With the October 16 general amnesty deadline for illegal immigrants in Saudi Arabia fast approaching, some 25,000 Keralites are reportedly scrambling to beat it.
The influx of Keralites from Saudi Arabia comes even as the state struggles to recover from the adverse impact of over 25,000 deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after a similar general amnesty a year ago.
Illegal immigrants in Saudi Arabia hail mostly from Asian and African countries. Keralites, according to one estimate, constitute half the 1.4 million Indians working in the kingdom.
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The number of illegal immigrants leaving Saudi Arabia has increased several fold since the deadline for their departure was set.
According to the Saudi Gazette, a reputed English daily in the kingdom, 1,902 Indians were deported in August and their number rose to 4,000 last month.
The Indian consulates in the Gulf kingdom are now apparently issuing 125 travel documents per day to enable Indians detained at deportation centres to leave fast. The number of Indians seeking travel documents to voluntarily quit Saudi Arabia has now shot up to 100 daily, it said.
Umra and Haj pilgrims who chose to stay on there for jobs to make a fast buck after selling their passports and return tickets form a sizeable number of those coming back.
There are also job-hunters who deserted their original sponsors and worked illegally for new employers and those who lost their jobs after Saudi nationals replaced them as part of the Arabisation programme announced by the Gulf states.
Those who reach the kingdom on an Umra visa can legally stay there only for 14 days as against 25 days for Haj pilgrims.
The Saudi government last year introduced stiff measures aimed at curbing the overstay of the Umra pilgrims, who form a sizeable segment of the illegal immigrants.
Only those above 40 are now being allowed to enter the country for Umra so as to reduce the chances of pilgrims staying on for employment.
Visa seekers for Umra now have to approach Saudi consulates in Mumbai or New Delhi with their passports, tickets, birth certificates and $500 in travellers cheques.
Though these consulates started issuing Umra visas for this year from early last month, only a few such visas have so far been issued, according to travel agency sources here.
The UAE returnees have cast a shadow over business activities in the state, especially in north Kerala.
Unable to recover from the initial shock, the real estate business still remains paralysed.
Though much has been said about the massive return of Indians from Kuwait in the heat of the Gulf war seven years ago, nothing tangible has been done so far.
Like the returnees from Kuwait and the UAE, those now coming home from Saudi Arabia with their shattered Gulf dreams hope to get little help from the government to chart out a new life.
Reports from Riyadh say that the exodus of labour from the kingdom has already resulted in a 30 per cent rise in wages in the construction sector which employed many of the illegal immigrants. Increase in other construction expenses and the labour cost in the last six months have pushed up the construction cost per metre from 58 Saudi rials to 120, reports say.
Saudi Arabia hosts over 6.5 million immigrants who send home an estimated 67 billion Saudi rials a year.
The number of overstayers in the kingdom is anybodys guess. They include people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Chad besides those from India.
Saudi Arabia hosts over 6.5 million immigrants who send home an estimated 67 billion Saudi rials a year