The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh advised OFW's not to believe in the unconfirmed stories of vacationing OFWs whose passports were said to be stamped with "Exit Only."
"Allegedly, the immigration officer at the airport stamped 'exit only' on the exit/re-entry visas of the workers. As a result, OFWs are now having second thoughts of going on vacation," the Embassy said.
The embassy said that Mohammad Al-Hussein, the spokesman for the Passport Department in the Makkah province, had already denied the reports.
"There is absolutely no truth to it. If it is an exit/re-entry visa, then it cannot be changed at the airports," Al-Hussein had said.
Al-Hussein added that a series of steps will have to be taken by the employee and the employer before the "final exit" can be stamped.
The embassy also said that vacationing workers should keep in contact with their employers in case they encounter problems in the Riyadh airport.
It also clarified that the ban on the issuance of work visas for domestic workers applies only to new work visas. Household service workers with valid work visas already in Saudi Arabia can continue to work with their present employers.
Earlier, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) denied the allegations of Migrante that the Saudi Arabia immigration authorities have started stamping “Exit Only” on passports of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as the start of Saudi’s Saudization program.
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