Saudi passport officials quash 'final exit' rumors

DAMMAM, June 21,2011 (Arab News): Rumors of expatriates having their exit-re-entry visas switched to exit-only visas at airports have no basis, said Passport Department officials across the Kingdom.

"There is absolutely no truth to it," said Mohammad Al-Husayn, spokesman for the Passport Department in Makkah province. "If it is an exit/re-entry visa then it cannot be changed at the airports. The final exit is stamped only after a series of steps are taken both by the employee and the employer."

The e-mails in circulation allege to have confirmed reports about two Indians (from Kerala) who were sent out on final exit despite having exit-re-entry visas.

"They were about to go on vacation using exit-re-entry visas, but once they reached immigration they were given final exit just because of the fact that they were in red category and had completed six years of service in Saudi Arabia," one of the e-mails stated.

Government officials said that the six-year rule that will be applied to employees of companies not reaching nationalization targets are still some months away and when implemented it would not affect existing final exit regulations.

Some of those forwarding the e-mail to various Internet groups maintain that they got it from somewhere else.

Arab News tried to contact a number of expatriates behind the chain mails, and all of them said they heard it from someone else or that they got the e-mail from someone else.

A top official at Dammam Passport Department said it is inconceivable for the Immigration Department to do any such thing. "How is it possible? How can anybody be sent on an exit-only visa without completing the formalities and getting a clearance from the employer? These are just rumors and nothing else," he told Arab News on Monday.

Among the series of steps that are required to issue the final-exit visa are a clearance certificate from the bank, a clearance certificate addressed to the Passport Department from the employer that there is no case against the employee, and no vehicle should be registered in the employee's name at the time of final departure.

"Getting a final exit is not that simple," the spokesman said. "Supposing we send an employee on a final exit at the airport - what would happen to his family if he has one? What about his flat? Who would clear that? What about his end-of-service benefits? This is insane."

In the case of an employee departing on final exit, the company dispatches its own representative to the airport along with the employee's passport. It is handed over to the immigration counter by the company representative.