RIYADH: The Passport Department has opened a special section for people to renew their dependents’ visit visas that are due to expire during the Eid holidays.
The office, which is open during the Eid government break, will be open through Wednesday 2:30 p.m.
Officials are recommending applicants arrive early to get in queue. Around 800 tokens are issued daily in the morning and token holders are served before the end of the day.
Expatriates were seen queuing up in the morning at 6 a.m. yesterday in Riyadh to get their tokens for visa renewals. The government offices will re-open for regular work only from Saturday.
People who allow their relatives’ visit visas to lapse face a fine of SR10,000 and may be deported. Family-visit visas are generally issued at the overseas Saudi missions for a period of one month and they are renewed for monthly or bimonthly for a maximum period of nine months at the discretion of the serving immigration officer.
Anyone found housing an illegal resident — including family members — could also face jail time and additional financial penalty. This means that legal workers can face more than SR10,000 in fine and deportation if caught harboring relatives whose visas have lapsed.
Col. Hussein Yahya Al-Harithy, director of the Department for Expatriates Affairs at the Passport Department in Makkah province, pointed out that illegal residents are “one of the main problems faced by the Kingdom’s security agencies.”
Last year, the Passport Department issued an April-to-July amnesty for visa overstayers, allowing them to leave without questions or penalty. In July, the new rule went into effect involving the SR10,000 fine. Overstayers can be held in jail until they come up with the money.
Foreigners working in the Kingdom can apply for visas to enter Saudi Arabia through the Internet. The website (http://visa.mofa.gov.sa) includes forms for business, commercial and family visit visa requests as well as requests for Umrah and Haj. The applicants can follow the progress of their requests over the web.
