Mishal Al-Otaibi

Saudi Gazette

 

RIYADH — The chief of the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) has said expatriates who have not registered their fingerprints yet will not be granted exit/re-entry visas starting early next year.



"Almost all expatriates in the Kingdom have done the fingerprinting except a very few, who number less than two percent," Maj. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya told Saudi Gazette.



He said the fingerprinting would enable expatriates to complete all their passport procedures in a very short time.



"If an expatriate loses his iqama (residence permit), it will be easy to issue him with substitute because all his personal data is recorded along with his fingerprint," he said.



Al-Yahya said more immigration counters will be added in all airports to speed up travel procedures for both arriving and departing passengers. Al-Yahya said final touches are being made to the special women's sections at airports to make them fully independent. "There will be special passages to the women counters. Women travelers will no longer have to pass through counters manned by males," he added.