The Passport Directorate’s strict enforcement of a regulation stipulating foreigners’ names on their iqamas (residence permit) and passports must be identical has put many of their jobs in jeopardy.
Some of them are being forced to return home to correct mistakes on their IDs and passports to ensure they correspond with the names on their iqamas.
The Saudi passport authorities stipulate the worker’s name, their father’s name and surname shall be written in the first, middle and last name columns in the passport so it matches the order names are printed on iqamas.
In the case of some foreigners, especially Pakistanis, they have to make the changes on their ID card itself before making such changes on the passport.
This means they have to travel home to make the necessary corrections.
Col. Badar Al-Malik, spokesman of the Passport Directorate, told Arab News: “Recording foreigners’ names on iqamas will be in the same order their names are written on passports.
“If there are any anomalies in the way their name is written on the passport, they should be corrected before their iqama is processed.”
He urged those who come on a new visa to correct such mistakes before they arrive.
Al-Malik said the first name would be written in the first column of the iqama, the father’s name in the second and surname in the third.
It is essential passports follow the same pattern, he said.
Ahmad Haq, a Pakistani, told Arab News that he was forced to go to Pakistan to make these corrections on his ID and passport.
He said: “Most Pakistanis have a compound name like me.
“It is difficult to write both names in the first column and it is also most often confusing as the suffix of the name may be mistaken to be my father’s name.”
There are also several cases where foreigners’ names are written incorrectly on iqamas.
Al-Malik added: “In such cases, foreigners should approach the passport office to correct the mistakes.”
Expats grapple with differing names on iqamas, passports
