The passport department referred a number of its staff in Riyadh for investigation during the first legalization period.

A source told Al-Watan that suspended employees were engaged in advancing their own personal gains.

“They favored their personal business interests over the overall interest of the establishment, which led to many applicants standing in long lines,” the source said.

“These violations happen all the time. We detect these illegal practices and violators are sent for investigation and penalized. We have a special department for this purpose and there are regulations and measures taken against violators,” he added.

The source, who chose to remain anonymous, said that the violations were mainly centered on the processing of paperwork for illegible people, like changing professions.

In a separate development, the passport department announced that more than 655,000 foreign workers left the Kingdom since the start of the normalization period. “Until the last days of Ramadan, there were 655,985 workers who left the Kingdom, either through exit-only visas or through deportation,” it said.

The time frame given for the legalization period is sufficient to serve those who want to legally remain in the Kingdom or who want to leave the country for good, officials said.

The first part of the normalization process, which lasted until the end of Sha’ban, was the busiest period.

Activity slowed down during the holy month of Ramadan. The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry noticed a slowdown of activity on the part of foreign laborers wanting to legalize their status since the grace period has been extended until November.

The chamber has asked embassies to urge their subjects to try to normalize their status as soon as they can and not wait until the final days of the grace period.