Many Indonesians repatriated from Saudi Arabia in 2011

The Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah repatriated a total of 18,675 Indonesian citizens from Saudi Arabia last year for overstaying their permits.

Most of these Indonesian citizens came to Saudi Arabia on work visas and minor haj (umroh) visas, but when the documents expired, they did not apply at the local immigration office for an extension of their papers, the consulate general said in a statement on Sunday, kompas.com reported.

Most (18,630) were sent home using travel documents in lieu of passports (SPLP) issued by the consulate general, whereas 45 used their passports.

Those repatriated using SPLP consisted of 13,063 migrant workers, 3,922 umroh pilgrims and 1,645 children. Due to the immigration violations, they were not allowed to visit Saudi Arabia for five years.

Most of them were sent home by plane and the rest by MV Labobar of the state-owned shipping company PT Pelni.

Earlier, the consulate general repatriated 24,000, 20,800 and 15,000 Indonesian citizens from Saudi Arabia in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively for overstaying permits. To date, tens of thousands of Indonesian citizens are believed to have overstayed their permits in Saudi Arabia.