Amnesty granted for undocumented Lankan migrant workers in Lebanon

Amnesty granted for Lankan migrant workers in Lebanon as government’s bilateral efforts to regularize nearly 7000 undocumented migrant workers in Lebanon commenced, Sri Lankan embassy in Lebanon said. 

After nearly a year long negotiations with the Lebanon’s government, a special resolution was passed by the host country in last February to repatriate all undocumented Sri Lankan workers.

Under this scheme, undocumented workers who are above 60 and have overstayed beyond 15 years have been granted total amnesty without any charges. The others have been granted repatriation with 50% payment of their overstay fines. The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beirut extended appreciation for the assistance granted by the relevant agencies both in Lebanon and Sri Lanka.

According to the General Security of Lebanon 90% of the undocumented Sri Lankan origin migrant workers are female domestic workers. Considering the new regulations Sri Lanka Embassy in Beirut is presently working towards registering all Sri Lankan migrant workers in that country. Since September 2015, over 400 Sri Lankan migrant workers have registered their presence in Lebanon at the Embassy.

The General Security of Lebanon has already given approval for 55 Sri Lankan persons with exit permits. Accordingly, 39 Sri Lankans have been repatriated in July 2017 up to now.  The Embassy staff facilitated the repatriation at the airport.