on the pretext of conducting investigations to find the culprits who reportedly stole the visas from the company.
Indian Fraternity Forum (IFF) was involved in the case since January 2010 based on the request from Indian Embassy after other associations failed to solve this case.
IFF approached Riyadh Governor directly and succeeded in getting Governor’s approval to deport these professionals at the earliest. IFF closely worked with different departments to expedite the formalities to deportation of these engineers.
Mr. V.K. Sharma, Welfare Attaché and Mr. Unni from Embassy provided full support including personal presence whenever needed and provided required documents on time which helped IFF to do the process promptly. Even they provided temporary travel letters for these engineers to perform Umrah.
The Saudi authorities have not endorsed any remarks on their passports which could bar their re-entry into the Kingdom. Now there are no restrictions if the engineers want to come back on employment visas to work with any other company in the Kingdom. Other members are expected to leave the kingdom within the week.