DFA flies 342 more Pinoys from UAE home

Passengers of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-chartered flight at the check-in counter at Dubai Airport Terminal 3. (Dubai PCG photo via PNA)

MANILA – The Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai repatriated 342 more overseas Filipinos (OFs) on August 10 via Philippine Airlines flight PR 8659.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-chartered flight departed Dubai at 11:45 p.m. (local time) and arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport the following day, August 11, at 1:45 p.m. (Manila time).

The majority of the passengers on the flight were those who availed of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government’s amnesty for overstaying residence and tourist visa holders, which ended on August 10.

Under the amnesty program, those whose residence or tourist visas expired before Mar.

1, 2020, including those absconding cases, are permitted to leave the country with all related fines waived.

Passengers of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-chartered flight at the check-in counter at Dubai Airport Terminal 3. (Dubai PCG photo)

Meanwhile, tourist visa holders whose visas expired after March 1, 2020 took the opportunity to leave the country before the end of the grace period, which ended on Aug. 10, 2020. Many of them have been in distress due to loss of livelihood brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among those who availed of the repatriation assistance were a mother and her seven-year-old son. They were able to secure clearance to leave the country just hours before the flight.

The passengers thanked Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the Department of Foreign Affairs for always doing their utmost to help OFs in Dubai and the rest of the UAE, whose lives have been significantly affected by the ongoing pandemic.

The repatriation flight followed on the heels of another DFA-chartered flight just five days before.