RIYADH, 4 December — Saudi men applying for visas to travel to the United States must submit photographs with their heads uncovered, but the measure does not apply to women, the US Embassy here said yesterday.
“Current visa regulations are such that male applicants should submit photographs with their heads uncovered,” the embassy said in a statement.
Almost all Saudi men traditionally wear checkered red-and-white or white head cover.
The embassy however said that women who cover their heads due to religious beliefs can continue to submit photographs with their heads covered.
“The worldwide requirement that the head be uncovered is waived if the head cover is worn due to religious beliefs and does not obscure any portion of the face of the applicant.
“Thus, (we) accept photographs from Muslim women wearing head covers on the condition that the applicant’s face and features are clearly visible,” the statement added.
The embassy said it had been a long-standing requirement that women submit photographs showing their faces uncovered for identification purposes. The US has tightened visa regulations for Saudis following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
27 Saudis still in US jails: The number of Saudis still detained in the United States has dwindled to 27, a majority of them students, an official at the Kingdom’s Embassy in Washington has said.
The Okaz daily yesterday quoted Ahmad Al-Qattan, director of the ambassador’s office, as saying that all the detainees were being questioned for violating US immigration laws.
An undisclosed number of Saudi nationals were taken in for questioning over the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. More than 300 Saudi students, out of 5,500, have cut short their university studies in the United States and returned home, complaining of widespread abuse, harassment and maltreatment, mainly by government agencies.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd has ordered the Kingdom’s universities to admit all such returning students.
In a related development, Saudi Ambassador to Islamabad Ali Saeed Asiri said that all Saudis wishing to travel to Pakistan must obtain prior permission from the Interior Ministry.
The Pakistani government will hand over any Saudi national coming from Afghanistan to the Saudi Embassy to be deported back home, said Asiri, citing an agreement between the two countries.
