Expats advised to carry re-entry visa printouts

[email protected] (Arab News)
October 27, 2013

Expats_advisedRiyadh, Oct 27: Foreign airlines based in Riyadh have advised travel agents in the Kingdom to tell their customers to carry a re-entry visa printout with their passports when they travel abroad.

The announcement was made following complaints by expatriate workers returning to the Kingdom after the Eid holidays who were denied boarding by airline officials for not having re-entry visa information on their passports.

Officials of foreign airlines said Saturday that they have already advised their agents to inform travelers about the new requirements expected from passengers at the embarkation points.

In September, the Passport Department began issuing multiple entry visas to the Kingdom with an official stamp on the passport. However, many airline officials have demanded visa printouts or other forms of authentication to certify that passengers are in possession of valid visas to enter the Kingdom.

A printout can be obtained only when a single entry visa is issued electronically, but multiple entry visas are issued at the Passport Department. The visa is recorded in the system and an official stamp is placed with only the visa number.

Ruwan Wijekone, Sri Lankan Airlines manager for the central province, said the airline has advised agents in the Kingdom that passengers should carry the visa printout with them. He pointed out that if an airline allows a passenger to board without a valid visa, it has to incur unwanted expenditures such as return fare for the passenger, fine and allied expenses for his stay in the Kingdom till he is deported home.

“We are only taking a precautionary measure, which is carried out in the interests of the passenger as well as the airline,” he said, adding that checking the veracity of the visa online is impossible when the airline has to check in over 300 passengers of a Saudi Arabia-bound flight.

Speaking to Arab News, Sri Lankan Ambassador Vadivel Kirshnamoorthy said that he would advise the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) to make arrangements to help people who come to the airport without the entry visa printout. He said the SLBFE, which has a special help desk at the airport for incoming and outgoing workers, could handle this matter smoothly.

Currently, officials at the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) do not have a system to track the Saudi entry visas of workers who leave the country. All Lankan foreign workers are expected to register with the SLBFE on a nominal registration fee for which a wide range of services are offered to its foreign workers.

Speaking from Colombo, an official of the Saudi Arabian Airlines said that it has deployed a special officer at the Colombo International Airport to assist such cases. The officer concerned goes online to check the visa status and acts accordingly.

“We also have an Arabic translator at our ticketing office to check the visa status of passengers,” he added.

Mohammed, a passenger who came from Dubai said the Saudi Arabian Airlines officials at Dubai airport were kind enough to check his visa status through the MOI online service and allowed him to board the flight although he did not have a visa slip.

To find out the visa status in the official website of the Ministry of Interior, one must either have the visa number or the sponsor's number.

Comments

mohammad minhat khan
 - 
Wednesday, 7 Sep 2016

need re Entry Visa
in the saudia Arabia

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News Network
February 2,2020

Newsroom, Feb 2: American business magnate Bill Gates has congratulated her daughter Jennifer Gates after she announced her engagement to her Muslim boyfriend Nayel Nassar.

“I am completely thrilled! Congratulations, @jenniferkgates and @nayelnassar”, commented the Microsoft boss to her daughter’s surprise Instagram story.

The proposal took place on a ski getaway. "Nayel Nassar, you are one of a kind. Absolutely swept me off my feet this past weekend, surprising me in the most meaningful location over one of our many shared passions," she wrote on Instagram. The pair does have one very significant shared passion - horses.

Nassar, 29, is a showjumper. Gates, 23, has famously grown up an equestrian, and has even competed against Steve Jobs' daughter.

In October, Nassar helped Egypt qualify for Tokyo 2020 - Egypt's first Olympic equestrian qualification in 60 years. He has been jumping since he was 10 years old and has the accolades to show for it - he has taken first place in a number of notable competitions, including the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup.

Nassar was born in Chicago to Egyptian parents and spent many of his formative years in Kuwait, where his well-to-do parents run an architecture and design firm, according to People. He is fluent in English, Arabic, and French.

He moved back to the US in 2009 and graduated from Stanford with an economics degree in 2013 - later, he supported Gates at her own Stanford graduation in 2018.

The couple received well wishes from many notable personalities on each of their Instagram posts, including comments from Bill and Melinda Gates, Georgina Bloomberg, and Eve Jobs.

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News Network
April 9,2020

New Delhi, Apr 9: The Delhi Police has traced Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, who has been on the run after an FIR was registered against him for organising a religious gathering last month despite restrictions to combat the coronavirus, sources said on Wednesday.

The cleric has been traced to Zakir Nagar in southeast Delhi, sources said.

His lawyer Tauseef Khan, however, said Saad is under self-quarantine and will join investigation after his quarantine period is over.

On March 31, Delhi Police's Crime Branch lodged an FIR against seven people, including the cleric, on a complaint by Station House Officer Nizamuddin for holding the congregation here allegedly in violation of the orders against large gathering and not maintaining social distancing to contain the spread of coronavirus.

A day later, the Delhi Police's Crime Branch wrote to Saad and others, seeking the details under Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A second notice was also issued to him this week.

"Saad is currently under self-quarantine and will join investigation once the period of 14 days gets over," his advocate, Tauseef Khan, told PTI.

Saad's quarantine is expected to end next week.

His lawyer said a reply to the second notice will be given soon.

In an audio message last week, Saad said he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the Tablighi Jamaat's Nizamudddin markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

Visited by thousands last month, the Nizamudddin centre also turned out to be a hotspot for spread of coronavirus not only in national capital and country.

According to the FIR, the Delhi Police contacted the centre on March 21 and reminded them of the government order that prohibited any political or religious gathering of more than 50 people.

However, no one paid any heed to the police's direction, it said. Moreover, an audio recording purportedly of Saad was found in circulation on WhatsApp on March 21, in which he was heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz.

On March 24, the government ordered 21-day nationwide lockdown and restricted any social, political or religious gathering.

The same day a meeting was held at Hazarat Nizamuddin police station between SHO and officer bearers of the centre.

The meeting was attended by Saad, Mohammad Ashraf, Mohammad Salman, Yunus, Mursaleen Saifi, Jishan and Mufti Shehzad and they were informed about lockdown orders.

So far, several hundred cases of COVID-19 cases across the country have been found to be linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in Delhi last month.

More than 25,500 Tablighi members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country after the Centre and the state governments conducted a "mega operation" to identify them.

At least 9,000 people participated in the religious congregation in Nizamuddin. Later, many of the attendees travelled to various parts of the country.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
July 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 4: In a heart-wrenching incident, a 65-year-old coronavirus patient at Hanumath Nagar in South Bengaluru died outside his house waiting for an ambulance on Friday evening. The body was kept on the road for more three hours.

The deceased tested positive for coronavirus on Friday and immediately called an ambulance to reach a hospital. However, according to his family members, as he waited for the ambulance for nearly three hours, he collapsed on the road in front of his house complaining of breathlessness and died.

As the body lay unattended on the road, it began to rain heavily. Soon, videos of the body lying on the road in the heavy rain went viral on social media. 

A senior doctor in charge of the division, however, claimed that the ambulance had arrived in less than half an hour but the patient had died before they reached the spot. 

"The patient had given samples on Thursday at KIMS and tested positive on Friday. BBMP officials informed them that they would reach his house. But the man, fearing that he may be stigmatised in the locality, began walking to the corner of the road and collapsed on the street and died," the officer said. 

Another health official from Basavanagudi limits said: "As the ambulance staff do not transport the dead, they informed the hearse van, which was set to arrive in 30 minutes. But due to the sudden rain and heavy traffic ahead of the curfew hours, they were stranded for almost three hours later." The officials also said the deceased had been suffering from cardiac ailments for almost 10 years. 

Regretting the incident, BBMP officials said they were helpless as was an acute shortage of hearse vans. "We were told that there were 20 deaths today and there are only eight hearse vans available. They had to shift this patient after attending to another mortality and were stuck in traffic. By then, due to the fear of infection, nobody attended to the deceased," the officer explained. 

BBMP commissioner B H Anil Kumar said that such incidents should not recur and ordered an investigation and sought a report. "We will ensure that such incidents do not recur," Kumar said.  

Following outrage on social media, a hearse van was summoned and the body was shifted to the Victoria Hospital mortuary as per the protocol. Police have opened a case of unnatural death.

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