This rumor has been going around for the past two months and has made its way through Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah and Alkhobar. Saeedullah, a Pakistani driver, who stopped in front of a PTT office in Riyadh Tuesday told Arabic daily Al-Watan that he was determined to get this grant. 

“I filled in the application form, attached a photocopy of my iqama and paid SR30 for the express mail. I heard from my compatriots that the Saudi government wanted to give personal assistance to the Pakistanis in the Kingdom before they were taken by the Ali Babas (thieves),” he said.

Rasheed, a Pakistani worker, said he went to the house of a rich man with thousands of his countrymen seeking financial help after we were told that it was this man who would disperse the royal grant, but the guards asked them to go to the post offices and send applications to the king.

Meanwhile an official at one of the post offices said the rumor about the grant increased their customer by more than 50 percent. “We service about 450 Pakistanis every day. We were committed to provide service regardless of the falsehood or truth of the rumor,” he said. The newspaper said patrol police were seen organizing the lines at a post office near the  building of the Passports Department in Riyadh.