India's Jeddah consulate seeks volunteers to help expatriates

The Indian Consulate in Jeddah has appealed to Indians to join its "unique" campaign to help the expatriates from the country that have been affected by Saudi Arabia's new stringent labour policy.
Earlier, responding to another appeal by Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Eao, 400 expatriate Indians had already registered as volunteers, to help the Indian workers in the country.
The Indian Consulate in Jeddah has now urged prospective volunteers from the Indian community residing in the western region to join in its efforts to reach out to each and every Indian and enable them to utilise the grace period to correct their status.

"It is a unique opportunity for those Indian nationals who have been affected by the Nitaqat programme to benefit from the current correctional campaign of the government," a Consulate statement was quoted by the Arab News as saying.
"It is also an opportunity for those Indian volunteers and philanthropists who are driven by a sense of community service to help their brethren to correct their residency status as per relevant laws and regulations," the statement said.
The volunteers were requested to send in their names, addresses, passport numbers and contact details.

Once registered, the consulate would provide them detailed information about the affected Indians as well as the latest guidelines and procedures issued by the Saudi government for use and compliance during the grace period so that they can appropriately guide their fellow Indians.

The 'Nitaqat' law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. There has been widespread perception that the new policy will lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there.
Over two million Indians are currently working in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government was implementing the Nitaqat law to cut unemployment in the country.
More than 200,000 foreigners have been deported from the country over the past few months as part of labour market reforms aimed at putting more Saudi nationals into private sector jobs, where they now make up only a tenth of the workforce.