The requirements for an exit/re-entry visa in Saudi Arabia continue to be a cause of persistent miseries for expatriates. A person can have pressing emergencies or a dire need for his/her immediate presence back home to address a serious family crisis. However, a foreign resident in Saudi Arabia is not allowed to leave the country unless his sponsor signs a request (or request online, which too requires the sponsor's involvement) and obtain the visa from the authorities. The online facility does not guarantee the availability of the visa within the required time frame for many, as the sponsor may be absent and an authorized person may not be available until the next working day.
Consequently, we hear, on daily basis, sad stories of sons or daughters who are denied a last look at their beloved parent before the burial, families facing losses only because of delay in the arrival of their loved one from the Kingdom and many other such unfortunate cases.
We are told that the exit/re-entry visa system is implemented to protect the employer from his employee, who may be absconding after committing a fraud or the like. However, in this age of high-tech and improved communications, this can be controlled by setting up notification systems and mobile alerts to the sponsor's phone hours in advance.
I would request the concerned authorities to consider abolishing the requirement of exit/re-entry system on humanitarian and ethical grounds. The media and socially-committed nationals and expatriates may support this genuine cause and use their goodwill to represent it wherever possible. Moreover, this type of a system is rarely prevalent in the world. This is one action of kindness that all expatriates hope the Saudi authorities would undertake, one that is even more important than the proposed changes in the sponsorship system. (Ameer Malappuram, By e-mail)
Saudi Arabia: Guarantor of world peace
This is with reference to the statement of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah regarding the unity of the Muslim states, published on May 20.
In the Qur'an, the Muslims have been advised to hold on to the string of Allah and not be divided on the basis of sects, nations, tribes, languages, etc. We are the only people who pray together in a mosque five times a day. Hence, every Muslim gets practical training to perform duties together. The poor performance of the 57 Muslim states today is because of a lack of unity among them. Once united, the Muslim bloc will be the strongest nation — the Ummah of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Today, though the Muslims make up about 20 percent of the world population, they are settled in the center of the world covering more than 30 percent of the populated world. Almost all of the major world resources are located in the Muslim lands. The nation with a single center, the Kaaba, and guided by a single code of life, the Qur'an, may well become the custodian of world peace when united.
May Allah accept the initiative taken by King Abdullah toward the unification of the Muslim Ummah. (Altaf Hussain, By e-mail)
Letters to the Editor: Exit/re-entry woes
