By Mir Mohsin Ali & Waqar Naseem Wamiq

RIYADH — The envoys of the two nations from the subcontinent — India and Pakistan — welcomed the extension of the amnesty period for Indians, Pakistanis and other nationalities residing in the Kingdom by one more month. The extended amnesty period will begin from Sept. 16 and end on Oct. 16.

Both Indian Ambassador Ahmed Javed and Pakistan Ambassador Khan Hasham Bin Siddique confirmed the extension to their respective communities. Both thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the Saudi authorities for extending the amnesty period.

Indian Ambassador Javed stressed on the necessity to create more awareness among the Indian community about the second extension of amnesty that began on Sept. 16, for one month announced by the Saudi government.

Pakistan Ambassador Khan thanked the Saudi government and said, “We are thankful to King Salman for extending the amnesty period.”

“Its a golden opportunity for all the illegal expatriates and I urge all those Pakistani expats looking to avail the amnesty to take benefit from the extended period,” Khan added.

The Indian Ambassador, while addressing the media and community volunteers at the Indian embassy here, said that in addition to Riyadh and Jeddah opening 5 centers, teams will visiting far off areas in order to help Indians.

The embassy team will be visiting the following places to collect EC applications every Friday (Dammam), every Saturday (Al-Khobar), on 22.09.2017 one visit to Jubail, and Sunday to Thursday only working hours VFS center Buraidah and VFS center Wadi Al-Dawasir.

During the two days of second extension of amnesty the Indian Embassy and Consulate General of India Jeddah received a total of 22 applications for emergency certificates.

Javed said that during the first amnesty 31,600 plus seekers were issued emergency certificates. He said those who had taken EC and could not travel can renew the same EC, which is valid for a month without any fee. He said that those Indian nationals who go on final exit through amnesty can come again to Saudi Arabia if they want to work again in the Kingdom.

Ambassador Javed also reiterated that the matloob (wanted) — those who are wanted in any case — and those holding valid Iqama and Passport are not covered in the amnesty.

At the question and answers session, community volunteers asked questions related to community welfare, and the Ambassador assured them that the Embassy of India is ready to help resolve whatever problems faced by the Indians.

Earlier, Counselor Anil Nautiyal welcomed the media and community volunteers.

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Pakistani Community Welfare Attaché Mahmood Latif said, “Pakistan Embassy will assist all the nationals, who seek amnesty, during the grace period. We had successfully managed to assist thousands of amnesty seekers during the 120 days campaign period and we will further set up special counters to attend the new requests in the additional grace period.”

The initial grace period of the campaign “A Nation Without Illegal Expatriates” was for 90 days, which started this year on March 29 that was further extended for 30 days. It allowed expats in violation of the residency rules to leave the Kingdom without being subject to any fines or being blocked from reentering into the Kingdom legally.