Plans are under way to repatriate 4,400 Pakistani detainees from the Shumaisy deportation center within a week.

Pakistan’s Consul-General Aftab Khokher briefed journalists on the consulate’s plan to begin repatriating the inmates starting from Monday.

Khokher held a meeting with authorities at the Shumaisy deportation center on Monday, where he met with Gen. Jaman Ghamdi, Salman bin Abdulaziz and immigration officers from Riyadh.

“The meeting was held in the presences of Gen. Faiz, head of the Shumaisy deportation center, and other officers,” he said.

“There are currently 4,400 Pakistanis at the deportation center,” he said. “We handed out 2,100 passes on Monday and will distribute the remaining passes within a few days,” according to the CG.

Most illegal expats who were in the Madinah prison were also sent to Shumaisy and that only 195 Pakistanis remain, he said.

“Umrah overstayers or absconders are urged to report to the deportation center. Saudi authorities have pledged that they would be sent back within 72 hours,” he said. “Individuals with expired residency permits or who cannot find their sponsors can transfer onto new sponsors.”

The CG said that authorities from the consulate recently visited different prisons and deportation centers to follow up on the problems faced by Pakistani prisoners. Consulate authorities visited the prisons in Briman on Feb. 6, Amawi on Feb. 13, Abha on Feb. 19, Madinah on Feb. 23 and Taif on March 12.

“Expats can easily be arrested for theft if caught touching someone else’s belongings, especially at the Grand Mosque, so it’s best to avoid any suspicious activity,” he said.

He also urged community members to request machine-readable passports and apply for their passports six months prior to the expiry of their residency permits.

“We still receive daily requests for manual passports, which are only given out on an urgent basis,” he said. “The consulate has opened more counters to accommodate the increasing number of people visiting our consulate. We used to have to ask up to 200 people to come back the next day, but we now have the situation under control and everyone is served on a same-day basis.”

Passport fees for a 36-page passport have gone down from SR155 to SR135 and SR220 for an urgent passport, while a 72-page passport used to cost SR280 and now costs SR245 and SR395 for a same-day request. A 100-page passport has also gone down to SR265 from the previous price of SR305 and costs SR520 for urgent release.

A 36-page lost passport will cost SR265 to replace and SR520 if lost a second time, while a 100-page passport costs SR520 to replace the first time and SR1,035 to replace a second time.

The government has also allowed the 10-year passport to be distributed, he said.