Saudi Arabia deports 18,000 RI workers

Thu, 10/09/2008 10:24 AM | The Archipelago

BANDUNG, W. Java: Between January and September at least 18,000 Indonesians were deported from Saudi Arabia for working illegally.

Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Salim Segaf Al-Jufrie said Tuesday that the people had been deported as they lacked the necessary legal documents and had broken the terms of their visiting permits.

Salim added that most of those deported had entered Saudi using minor-haj visas but stayed to work, while others had working visas that had expired.

Salim said that the illegal workers issue was big problem for Indonesia because it was so difficult to their whereabouts when overseas.

"On average, about 20000 Indonesian workers are deported from Saudi Arabia, using its own budget, each year," said Salim.

To solve the problem, the Saudi government proposes to offer more work permits.

He added that, during 2007, 24,000 illegal Indonesian workers were deported from Saudi Arabia and placed on a government blacklist, which bans them from entering the country for 12 months.

Currently, there are 800,000 legal Indonesian employees working in Saudi Arabia. -- JP

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