Government of Ghana in collaboration with the Consulate General in Dubai has disclosed plans to support some 500 Ghanaians stranded in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to come back home.

The 500 are victims of labour export to Gulf nations by recruitment agencies who fail to live up to expectation by providing them the promised jobs.

Late last year, scores of stranded Ghanaians in that country made an appeal to government to intervene and bring them home since they were left with no jobs and made to stay with others in a small single room housing as many as eight people.

Speaking at a media encounter in Accra on Tuesday, 20 February 2018, Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid said government is working to bring back the stranded Ghanaians.

He said: “Given that the validity of UEA visas expires within three months, most Ghanaians are unable to secure work within the period and hence become illegal residents. Their illegal immigration status obliges them to pay for any extra days spent in excess of their visa term at $95 for the extra day and $30 per day for any additional day spent in the UAE when they want to leave. This is what has ensured that 500 have become stranded. Meanwhile, the Consulate General in Dubai has been in regular contact with the stranded Ghanaians and is working to getting them the necessary support to return home.