The officials have made it very clear to the violators to make use of the amnesty period or face strict and tough legal actions as they look to intensify the inspection campaign once the amnesty ends. Brig Abdullah Jaber Lebdah, the Director of Search and Follow up Department said that a number of people have already availed amnesty scheme and he also believes that the turn out will reach its highest as the scheme approaches its end.
The responses is very good from the targeted segments who are coming to rectify their violating status, he added.
He thinks that the amnesty period is enough and the department looks to stick to the specified period for the amnesty.
When asked about people who doesn’t have air tickets to return he said that every beneficiary was supposed to bring the complete papers including air ticket. However, in case if somebody does not have it, the department may consider their case on a humanitarian base through certain procedures, and they have already received such cases.
He also stressed that the illegal residents could finish their exit procedures in just 15 minutes provided they have no criminal or civil cases against them. The Public Relations department had an awareness campaign in 11 languages which included Arabic, English, Hindi, Bengali, Nepalese, Indonesian, Tagalog, Urdu, Sinhalese, Tamil and Malayalam.
“There was coordination with foreign embassies well ahead of the amnesty. Every embassy was supposed to have information about it. We also met representatives of many embassies in this regard and all embassies should have informed their people about the amnesty,” he added.
Coming to the companies and individuals he said: “All companies are aware of this law as a result of the awareness programmes we conducted in the past years. Companies more than the individuals usually employ illegal residents although they know it is against the law, and we take legal action against them,” according to law No 4 of 2009.
And on the importance of amnesty, he said: “Qatar is witnessing an unprecedented boom in the real estate sector and many other fields. It is also hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 which makes Qatar a preferred destination for foreign workers seeking jobs.
He appealed all the people seeking for amnesty to take advantage of the opportunity and complete the procedures as quickly as possible.
