RIYADH, 20 October — Saudi students already residing in the United States have been informed by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia that they need to visit immigration centers in their state to be fingerprinted and interviewed, a source told Arab News yesterday.
A circular has been sent to all Saudi students by the Cultural Mission of the Saudi Embassy which states that, according to new US laws, they are required to visit their nearest immigration center to be fingerprinted and subjected to a one-on-one interview.
They were also told that they needed to update officials on their current study programs and their expected graduation date, as well as other related information. The circular added that the deadline for visiting immigration centers is the end of October.
Speaking to Arab News from Washington, Ahmed Al-Aswad, an official at the Cultural Mission of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, said that students should wait before visiting the immigration centers. "We’ve sent them another circular by e-mail informing them that they should wait until current developments are over."
He did not elaborate on what exactly he meant by "developments", and only said that they have not yet been finalized.
According to the cultural mission, some 300 students were refused entry to the United States after Sept. 11, 2001. They were in Saudi Arabia visiting family and friends and were not issued new student visas to return to the US to finish their studies. They were either forced to drop their study plans or look for alternative universities in Europe and Asia.
New stringent US immigration checks on nationals from several countries, including Saudi Arabia, went into effect on Oct 1. Under the new measures, all Saudi males aged between 16 and 45 are to be fingerprinted and photographed. They are also required to register with the authorities and update their travel plans should they exceed more than a 30-day stay.
As a reciprocal measure, the government of Saudi Arabia will start fingerprinting Americans entering the Kingdom. This was confirmed by Interior Minister Prince Naif last week when he told the press: "Our dealings (with other countries) will be reciprocal. We’ll deal with every country in the same way they deal with us."
