MAKKAH: The wife of an Arab expatriate in Makkah was forced to leave the Kingdom on a final exit visa because of an error committed by a Passport Department official.
“I submitted the passports of my wife and children for exit-reentry visas as they wanted to visit our home country after schools closed,” Muhammad Mutawea, a schoolteacher in Makkah, told Arab News on Monday.
Mutawea paid the SR200 fee for his wife’s exit-reentry visa. However, once past immigration desk at the airport, Mutawea’s wife noticed that the immigration official had stamped her passport with a final exit stamp and not with a reentry stamp.
“My wife informed me later of what had happened and so I went to the passport office and asked the official why he had issued a final exit visa on my wife’s passport. He said this was what I had asked for,” said Mutawea.
Exasperated at his situation and unable to get answers from the concerned official, the teacher met Col. Ayed Al-Luqmani, director of the Passport Department in Makkah.
“The colonel directed me to the head of the visa section who summoned the official who made the mistake and asked him why he had stamped the wrong visa. The official wouldn’t admit his fault. However, the fact that I had paid the fee for an exit-reentry visa supported my claim,” said Mutawea. There are no fees for final-exit visas.
Mutawea said although the Passport Department has realized its fault, the mistake has not been corrected. “I’ll most probably have to apply for a new visa for my wife to return,” he added.
