REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CILACAP -- The Indonesian government will tighten the dispatch of migrant workers to other countries as part of efforts to protect them, stated Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar.
"We must tighten the dispatch of migrant workers. Illegal immigration must not be allowed. Don't seek employment abroad on the pretext of performing Umrah (minor Hajj) as that will pose a problem in the future," he stated here, on Thursday.
The minister was in Cilacap, Central Java, to brief would-be migrant workers on the slogan "Don't Depart Before Being Ready" at Plikon hamlet.
Through the slogan, he expressed hope that all Indonesian migrant workers will be employed only through formal procedures.
He said the government had repatriated about 10 thousand Indonesians who had overstayed their visas in Saudi Arabia.
"We have repatriated particularly those who are vulnerable, such as old persons and children," he explained.
He said he had met with his Saudi counterpart to legalize the Indonesian migrant workers who had overstayed their visas in the country.
On May 11, the Saudi government announced that it will give migrant workers, who have overstayed their visas, a chance to register themselves with their country's representative office in the Kingdom and receive a passport-like document.
Those who obtain the document will be given a choice between returning home and continuing to work in Saudi Arabia. The deadline for completing the registration was November 3, after which, workers staying illegally in the country will be detained and their employers fined.
There are about 300 thousand Indonesian workers who have overstayed their visas in Saudi Arabia. Until now, 90,481 have obtained the passport-like document, with only 20 percent (or about 18 thousand people) expressing a desire to return to Indonesia.
For the remaining workers who have decided to remain in Saudi Arabia, the challenge is to find employment as soon as possible as the document is only valid for a year.
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