By Admin 
Saudi Arabia has deported more Indian citizens than America in the last five years. This information has been given by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) through official data presented in the Rajya Sabha. These figures also show that the major reason for deportation in Gulf countries is not illegal border crossing, but visa overstay, violation of labor laws and ignoring residency rules.
In a written reply to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha on December 18, 2025, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said that many countries do not share data related to detention, but the deportation data released through Emergency Certificate (EC) gives a reliable indication of the action taken against Indian citizens.
The country that deports Indians the most
According to the data received from the Indian Embassy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has deported thousands of Indians every year from 2021 to 2025, which is as follows.
- 2021: 8,887
- 2022: 10,277
- 2023: 11,486
- 2024: 9,206
- 2025 (so far): 7,019
According to officials, these figures are the result of the strictness of Iqama (residency permit) rules in Saudi Arabia, the Saudisation policy, tight controls in the labor market and periodic campaigns against visa overstays.
“In the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia, large-scale deportations take place due to overstaying visas, working without permits and violation of residency rules,” a senior official said.
Deportation figures from America are very low
In contrast, the figures of deportation of Indian citizens from America have been quite low, even though the political debate on immigration has been intense there. According to the Indian Mission in Washington DC, 805 Indians have been deported in 2021, 862 in 2022, 617 in 2023, 1,368 in 2024 and 3,414 in 2025. In other American missions (New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago) this number was only in the tens or hundreds, which is very less in comparison to the Gulf countries.
Main reasons for deportation
According to the MEA, the main reasons behind deportation include overstaying a visa, working without a valid work permit, violating local labor laws and mass checking drives conducted from time to time. Officials also clarified that in most of the cases there is no mass detention and many Indians have valid travel documents, hence there is no need for Emergency Certificate.
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