Indian envoy to UAE wants permits attested

The relaxation was made to enable those who had left the UAE under an amnesty for illegal expatriates in 1996 to return legally to this country without any delay.

Since then, the embassy has been regularly making out a case for restoration of the attestation requirements as a measure of protection for the workers.

According to Menon, the number of Indians who had taken up jobs in the UAE without getting the attestation done last year could be between 15,000 and 20,000.

The estimates are based on the fact that employees of about 38 companies in Dubai, Sharjah and Amman are currently facing problems because their employers have closed down operations or absconded due to financial difficulties.

Each of these firms employed several hundred people, Menon said, and all of them had been left to fend for themselves without pay or shelter.

The Ambassador said the Consulate-General in Dubai and the embassy in Abu Dhabi took less than 48 hours to complete the attestation procedures after receiving the papers from the authorities in India.

“It is not correct to say that the procedures take very long or that there is any undue delay at this end,” he said.

He said the missions, on receipt of the details, could verify if the company recruiting the workers actually existed or not and also check out their track record.

“We have refused to attest work permits secured by companies with a bad record,” he said.

According to him, such precautionary measures would help prevent problems for workers later.

He said the consulate had attested 32,166 work permits, including those of 388 housemaids, in 1997. The embassy had attested 18,150 permits, making for a total of 50,316, as compared to 60,864 permits attested in 1996.

Menon said about 100,000 Indians, mainly labourers, had taken up jobs in the UAE during 1997, more or less equal to the numbers that had arrived the previous year.