RIYADH: Officials from the Passport Department, in cooperation with the Riyadh police, are conducting random checks at the King Khaled International Airport to arrest departing foreigners who had overstayed their visit visas. These overstayers are being held under a law passed last year that imposes fines of SR10,000 for this violation. The law also can be enforced on legal residents who bring family members on temporary visas but allow them to remain past the exit date.
“The Saudi rules and regulations do not allow those who have come on visit visas to stay in the country after the expiry of their visa,” an official from the Passport Department said, pointing out that they are also not allowed to work during their period of stay.
Col. Hussein Yahya Al-Harithy, director of the Department for Expatriates Affairs at the Passport Department in Makkah province, had earlier warned Saudis and expatriates against providing employment, accommodation and transport to overstayers, saying they would get six months in jail and a hefty fine.
“There are nearly eight million foreigners in the Kingdom, which has a total population of 27.6 million. Overstayers, especially those who come for Haj and Umrah, are one of the main problems faced by the Kingdom’s security agencies,” said a senior official.
A Pakistani national, who did not want his name published, told Arab News that he brought his mother under his sponsorship. He was told to pay SR10,000 fine when he went to renew his mother’s visa. He said it had expired only three days earlier. A 10-year-resident of the Kingdom, the Pakistani man is now collecting money from friends and relatives to pay the fine. His mother is being detained and he fears that she might be deported afterward.
Baduruz Zaman, a Bangladeshi IT specialist, was deported with his family due to his failure to send his mother-in-law home in time in accordance with the visa rules. His wife, Nazreen, worked in the Bangladesh International School. The family had to pay the fine and were deported.
An Indian working in Jeddah as a sales executive had a similar experience with the Passport Department. He had sponsored his son, an engineering student, who had come for a month’s holiday. The Saudi Consulate in Bombay had issued a visa for two weeks (written illegibly in Arabic) and the sponsor mistook it for a month. The immigration official refused him exit since he had allegedly overstayed by 13 days.
“Now my passport and iqama is with the department and I have been ordered to pay SR10,000,” he said, pointing out that he has been a law-abiding resident for the past 18 years. “I have never received a ticket even for a traffic violation.”
