Amnesty scheme must include all, says diplomat

Until all visit visa defaulters and people facing travel bans against payment of “small amounts” are pardoned, the full benefit of Bahrain’s amnesty scheme cannot be reaped, warned a senior diplomat.

The main objective of the amnesty was to provide the illegal workers an opportunity to either legalise their status by obtaining a work permit or going back to their countries without facing any penalty or the threat of blacklisting between July 1 and December 31.

Pakistan Embassy Community Welfare Counsellor Maqsood Qadir Shah said that Amnesty must have a second phase where such people can be adjusted.

A group of blue-collar workers had definitely benefitted from the scheme that is widely appreciated, Mr Shah told DT News.

However there were around 300 to 400 people from Pakistan who had entered Bahrain on visit visas and were not able to legalise their further stay.

Such people could not benefit from the scheme though they were fully eager to do so.

“In most of the cases they are victims of human traffickers, who extorted money from them to bring them (to Bahrain) on visit visas, with the sweet dreams that the moment they reached here they would get good jobs and work permits but after reaching here they were trapped in the irony of circumstances knowing nothing to do,” said Mr Shah.

“These are the destitute people who have been left with no option but to live without a legal status.

“Now, when they do not have enough money to buy their day-to-day foods, how can you expect them to pay heavy fines or hire the services of the legal experts?

“If these people are not able to go back to their countries where will they go? After all what is the way out for them and what is their future?” They are not a small number. They must be catered at all costs.”

Shah said that the scope of the scheme should have been wider and not limited and categorised excluding these victims of circumstances.

Instead it must accommodate all destitute expats.

He said that the embassy was ready to support their people.

However any document issued by the embassy are subject to clearance from the immigration.

“If you ask such people to pay BD2,000 to BD3,000 as a fine, from where they will bring such heavy amounts?” he asked. “If they had money why would they have been illegal.”

Many are also in need of legal help due to conflicts with employers or court cases.

Meanwhile Mr Shah said that there were a large number of destitute expats who were under travel ban and not able to benefit from the amnesty.

According to Mr Shah “employers simply got up and put them under travel ban” and now they (expats) are not even able to hire the services of a lawyer.

“Unfortunately it is very easy to put anybody on travel ban. And most of the travel bans are on the meagre amounts like BD500 to BD700. If they are not in a position to hire the lawyer for the entire lives what is the way out for them? Where will they go?”

“The beneficiaries of the scheme are not many and most of the beneficiaries are those who have fought for themselves. They were not given any legal assistance or the facility of the translator.”

Shah said that the embassy had suggested for dedicated counters for each country.

However people who went to get benefit from the amnesty had to move from one counter to the other “just for nothing.”

Mr Shah added that the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) was keen on resolving all these issues.

“All that was needed was a proper review all these issues and a viable solution.”