The General Directorate of Passport has deported 71,118 illegal workers since the labor raids began on Nov. 4.
Maj. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya, director general of the directorate, conceded that there were delays. "The reason behind most of the delays was that most of the illegal workers did not have identity documents. In such cases, we had to coordinate with their embassies to issue the necessary papers. This took time," he said.
“There are many violators, but we can deal with them easily and speedily because we have trained staff working around the clock in coordination with other government authorities, including the police and prisons,” he said.
Al-Yahya said he had received directives from Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed bin Naif to speed up the deportation process.
He said the various categories of violators include those facing criminal charges, who entered the Kingdom illegally, those without documents, and others who surrendered to the authorities. There are different procedures for each category, he said.
Al-Yahya said the passport department was recording the biometric details of all illegal workers, and that officers would step up efforts in areas with many violators.
He said the government would continue to carry out raids until all illegal workers are deported. "The campaigns will go on to find and locate those who are in violation of residency and labor regulations. There is no deadline for this," he said.
Over 71,000 illegal workers deported
