View of Riyadh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. File photo.
Doha, Qatar: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has lifted the three-year ban on expats who were not able to return to the country before the expiry of their exit and re-entry visas, local Saudi newspaper Okaz reported.
The Saudi newspaper said that the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) had instructed all its departments to allow in expatriates who were unable to return before the expiry of their exit and re-entry visa.
Okaz reported that the order had been in effect since January 16, thus nullifying the ban preventing any expatriate who leaves the Kingdom on an exit and re-entry visa and does not return during the visa’s allotted reentry period except after 3 years have passed.
The newspaper mentioned that among conditions for obtaining an exit and re-entry visa was the presence of a fingerprint for the individual to whom the visa is to be issued, payment of all of the expat’s traffic violations, as well as the individual having no violations or a valid visa.
The validity of the expat’s passport must be up to 90 days at least.
Citing the latest version of the country’s Labor Law, Okaz noted that the employer bears the fees for recruiting the non-Saudi worker, the residency and work permit fees and their renewal, the fines that result from delay, the fees for changing professions, exit and return, and the expat’s return ticket to their homeland after the agreement between the two parties comes to an end.
