Awareness campaigns are being launched in Bahrain to ensure illegal residents know they will not be arrested if they take advantage of a nationwide amnesty that starts tomorrow (July 1).

The six-month amnesty is intended to encourage thousands of foreigners to return to their own countries or legalise their stay, without the threat of prosecution, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

There are an estimated 61,000 illegal residents in Bahrain, many of whom either ran away from their employer or overstayed their visas.

They are being given amnesty from tomorrow until December 31 to leave Bahrain or formalise their employment, after which point a crackdown will be launched.

Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) chief executive Ausamah Al Absi sought support for the initiative from officials at the Pakistani, Indonesian, Indian, Nepali, Bangladeshi and Philippine Embassies during a meeting on Sunday.

“There is no need for workers to be paranoid (of being arrested), we actually don’t even need to see the worker if he is changing his employer,” Al Absi told the GDN yesterday.

“His new sponsor can just come to us and apply – all the penalties will be waived.”

During the meeting, Al Absi encouraged foreign diplomats to play an active role in conducting awareness campaigns, as well as making sure that travel documents for those returning home are processed quickly.

He said embassies had committed to use ‘their entire workforce’ to speed up the process of providing travel documents for expats who no longer have passports or travel documents.

“There is no consensus for issuing travel as each country and embassy has its own procedures,” said Al Absi.

“The LMRA can assist as we have biometric data that can help embassies confirm identities. But in general everyone has said they will put their entire workforce to capacity to speed up the process for those who want to leave.”

Under normal circumstances any expatriate caught working illegally faces deportation, while the company itself will be fined a minimum of BD1,000 ($2,631) for every ‘irregular’ worker.

Workers caught by police can face fines that start at BD100 and deportation.

Under the amnesty any illegal residents who leave the country will not be blacklisted by immigration authorities, meaning they will be free to return after securing legitimate jobs.

They will also avoid prosecution and potentially hefty fines.

Those able to find legitimate employment will have any residency violations waived and be able to sign contracts with new companies without permission from their former bosses.

However, the amnesty does not cover expats facing legal action – such as those under a travel ban due to outstanding debts.

Pakistani Embassy community welfare attaché Maqsood Qadir Shah, who was among diplomats at Sunday’s meeting, welcomed the initiative.

“At the meeting embassies and the LMRA decided to launch a campaign to inform these workers and ease any paranoia,” he said.

“The problem is that these workers don’t know their rights and we will change that.

“Everyone is working towards the success of this amnesty. The plan is that each embassy will get the laws and translate them (into the language of their country).

“We want to explain their (illegal workers’) rights and the procedures in their own language.

Translations

“The embassies will be publishing these in local media and will also be hosting events at community areas – for us places like the Pakistan Club – where we will explain the procedures and get people on board.

“This amnesty is something that is really different – it is so simple. All you have to do is get a form from the embassy, take it to immigration and that is it.”

He said awareness campaigns were expected to launch within a week, allowing embassies time to organise events and translate the relevant materials.

Illegal residents who want to stay in Bahrain should find an employer and apply for an extension to their stay at the Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs headquarters in Manama.

They should then fill in an “intention to transfer” form and submit it to their new employer, who will upload the documents and apply for a work permit through the LMRA’s online portal. - TradeArabia News Service