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49 Filipino babies of illegal expats to get exit passes
ABU DHABI - The Ministry of Interior has recently granted approval for exit passes to be issued to some 49 Filipino babies who were born out of wedlock and whose mothers are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) staying illegally in the country.
The amnesty being offered to our nationals has shown progress, especially for Filipino women who have found it difficult to seek amnesty for their babies because they could not provide the necessary documents to the Immigration, Jose Arthur Ampeso, Consul-General and Charge d'Affaires at the Philippine Embassy, told Khaleej Times, adding that he had already informed the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila about the positive development.
Mr Ampeso had earlier drafted a letter to the Ministry of Interior informing them of amnesty-seekers who found it difficult to apply for amnesty for their children due to the lack of documents.
Besides the travel documents issued by the embassy, these amnesty-seekers had been asked to provide the UAE immigration with such documents as birth and marriage certificates.
As this developed, Mario A. Cabral, AttachŽ at the embassy in Abu Dhabi, told Khaleej Times that over 1,000 Filipinos from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Northern Emirates have so far filed for amnesty since January 4.
Earlier this month, Mr Cabral reported that the number of over-stayers who had filed for amnesty through the embassy were about 500 Filipinos, 90 per cent of whom were women.
Of the 170,000 Filipino expatriates based in the UAE, the embassy is expecting around 5-6,000 Filipinos to avail of the amnesty which ends on April 30.
"Some 900 amnesty-seekers who did not have any passports were issued travel documents. A large number of passports were forwarded to the embassy where over 100 Filipinos claimed their valid passports, while over 50 got their expired passports and were issued travel documents," he said.
Mr Cabral explained that for the embassy to issue an amnesty-seeker with a travel document in lieu of lost or expired passports, he or she had to furnish an open air ticket.
An amnesty-seeker has the option of availing a discounted air ticket from Atlas Travel Agency which offers China Airlines and Qatar Airways tickets for a little less than Dh1,000 each.
A regular ticket to Manila can cost upto Dh1,300.
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