JEDDAH/DAMMAM, 25 June — Expatriates in Saudi Arabia will now be able to travel within a region of the country without any travel documents, according to a high-ranking Passport Department official. Brig. Tarek Harazi, assistant director of the department in Jeddah, said foreigners would still need a travel document from the sponsor to visit other regions.
“But the travel documents need not be endorsed by the Passports Department as before,” he told Arab News. “This eases the burden on the expatriates as well as the Passports Department,” he added. “At present the Passport Department in Jeddah itself endorses more than 1,000 papers daily,” Harazi said.
Under the new rule, which came into effect last week, an expatriate worker in Jeddah can now travel to Makkah and Taif without any travel document.
But he should carry a travel paper from the sponsor and endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to travel to other regions like Madinah or Riyadh or the Eastern Province.
The decision to do away with the endorsement by the Passports Department of travel documents saves a lot of money for expatriates as some service agents used to charge SR50 to SR100 for getting the travel papers attested by the department.
According to the Passports Department, the new rule covers all categories of the expatriate work force.
Earlier, expatriates were required to possess a travel letter from their company, attested by the Passports Department, to travel within the Kingdom.
The government announced last year that it was planning to bring changes in sponsorship rules as well as in the movement of expatriates within the Kingdom.
The expatriate community in the Kingdom has welcomed the new travel rules and said that it made their life easier. “The new travel rule will give us peace of mind,” said Ali Ahmad of India, a sales engineer in a private firm.
“Freedom of movement is a big boon,” said Mike Edwards of Saudi Aramco, who welcomed the decision and thanked the government. Riaz Piracha of Pakistan said that the decision will bring immense relief to the expatriates.
Businessmen also welcomed the decision and hoped that this would give a big boost to domestic tourism as expatriates can now travel freely to any destination they want.
However, some small businessmen feared that this may encourage an illegal flight of the expatriate labors from one city to another. But businessmen supporting the new rules dismissed such fears as baseless. They pointed out that an expatriate could not work elsewhere unless his papers are legally transferred.
According to a new sponsorship system, which is still under study, expatriates will be allowed to travel between Saudi cities without taking prior permission from their sponsors or the Passports Department. The new system would also allow expatriates to keep their passports with them.
