JEDDAH, 23 October 2007 — The Visitors Visa Section at the Passport Office in Jeddah had its busiest day in the year on Saturday when it reopened after the Eid holidays, which began on Oct. 2. People were waiting there for over 10 hours to get their visa applications processed.
An official at the office attributed the huge crowd and consequent complications to a recent order, which requires visa applicants — both Saudis and expatriates — to pay a SR10,000 fine and face deportation if they were to overstay their visa by even one day.
Another official told Arab News that it was a mammoth task to process more than 700 applications in a single working day. “A flood of applications has slowed down the processing of documents, which require very careful examination before being approved,” he said.
Arab News learned that hundreds of expatriates, wanting to renew their relatives’ visas, rushed to the visa office to avoid being penalized.
Maher Al-Hameed, an Egyptian engineer working in Jeddah, went to the visa office to renew his mother’s visa. Maher said that the huge crowd at the visa office was caused by the fact that the 18-day closure of the visa department coincided with a new order that warned of serious punishments for expatriates, who allow relatives to stay beyond the permitted period.
“It would have been more convenient if the holidays were shorter so that people got more time to fix their matters in the light of the new order,” he said.
Shaharzad Hussein, a Pakistani working at a Jeddah hospital, was desperate. He could not get his wife’s visa renewed because of the huge crowd. His wife had come to Jeddah to spend the Ramadan and Eid with him. Her visa had expired a few days ago.
Abdullah Abdu, a Yemeni national, who had been standing outside the office for hours, was almost in tears. “My wife’s visa expired during the holidays when the visa office was on vacation. I have been waiting from early morning till now (around 8 p.m.). I’ve still not been able to enter the office because of the crowd. I haven’t even had breakfast or lunch,” he said.
Abdu wondered how the office would be able to complete 18 days of backlog in a single day.
Samir Al-Safdi, a Syrian, said he could only get a visa for his mother-in-law extended by two weeks. She had come to Saudi Arabia to help his wife, who had given birth to their first child a few days ago.
“A curious thing I noticed while waiting here in the crowd since 10.30 a.m. in the morning was the gradual reduction in the period of extension for visa as the day advanced. The officer at the counter gave one month extension in the morning, three weeks extension in the afternoon and two weeks extension in the evening,” Al-Safdi said, adding that he reached the counter after sunset and only got a two-week extension.
Al-Safdi said he fears that the shorter extension would only increase crowding and the volume of work at the office. “All those who got the lesser extension of the visa period would have to come again to the office for further extension,” he said.
