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A family that was living illegally in Bahrain for 13 years due to ‘unresolved’ documentation finally travelled home to India yesterday.
Ashraf Lambeth, along with wife Ramsheedha and their two daughters, Rifa Sherin and Arafa Fatima, bid farewell to the kingdom after a long struggle, involving medical, legal and financial issues.
Unregistered expat support group Pravasi Legal Cell (PLC) Bahrain Chapter, with the help of generous community members and local institutions, successfully repatriated the family to their hometown of Kannur in Kerala.
Mr Lambeth, aged 49, arrived in Bahrain 18 years ago and landed a job at a cold store. His wife and three-year-old Rifa Sherin joined him two years later.
The couple was expecting its second child in 2012 when Mr Lambeth lost his job. But since he had taken a loan from his then employer, the latter confiscated the family members’ passports, forcing Mr Lambeth to take up odd jobs for survival.
Arafa Fatima was born at Jidhafs Maternity Hospital but the couple, who was at this point residing illegally, did not collect her birth certificate and the child ended up living in Bahrain without a CPR or any other legal document.
“Many people don’t collect their children’s birth certificate to avoid payments or other hassles but this becomes a huge problem for us and leads to further complications,” a PLC Bahrain representative told the GDN.
As illegal residents, the family faced a series of problems, including financial struggles due to which the children could not attend school and no one could seek medical treatment, even when Mr Lambeth was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure some months back.
On learning about the case, PLC Bahrain provided food and rent to the family and arranged to admit the father, who had managed to obtain a free visa in 2022, to Salmaniya Medical Complex where he underwent catheter surgery. He also attended 19 dialysis sessions at KIMSHEALTH.
Legal recourse was sought to obtain Arafa’s birth certificate and the outstanding payments to Jidhaf’s Maternity Hospital were made.
The group helped the couple to apply for a marriage certificate and passports and outpasses for the four individuals.
A report for lost passports for the mother and Rifa Sherin had to be filed first as they never got their passports back from Mr Lambeth’s first employer.
Fortunately, Mr Lambeth had collected his passport in 2013 on the pretext of a new job and repaying the cold store owner’s pending loans.
Following PLC Bahrain’s intervention, immigration fees for the family were reduced.
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