Saudi Arabia is home to around 500,000 Afghans, who escaped their war-ridden nation decades ago and settled in the Kingdom. The majority of the Afghans who reside in the Western Province come from the northern Afghan province of Baghlan, which is known for its trade-savvy citizens.
Most of the Afghan expatriates arrived in the Kingdom on Umrah or Haj visas and opted to remain in the Kingdom as illegals, seeking work within their tightly-knit ethnic clans as small-time entrepreneurs.
Whether working as a footwear vendor in a mosque yard, a mattress seller in the market or as Bukhari restaurant owner, most Afghan expatriates are registered as laborers (aamil) on their residency permits, while they run their own small businesses.
The new labor laws have, however, forced these people to avail themselves of the grace period offered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to synchronize their work status and profession on their residency permits.
The country’s diplomatic mission has witnessed the rush of its nationals, albeit smaller crowds compared to the other Asian consulates.
Afghan expatriates arrive before 8 a.m. to the consulate to submit their documents, facing long queues. The narrow lanes leading to the consulate, which is located in the Andalus District, are congested with nationals and the consular employees are struggling to meet the grace period deadline. Even the waiting hall of the consular section is unable to accommodate the large number of applicants. Most Afghan applicants are seeking to correct their sponsorships, in addition to legitimizing the status of their newborn children, changing their professions and renewing expired passports, among other issues.
According to Khalilur Rahman Hanani, the consul general of Afghanistan, the consulate is receiving on average 200 applications a day.
Speaking with Arab News, he asserted that the consulate is issuing 150 new passports every day in order to meet the July 3 grace period deadline. We are also renewing old passports, which were recently surrendered by the Saudi passport authorities to our consulate. In addition, we have received 4,000 passports belonging mostly to Afghan Umrah and Haj pilgrims and prior to the announcement of the grace period we were in possession of another 4,000 passports, which we are now handing over to the original bearers.”
The consul general highlighted the fact that Afghan officials have been delegated at the fingerprinting centers in Rehab District and in the deportation centers as well to assist nationals, seeking to record their biometrics.
Hanani revealed that until Wednesday, 200 Afghan expatriates had registered their biometrics in order to leave the Kingdom.
He also cautioned that there are significant numbers of Afghans residing in the two holy cities and in Taif, however the diplomatic representatives have not been able to conduct any outstation tours yet due to the work load at the Jeddah consulate.
He expressed his gratitude to the Saudi diplomatic cops and passport officials for their support to Afghan residents in streamlining the process at the consulate.
