DFA says Kuwait extends amnesty for overstaying Filipinos until April 22

February 21, 2018

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Kuwait announced late Tuesday it is extending its amnesty for overstaying Filipino workers after the Philippines made the request to allow it to accommodate more workers who want to go home.

In his report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said the amnesty program was extended by two months until April 22.

Villa said the order for the extension of the three-week amnesty that was supposed to end on Thursday was signed Tuesday by Kuwait Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah

The decision came less than a week after  Cayetano formally conveyed the extension request to Kuwaiti Ambassador Mousaed Al-Thwaikh in Manila.

Cayetano said the extension is being requested to allow the Embassy to accommodate more of the 10,800 Filipinos believed to have overstayed their visas or ran away from their employers as only close to 3,000 of those qualified have applied so far.

The Philippines is flying home more than 600 overseas Filipino workers who availed themselves of the amnesty program of the Kuwaiti Government.

The DFA said the repatriation of 610 Filipino workers being flown out of Kuwait is the biggest number to be flown home since it began its repatriation efforts nine days ago.

“If I am not mistaken, our repatriation today could be among the largest if not the largest to be carried out in a single day in a non-conflict situation,” Villa said.

The envoy, who was involved in numerous repatriation efforts in the Middle East, said the other large-scale repatriation he could think of was the repatriation of around 700 Filipinos from conflict-torn Libya in 2014.

Villa said 610 workers will depart Kuwait at 4 p.m. Tuesday and is expected to arrive in Manila at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Villa said 430 passengers will be on board the mercy flight sent by Cebu Pacific while the remaining 180 will take Philippine Airlines. DMS