Thursday, Mar 23, 2017

Manama: Foreigners who do not follow procedures to regulate their legal status in the country or do not leave the country before the 90-day amnesty granted by Saudi authorities, will face fines ranging from 15,000 (Dh14,790) to 100,000 riyals, the head of Passports has warned.

Illegals “should seize the chance (to regulate their status) because it may not come again,” Sulaiman Al Yahya told the Saudi daily Al Sharq on Thursday, adding that there would be no leniency towards violators.

On Sunday, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef announced the campaign allowing violators 90 days to regulate their status, in which they would be exempted from paying any fines and will not be fingerprinted.

Authorities usually fingerprint violators to bar them from re-entering the country. Those who leave will be able to return to Saudi Arabia later and work legally, under the scheme.

The amnesty, under the campaign ‘Nation Free of Violators’, begins from March 29.

The campaign mostly targets foreigners who have overstayed their visit or work permits or have entered Saudi Arabia under Haj, Umrah, visit or transit visas but also those who have entered the country illegally.

Al Yahya vowed no leniency towards violators

In 2013, then King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz granted a 90-day grace period to allow foreigners staying illegally in Saudi Arabia to legalise their status or leave the Kingdom without any penalty or fine.

According to the General Authority for Statistics, more than 12 million of the 32 million people who live in Saudi Arabia are foreigners.

by Habib Toumi Bureau Chief

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