JEDDAH — There is “nothing” that prevents the Passports Department from accepting permanent passports issued by the Indonesian Consulate, said Ahmad Al-Luhaidan, the newly-appointed Jawazat spokesman. Al-Luhaidan was responding to Saudi Gazette when it was pointed out to him that Indonesians with “light green” passports were being turned away at the fingerprinting centers during the process to rectify their status before the expiry of the grace period that ends July 3. While Al-Luhaidan issued this clear statement, Vice Consul of Information and Cultural Affairs at the Indonesian Consulate Nor Ibrahim assured Indonesian workers that they will be issued official passports instead of the travel document within two to three days, under the condition that they have Saudi sponsors. Ibrahim was talking to Saudi Gazette about ‘light green’ travel documents (vs. genuine passports) causing much anguish to Indonesian domestic workers and Saudi employers. Al-Luhaidan, meanwhile, said that “declining such documents could be related to different problems that include: Absence of fingerprinting of the person in our system, or if these documents have an expiry date.” To rectify one’s status, explained Al-Luhaidan, in a phone call, all expatriates do not need primarily any official document including the passport if the person already has his fingerprint in the system. Otherwise, the person has to go for fingerprinting before any other procedures can be completed. Regarding some people who want to leave the Kingdom for good, but have lost their passports which carried the date of entry into the Kingdom and are stuck in the country, he said, “There is nothing as such, whoever wants to leave the Kingdom can do so even if they do not provide a passport with entry date. They just need to do fingerprinting prior to leaving. In these cases we accept any official documents from their missions and not necessarily a passport.” Since the Indonesian authorities officially confirmed that the travel documents issued to their citizens have the same effectiveness of genuine passports, countless Indonesians are flocking to the Dallah fingerprinting center in umpteenth attempts to rectify their status. To their dismay, those carrying light green travel documents are still not only being turned away from the fingerprinting center but are threatened with deportation. The Indonesia Consulate, in its efforts to assuage the domestic workers’ fears pledged to issue official passports within two to three days. They, however, have asked domestic workers, who want to obtain official passport, to get a (Huroob) statement from the Passports Department, and then come back to the consulate along with their new sponsors. Accompanied by their new sponsors, the domestic workers and their new sponsors need to sign a contract under the supervision of the consulate. The contract includes several details specifying the salary and obliges the new sponsor to provide life insurance to the domestic worker. “This is important to protect Indonesian domestic workers if anything happens to them in the future,” Ibrahim said. When these requirements are complied with, the consulate then starts its process of issuing a new passport that can be presented to the Passports Department officials. The consulate, however, said that they know of 100 people who were able to rectify their status with only the travel documents. “We are wondering about this, we do not know why there are different treatments? Why is there inconsistency?” Ibrahim wondered To complicate the matters, Al-Madinah newspaper quoted a source in the Makkah Region Passport Directorate as saying Thursday that any expatriate who does not have his original passport and the page which has the entry visa to the Kingdom will not be able to correct his residency status. The paper said the expatriate worker should produce his original passport to the directorate, adding that temporary travel documents issued by embassies in lieu of the lost ones will not suffice. “Travel documents cannot replace original passports,” the paper quoted the source as saying.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:34:50 +0000
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