RIYADH — The 90-day amnesty period for violators of residence and work regulations will begin Wednesday, but the routine crackdown against illegal expatriates will continue, according to director of the passport department (Jawazat) Maj. Gen. Solaiman Al-Yahya. "The violators who leave the Kingdom voluntarily during this period will be exempted from fines which range between SR15,000 and SR100,000 and prison terms which may go up to more than 10 years," Al-Yahya said, asking all violators to avail themselves of the amnesty to depart voluntarily. The expats who depart voluntarily will be allowed to come back to the Kingdom legally anytime they wish. Al-Yahya said the departing expats will be fingerprinted to make sure that they have no criminal records or rights to others. "This is not a status correction campaign but a drive to send violators to their respective home countries at their own expenses," he explained. The director said the Jawazat will coordinate with foreign embassies and consulates to issue travel documents to expats who are staying in the Kingdom without official papers. The Jawzat, among 19 other concerned government departments including the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, have completed all arrangements for the campaign. A number of offices were set up in various parts of the Kingdom to receive violators wishing to depart on their own free will. Al-Yahya said that at the end of the amnesty period, a massive crack down campaign against illegal expats will be launched. "No requests for voluntary departure will be accepted after this period," he warned. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development will deploy about 800 inspectors to monitor establishments and individuals employing illegal expats to hand them over to the Ministry of Interior. Under the system, any expat caught working for any company or establishment which is not his/her original sponsor will be fined SR50,000 while the establishment will be fined SR100,000, prevented from recruitment for five years and its manager jailed for six months to a year. The sponsors who allow their workers to work for others will be subject to heavy fines, imprisonment and/or deportation of the manager if he is non-Saudi. The Jawazat will also organize a massive crackdown against the random workers who roam the streets looking for jobs.
