Hundreds of Pinoys apply for ‘amnesty’
KUWAIT CITY, April 1: Hundreds of undocumented Filipinos mostly women trooped to the designated schools by the Ministry of Interior to apply for their exit clearance as the month-long amnesty program of the Kuwait government for undocumented expatriate workers and residence violators started on Wednesday as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Undocumented Filipino women with their luggage in tow queued outside the Farwaniya Primary School for Girls as early as 6:00 am to apply for their exit clearance. Philippine Embassy and Philippine Overseas Labor Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration officials and staff were at the venue to assist the amnesty applicants.
“There are two steps here. First everyone goes to the building on the left where the Embassy personnel are and they will check the passports and to those who don’t have passports, they will be issued a travel document after which they will proceed to the other building on the right where the Ministry of Interior officials and staff are waiting for the processing of their travel clearance. As soon as the applicant is cleared, they will be transported to their temporary shelter and wait for their flights to the Philippines,” disclosed Philippine Assistant Labour Attache to Kuwait Cathrine Duladul.
The Ministry of Interior has scheduled all undocumented Filipinos to process their exit clearances and travel documents from April 1-5 followed by other nationalities — Egyptians April 6-10; Indians April 11-15; Bangladeshis April 16-20; Sri Lankans April 21-25; other nationalities April 26-30.
All undocumented OFWs are advised to proceed to the designated places by the Ministry of Interior from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. The males are advised to proceed to Al Muthana Primary School for Boys (Block 1, Street 122) while females should go to the Farwaniya Primary School for Girls (Block 1, Street 76).
The Filipino amnesty applicants must bring their valid passports, along with two pieces of luggage (20kg plus 7kg hand carry bags). To those who have no valid passports, they have to bring three pieces of passport size photos, with blue background.
“We are expecting more undocumented Filipinos to come in the next four days and we urge them to take this opportunity and go home for free. All those with expired visas and with absconding cases should avail the amnesty as long as they don’t have any travel ban in any form,” stated Welfare Officer Llewelyn Perez.