Immigration officials to get lessons in etiquette

By ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: Passport Department personnel, consisting of officers and privates working at Saudi Arabia’s airports and other inlets, will be sent abroad for intensive English language courses and etiquette training, according to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

“Some of our staff lack diplomacy in dealing with passengers and many of them cannot communicate in English,” Lt. Col. Talal Al-Malik, a spokesman for the Passport Department, told the newspaper.

He said groups of 60 officers and privates will be sent to Canada, Australia and other countries to study English for a year. He said the program started last year and would benefit hundreds of their staff.

“The program, under the directives of Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Prince Naif, is aimed at improving the English language of our staff and teaching them how to deal with passengers,” Al-Malik said.

Meanwhile, the Passport Department announced that it will appoint a number of women officers at various exit and entry points to deal with female visitors and travelers.

The directorate also announced that it would intensify the practice of fingerprinting and photographing women visitors to the country.

The department on Monday closed receiving applications for the job of women officers. It said a list of selected applicants will be published shortly.

Only Saudi women with Saudi parentage were eligible to apply, and in case of married women, their husbands must also be Saudi.

Selected applicants should be willing to work both day and night shifts and may have to undergo training in other cities. Only candidates with English language proficiency will be hired. They will be required to produce consent letter from their male guardians.

Comments

SARA AL-SHAIKH

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Finally a step in the right direction. Saudi immigration officers need to learn how to treat arriving passengers with politness and welcoming gestures. In addition to that the entire process should speed up. People should not wait in lines for more than 10 - 15 mins max. And there is no need for customs because people who are bringing wrong things in the Kingdom so not use these channels they have rather other channels that they use so why bother ordinary passengers and waste their time.

AMINAH YUSOF

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Salam
This is long overdue and I am very happy as on my several trips for umrah and haj their attitude always atrocious and if not for Makkah and Madinah I would never set foot in your country. Why not send them to Singapore where our famous Changi airport is number one in the world for many years with their services etc and learn from us. Thank you.

NISHTHAR IDROOS

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Long, long overdue. With due respect to all those tireless workers, I must confess this latest arrangement must definitely yield good results. Some guys at the immigration are so irascible they have the potential to just pounce on you. The immigration is the first encounter of a foreigner and the people manning must be polite and professional with an ever vigilant eye.

AZMET

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Something that should have been done long ago, better late than never.

FAISAL

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The inability to communicate in English is a secondary issue. It's the rude behavior and bad etiquettes that these officials really need to work on. It's sad to see that our officials need to be sent to foreign country to attain a skill that we should inherently possess considering the fact that we are muslims and Islam teaches us to be nice to other people regardless of their race or religion.Is this exercise going to be fruitful? I hardly believe so.
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