In a move that will bring much relief to many illegal migrant workers, the government of Oman has announced a period of general amnesty for workers wishing to go home.The Oman Ministry of Manpower has uploaded a notice on its Twitter account, announcing the amnesty period during which undocumented migrant workers could go home without facing penal action. This period will begin on May 3 and end on July 30.In the past too, the Oman government has announced such periods enabling hundreds of illegal migrants who end up in the country, to return to their respective countries. The last such occasion was in 2009, when around 60,000 undocumented workers returned to their homes, according to a report in the Times of Oman.Around 50,000 such workers mostly from Asian countries including India, are likely to benefit from the opportunity this year. So far, the report says about 9,000 Bangladesh nationals, 2000 from Pakistan have registered with Oman government, and around 3000 more people are expected to contact the Oman government in this regard.In 2009, around 15,000 of the 22,000 estimated illegal migrants from India had returned during the declared amnesty period. The report estimates that there are only around 3000 illegal immigrants from India in Oman now. An IANS report however, quotes the Centre for Development Studies head S. Irudayarajan who heads the migration cell at the Centre for Development Studies as saying that the number of Indians in Oman is much higher. He says: “Of the 400,000 Indians in Oman, around 15 percent would be without legal documents. This is the best time for all those who do not have proper documents to either rectify that or return home”. With IANS