RIYADH - More than 758,570 visa violators from 140 nationalities have taken advantage of the general amnesty announced by Saudi Arabia about eight months ago, according to Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, security spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
The number includes residency and labor law violators, Haj and Umrah visa overstayers and people who crossed into the Kingdom breaching border security, he said.
Addressing a press conference in Riyadh on Thursday, Al-Turki said about 37 percent of the violators left the Kingdom directly through various exit points, including airports, seaports and land exits. The majority of them had come to the Kingdom on Haj, Umrah, visit or transit visas.
Approximately 60 percent of the visa violators left Saudi Arabia after completing departure procedures at the deportation departments, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Maj. Gen. Al-Turki as saying.
Al-Turki said these violators included people who absconded from work, people who did not have their resident permits renewed for many years and those who did not hold any identification papers. They also included infiltrators who crossed into the Kingdom illegally.
Al-Turki said the remaining 3 percent completed departure procedures and obtained final exit visas but they did not leave the country yet according to official records.
He expressed hope that these people would be able to leave the Kingdom before the expiry of their final exit visas.


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