As part of the kingdom’s ‘a nation without violators’ campaign, an amnesty was launched on 29 March giving illegal workers and residents the ability to leave without incurring any penalties or being blocked from future re-entry.
The amnesty initially ran for three months and was extended for one month, finally closing on 24 July.
Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Yahya, director general of Saudi Arabia’s passports department (Jawazt) revealed on Thursday that over 700,000 people had returned to their respective countries, reported local newspaper Saudi Gazette.
None were fingerprinted and will, therefore, be able to return to the country if they have the required permits.
Phase two
Prior to the amnesty, however, as many as one million people were thought to have been undocumented.
There will be no further extensions to the amnesty and Al-Yahya expects a further 46,000 to leave the country in the next phase, which involves tracking down violators and fining and deporting them.
They will be fingerprinted and, therefore, unable to return.
The vast majority of undocumented expats in Saudi Arabia are from south-east Asia and Africa; including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
