The Sri Lanka Embassy in Oman in collaboration with the Presidential Secretariat and the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka, repatriated 568 stranded Sri Lankan migrant workers from Muscat to Colombo by SriLankan Airlines in two batches on January 14 and 15. This includes over 300 stranded Sri Lankan migrant workers who overstayed in the Sultanate of Oman after their expiry of visas. The Government of Oman granted an amnesty for these destitute migrant workers to leave Oman for Sri Lanka with the full waiver of their penalties and fines.
The Embassy provided them with travel documents free to return home.
Others included Sri Lankan migrant workers who lost their jobs, released from prisons and who were under medical emergencies. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman Ameer Ajwad extended his gratitude to the Government of Sultan Haitham bin Tarik for the generous gesture extended to the destitute Sri Lankan migrant workers for their return home.
The Government has arranged free PCR tests for all 568 Sri Lankan migrant workers on their arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport and provides quarantine facilities for them with accommodation, food and other facilities free for 14 days at a Quarantine Centre maintained by the Government.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Oman has facilitated around 2,600 Sri Lankan migrant workers to return from Oman to Sri Lanka after the Covid-19 outbreak.