Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: Community workers and expats from the Indian community in Oman have expressed concern over a lack of clarity with regard to the new eMigrate service launched by the Government of India to track the welfare of Indians who travel overseas for work.
All Indian nationals who work overseas across 18 nations, including Oman, are required to register online on www.emigrate.gov.in to ensure that those who travel abroad for work are doing so for the right reasons. From January 1, 2019, registration will be compulsory for those who emigrate for work, and those who fail to register will not be able to travel to their destination of work.
With more than 800,000 Indians currently living and working in the Sultanate, members of the Indian Social Club said they are awaiting further clarification over the registration process, since a significant number of Indian workers in the country are blue-collar labourers who may not be aware of this process.
“We are actually facing some confusion over this, because there are some things that are not clear,” said Ratheesh Kalembath, convener of the Indian Social Club’s Kerala Wing. “The social club as a whole has approached the ambassador for more details and only then will we be able to proceed in this matter.”
Suhail Khan, founder of the ISC’s Deccan Wing, said that they might need to set up kiosks to help blue-collar workers navigate their way through the eMigrate system.
Blue-collar workers
“A majority of Indian workers who come here are blue-collar workers who sometimes don’t even know how to read or write properly, so for them to have the expected level of e-literacy required to fill in such forms is a tall order,” he told the Times of Oman.
“We have approached the ambassador here for a clarification to see what needs to be done, because we don’t know whether all new employees, or current employees in Oman will need to fill the form.”
“Based on the response we receive, we can then plan ahead,” added Khan.
“I think this is definitely a good move on the part of the government because they need to know where their people are going and whether they are being treated properly, but I think the implementation time is far too short. The plan for this is scheduled from January 1 onwards, but a lot of people are not even aware of the existence of such a form.”
Khan added, “Many Indians who come here are workers who do a lot of manual labour or work as housemaids, and they will not be aware of the existence of such a framework, which means there may be people back home who may take advantage of them.”
The Indian Embassy in Oman has released a statement on the new eMigrate system, with a spokesperson saying, “The objective of this registration is to capture the data of Indian emigrants so they can be reached without delay in case of any eventuality. Implementation of this registration is only phase one of the plan so as to ensure the system works smoothly and that there are no hiccups.”
“The registration process is as unobtrusive as can be, with no impact to the employment contract,” he added. “There is absolutely no reason for foreign employers to be concerned about the process or its objective.”
Indian expats in Oman also hoped for a clarification on the same in the coming weeks.
“I am travelling home to India during my Christmas vacation, and am only returning in January 2019,” said Victor Samuel, an engineer in Muscat.
“Does this mean that I will need to fill in this form when I come back? It is a bit confusing and we need more time to understand how this works. Many of my friends in Oman are also confused about this and we hope this will be clarified in the near future.”
Benjamin Franco, a business owner in Amerat, added, “I have a couple of workers joining us early next year, and while I agree with the system, I think this must be scheduled accordingly, and only for certain professions. A lot of Indians here work as construction workers or labourers and they might need to be on this system, but there is no need for everyone to do it.”
Dr Suddapalli Rao, another long-term expat, added, “It may cause hardships to a major part of Indian expatriate job holders here, such as blue-collar workers and domestic maids, who form a big chunk of the Indian labour force. This rule calls for their mandatory online registration but not earlier than 21 days before leaving India but at least 12 hours before their departure.”
“It not only applies to new people going abroad, but even every one of them on their return trips,” he added. “Since a personal mobile number of an Indian mobile service operator is compulsory to register details, it would be a tall order for most to hold a permanent mobile number, besides registering it on time, especially when one is on an emergency trip.”
The 18 countries listed under the eMigrate scheme are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, the UAE and Yemen.
