Amnesty seekers in Sharjah urged to collect passports from consulates

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Amnesty seekers in Sharjah urged to collect passports from consulates
Bangladeshis explain their problems to the officials at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Sharjah on Sunday.

Sharjah - General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Sharjah allays fears over passport loss

by

Amira Agarib

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Published: Tue 7 Aug 2018, 3:02 PM

Last updated: Tue 14 Aug 2018, 3:48 PM

Illegal residents without valid passports, except Arab nationals, have to visit their respective consulates to avail of the ongoing amnesty programme, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) Sharjah said on Monday.
The GDRFA Sharjah also said that it has stopped taking fresh applications from illegals who were trying to legalise their status as part of the 'Protect Yourself By Modifying Your Status', which began on August 1.
Allaying fears of thousands of amnesty seekers, the GDRFA on Monday said that it has handed over a large number of passports of absconding Bangladeshis and Indians to their respective consulates in Dubai.
The move comes in response to allegations that 'brokers' are demanding money from Bangladeshi amnesty seekers to expedite the procedures of amnesty programme. 
On Sunday, several Bangladeshi workers informed Khaleej Times that some people posing as brokers and representatives of consulates have asked Dh500 to get their passports back from the authorities. 
Colonel Ali Amin Mohammed, director of establishments department and amnesty centres at Sharjah GDRFA, said that more than 2,000 people from various emirates sought help from the Sharjah Immigration and Residency Department on Sunday alone, and majority of them were not aware of the procedures. 
He added that they are spending a lot of money to come and stay in Sharjah only to know that their passports are not with the GDRFA Sharjah. The GDRFA urged them to approach their respective consulates or immigration authorities of the emirates that issued their residence visas to process the application for passports.
Middlemen exploit workers 
Thousands of Bangladeshi workers who thronged the Sharjah Immigration department on Sunday said that they were facing problems to complete their procedures as middlemen are taking advantage of their predicament.
The so-called brokers demanded amount between Dh300 and Dh500 to fast-track the procedures and several lost their money as they could not even trace these fraudsters as they keep their mobile phones switched off after getting the money from them.
A worker, Anees Ali, said: "When we do not have enough money to go from immigration to police and diplomatic missions concerned to legalise our status, these men are cheating us."
The Bangladeshi worker, Mohamed Hassan said that he had violated residence law and currently he found a job, but for three days he went to immigration and consulate, but he did not find his passport.
Workers Mohammed Kamal and Obinash Sanker said that the contracting company that they had worked was closed down and after that they went absconding. They said that the came to the Sharjah immigration and some of them went to the Bangladeshi consulate, but they could not get their passports. They urged the authorities to put a mechanism to facilitate the handing of passports of workers.
Another Bangladeshi worker Muhammad Ismail said that he has been living in the country illegally since 2011, and wanted to modify his status. He went to the consulate where he met a person, who promised to accelerate the procedures for obtaining documents and asked him to pay Dh300. He said that after he gave him the money he just disappeared.
amira@khaleejtimes.com
 
 


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