JEDDAH, 18 February 2007 — A Saudi citizen said that the Saudi Embassy in Kuwait made him wait five days after he reported his passport missing, Al-Watan daily said yesterday.
The Saudi, who hails from Al-Khafji, near the Kuwait border, said he traveled with his family across the border to Al-Fuhaifel for a shopping day trip.
During the day he discovered his passport missing. He called a male relative back home to come and pick up his family while he tried to get a replacement passport at the Saudi Embassy in Kuwait City.
Because it was a weekend, the embassy told the man he had to return on Saturday to process his passport application request and arrange a meeting with the ambassador.
Embassy staffers told him he had to meet personally with the ambassador for replacing his passport.
Embassies normally issue replacement passports for their citizens abroad in a matter of hours, recognizing the urgency of the matter.
On Saturday, the Saudi was told it would take a few days to process his request, and that he needed a report from the Kuwait police confirming that he has reported his passport missing to the local authorities.
The man said that because he had no passport, he couldn’t check in to any hotels, and he lived out of his car for five days as the Saudi Embassy arranged for his replacement passport so he could travel the 60 kilometers back home.
