Indonesian amnesty-seekers, who want to stay back in the UAE, can temporarily extend their expired passports without paying any fee, an Indonesian diplomat told Gulf News.

“The Indonesian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai are temporality extending amnesty-seekers’ expired passports free of charge until June, 2019 to help them apply for a six-month visa and search for a new job,” said Yanuar Nasrun, consul at the embassy in Abu Dhabi.

The missions are offering this reprieve to encourage Indonesians to avail of the UAE Government’s visa amnesty and 6-month visa for job search, which will help them find new opportunities and restart their life. “They can get the passport extended within two days, whereas regular passport renewal takes four days,” he said.

Around a thousand Indonesian amnesty seekers approached the embassy as of Tuesday [since August 1] and more than 60 per cent of them want to continue live in the UAE, Nasrun said. Most of them are housemaids who overstayed their visa; some of them have already found a new sponsor and others are ready to apply for the six-month visa, he said.

Amnesty-seekers who do not have a valid passport have to first get an emergency certificate from the embassy to go back home, or obtain a new passport to get a six-month visa or new job visa.