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Dubai, June. 27 (PTI): As the two-month amnesty for illegal immigrants residing in Kuwait ends on June 30, the Indian embassy in the Gulf country has already issued nearly 7,000 emergency certificates to benefit from the scheme.

So far the embassy has issued 7,000 emergency certificates (travel documents needed for people who do not have passports) to take advantage of the amnesty, P M Thomas, first secretary at the Indian embassy in Kuwait told PTI. The official, however, did not give the exact number of people who have left under the scheme.

Initially, the mission received as many as 12,000 EC applications on a given day, but gradually with the deadline approaching, the rush has trickled down to just 30-40 ECs a day, he added. A senior Kuwaiti immigration official had said yesterday that more than 24,000 illegal immigrants, mostly Asian expatriates, have taken advantage of the amnesty to legalise their residency status or leave the country without paying fines or being blacklisted to return.