Emigration clearances granted to Indians headed to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries for employment saw an increase of nearly 50 percent in the first seven months of 2022 as compared to the whole of 2021, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
A total of 189,206 emigration clearances were issued for the Gulf from January to the end of July 2022, compared to 132,763 emigration permits in 2021.
“Economic recovery in the Gulf region and their increasing openness to travel from India has now seen a return by many Indian workers,” V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs was quoted as saying by WAM.
The reverse migration of workers from the Gulf countries has ended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per media reports, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was the worst year to migrate to the Gulf. Only 94,145 immigration permits were issued during that year.
Emigration permit is required from the Indian government for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers as well as some professionals such as nurses, who are notified from time to time, to accept work in 18 countries including the GCC. This permission is not required for educated Indians above class 10, unless their occupation has been notified by the Protector of emigrants.
It is reported that, a total of 4,23,559 Indian migrant workers returned from Emigration Check Required (ECR) categories countries during the COVID pandemic between June 2020 to December 2021, with more than half of them from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
