Over 18,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia seek emergency certificate

Over 18,000 applications for issuing Emergency Certificates to return to India have been received till 2 May, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. The embassy had started receiving applications for issuance of EC since last week of May.

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. 

Ravi said as per the Indian Mission in Riyadh, the increase in the number of applications seeking EC was due to Saudi authorities’ campaign against foreign workers staying in the country without fulfilling laid down conditions and not due to Nitaqat.

‘This drive affects not only illegal workers from India, but also from all countries from where immigrant workers have come.’