The Sri Lankan Embassy in Oman, in collaboration with the President Secretariat and the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka, repatriated 248 Sri Lankan migrant workers stranded in Oman on a SriLankan Airlines flight on April 1. This also included around 45 stranded Sri Lankan migrant workers who had overstayed in Oman after the expiry of their visas, as well as others who had lost their jobs and/or had been sheltered at the Embassy Safe House, those who were released from prisons, and those under medical treatment.
The Government of Oman granted an amnesty for destitute Sri Lankan migrant workers to leave with the full waiver of their penalties and fines. The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Muscat provided them with necessary travel documents free-of-charge. Sri Lankan Ambassador to Oman Ameer Ajwad extended his gratitude to the Government of Oman for enabling the repatriation process with the exemption of the workers’ penalties and/or fines, and for the further extension of the amnesty period until June 30.
The Embassy has so far facilitated the repatriation of around 425 Sri Lankan migrant workers with the full waiver of their penalties and fines, while utilising amnesty. The Government of Sri Lanka arranged free PCR tests for all 248 Sri Lankan migrant workers on their arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and provided quarantine facilities free-of-charge for all of them with accommodation, food, and other facilities for 14 days at Quarantine Centres maintained by the Government.
