Over 50,000 Bangladeshis want to return home under royal amnesty: Saudi Gazette

Thousands of undocumented Bangladeshis are eager to return home from Saudi Arabia as the amnesty by the Kingdom ends Monday, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Over 50,000 Bangladeshis want to go back home, the Saudi Gazette reports citing Bangladesh diplomatic sources said on Monday.

The Saudi government launched a 90-day amnesty earlier this year and extended it for another 30 days from June to allow the undocumented expatriates of all nationalities to leave the country without any penalty.

Expatriate affairs departments at deportation centers across the Kingdom from Arar in north to Asir in south witnessed huge crowds on Sunday.

The Shumaisy deportation center on Harmain express road in Makkah, the largest facility in the Kingdom, also witnessed a huge rush of expatriates from various countries.

A total of 7,421 Indonesians left Saudi Arabia by registering at the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah, said a source.

This number is three times less than the number registered during the amnesty in 2013.

Umar Badarsyah, vice consul for information, social and cultural affairs at the Indonesian consulate, told Saudi Gazette that many undocumented workers were expecting another extension of amnesty considering the advent of Hajj.

Many of these expatriates decided to stay during Hajj to make some fast bucks before returning home.

Badarsyah said the Indonesian consulate general relentlessly tried to convince them to use this opportunity to return home yet the number of those who registered did not increase.