Saudi Arabia announces to extend iqama, other visas without fee

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced to extend the validity of residency permit- iqama- and exit and re-entry visa without charging any fee until January 31, 2022.

Acceding to local state media, the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) has started automatically extending the validity of iqama and exit and re-entry visas without charging the expatriate or any other fees.

It said that expatriates who are from countries facing travel ban will be the beneficiaries of this initiative taken in line with the implementation of the directives of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

The extension will not be applicable to those expatriates who are fully vaccinated within the Kingdom before their departure on exit and re-entry visas.

The directive also includes extending the validity of visit visa issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for visitors who are outside the Kingdom and who are from countries facing travel ban as a result of the outbreak of coronavirus. The period of extension will be until Jan. 31.

The authorities in Saudi Arabia stated that the extension will be carried out automatically in cooperation with the National Information Centre without the need to personally visiting any passport departments.