SIXTY-ONE overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with visa or residency violations were repatriated from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without legal consequences, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Friday. The Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and consulate general in Dubai said 2,053 OFWs have availed of the amnesty program as of Saturday, September 7. The program will run from September 1 to October 30. Included in the first batch of arrival — 35 from Abu Dhabi and 29 from Dubai — at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 were two children. The DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration paid for the airfare of the repatriates. "All of them will receive reintegration services and other forms of support from the government," Migrant Workers Assistant Secretary for Reintegration Venecio Legaspi said. Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Alfonso Ver thanked the UAE government for the clemency and for giving the repatriated OFWs the option to re-enter the country in the future with appropriate visas. One OFW suffering from a kidney ailment thanked the UAE government for the provision of medical care up to the day of repatriation. Those eligible to apply for amnesty include individuals with expired residency or visit visas, family members whose sponsor's visa has expired, those who have absconded from their sponsors, and individuals born in the UAE whose parents or guardians failed to register their residency within four months after birth. Among the Philippine officials who assisted the repatriates during transit were Consul General Marford Angeles, Vice Consul Aleah Gica, Vice Consul Regatta Marie Antonio-Escutin, Jo Iris Costales, Labor Attaché Teresa Olgado, Assistant Labor Attaché Jesus Vicente Magsaysay II, DMW Welfare Officer Romeo Asuit, and Labor Attaché John Rio Bautista.