Workers seeking ECNR stamp on passports waiting endlessly

Hundreds of workers in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, willing to take up employment in the West Asian countries, are waiting endlessly for completion of formalities for their passports, in which they claim exemption from emigration check on account of their stay abroad for three years in the past.

During the last one year, a large number of labourers returned from Saudi Arabia and other West Asian countries following their contracts being terminated by employers in the wake of economic slowdown. Even as they have found other jobs in the Gulf, they are unable to travel abroad due to “unreasonable conditions” imposed by the Regional Passport Office here.

Workers who have served abroad for more than three years claim that they are entitled to get the Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) stamp on their passports. For this, the Passport Office here is reportedly insisting on too much of paper work, such as a letter from the previous employer, its attestation by the Chamber of Commerce of the country concerned and its online submission by the Indian Embassy.

Sanjay Khoth, a resident of Sehla village in Churu district, who has worked in Saudi Arabia for six years, told The Hindu on Sunday that he and hundreds of similarly placed labourers were finding it extremely difficult to arrange the required certificates, as the previous employers were unwilling to help them out.

Workers recently approached Sikar MP Swami Sumedhanand and Rajya Sabha MP from the State, Ashk Ali Tak, who have written to Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh, drawing his attention to the alleged violation of the ECNR policy by the Passport Office in Jaipur and sub-office in Sikar.

However, Regional Passport Officer Vivek Jeph told

The Hindu that the Passport Office had not stopped issuing passports under the ECNR category and was asking the applicants to submit the relevant documents in order to “save them from touts and agents”. He said a large number of labourers were arrested earlier in the Gulf countries because of incomplete or forged documents.

Mr. Jeph said the Passport Office would affix the ECNR stamp on passports if the applicants submit a copy of their previous appointment letter and copies of visa for their stay abroad, supported by an affidavit.

Under the Passports Rules, 1980, persons who have been staying abroad for more than three years, along with their spouses, are eligible for the ECNR status. The period of three years can be either in one stretch or broken.