Duffy, who assumed duties on the June 29, will also be overseeing the return to normal levels the visa issuances from Jeddah.
Making these statements at an arranged round table press conference at the US Consulate General, Duffy said, “I’m very happy to be back in Saudi Arabia after serving in Riyadh 15 years ago.”
Despite being away for over 15 years, Duffy stated that he has been following keenly the developments in Saudi Arabia during this period and is always amazed at the many facets of Saudi society and culture. “Learning more about Saudi Arabia and communicating that back to America is one of our missions here,” he explained.
Back in 2004, eight people were killed in terrorist attacks at the US Consulate in Jeddah. The incident led to families not being allowed to stay on the consulate’s compound. Now Duffy confirmed families are back in the compound after great efforts with the Saudi government to achieve maximum security.
“We have brought families back here to the consulate general compound after more than six years and that’s thanks to efforts we have taken around the compound as well as with the help of the Saudi government and the Saudi society,” he added, saying now he is comfortable with bringing his family to the Kingdom.
Duffy also praised Saudi Arabia’s development since he was here last. “When I was here 15 years ago there were no cell phones or Internet; now there have been major changes. One of the things we are looking at is making better use of social media such as Facebook. Now we have a Facebook page in an attempt to reach Saudis and other people and getting them to interact,” he explained.
He also said that they were taking the advice of people who tell them they need to be talking to more people in Jeddah and in and around the country. “Beyond that we are looking to partner work relationships with different types of institutions such as universities, NGOs or any organization that feels comfortable working with us,” he added.
With regards to issuance of visas, he said, “We ask people to apply early from six to eight weeks before school starts for students who applied to study at the US.”
However, despite efforts by the US Embassy to ease the visa process for Saudi students, some still risk being unable to obtain visas or get their visas renewed on time. Duffy said they were working on the possibility to return visa issuances from Jeddah. “We are nowhere near that yet but it’s one of the big projects I’ll be working on here,” he said.
