Some foreign workers wishing to be repatriated from Lebanon will be able to do so from next week, the General Security agency said Friday, after many saw their salaries slashed in recent months.
With no more dollar withdrawals from banks and an exorbitant exchange rate on the black market, many workers toiling to send remittances home were already struggling before the coronavirus lockdown started in mid-March.
General Security said it had started "organizing return trips to evacuate foreign workers wishing to return voluntarily to their country of origin in coordination with relevant departments and embassies."
"From May 20, evacuations will start for Egyptians and Ethiopians via Rafik Hariri International Airport," starting with those who had already signed up for repatriation, it said.
"Coordination is ongoing with those concerned to ensure additional flights for other nationalities," the agency added.
The airport has been closed since March 19 as part of lockdown measures, but Lebanon has organized flights in to repatriate its own nationals.
The security apparatus, which deals with immigration, called on employers and workers wishing to return home and who had not yet signed up to head to their embassy or consulate to do so.
An estimated quarter of a million domestic workers live in Lebanon, the large majority Ethiopian.
Thousands more foreign men work petrol pumps, clean the streets or labor in private businesses and restaurants.
Due to the liquidity crisis, many are now paid in much devaluated Lebanese pounds and have seen their salaries drastically reduced as result.
Stay-at-home orders and the closure of non-essential businesses over the COVID-19 pandemic has left some without work.
In December, a few months into the economic downturn, the Philippines embassy offered a free ticket to those wishing to fly home.
More than 1,000 Filipinos flocked to the diplomatic mission to sign up. Most were female domestic workers, some with children in tow.
