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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coastaldigest.com news network
May 30,2020

Kasaragod, May 30: Karnataka origin IPS officer D Shilpa has been appointed the new Superintendent of Police of Kasargod district.

The 35-year-old 2016-batch IPS officer is the first woman SP of Kasaragod. 

Her appointment follows the sudden transfer of P S Sabu who was hitherto holding the post. He has now been appointed as SP of Alappuzha.

Shilpa has earlier served as ASP of Kasargod. She was also ASP of Kannur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Shilpa was one of the three IPS officers assigned to Kasaragod with IG Vijay Sakhare during the first phase of covid lockdown.

A native of HSR Layout in Bengaluru, Shilpa holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

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News Network
May 29,2020

Bengaluru, May 29: Seven out of ten (72 per cent) workers in Karnataka reported having lost their employment during the COVID-19-induced lockdown, according to findings of a survey by Azim Premji University, in collaboration with ten civil society organisations.

The university said in a statement it conducted "a detailed" phone survey of 5,000 workers across 12 states in the country, to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on employment, livelihoods, and access to government relief schemes.

The survey covered self-employed, casual, and regular wage and salaried workers and it released the findings for Karnataka on Thursday.

Seventy-six per cent of urban workers and 66 per cent of rural workers lost their employment, the survey findings said.

For non-agricultural self-employed workers and wage workers, who were still employed, average weekly earnings fell by two-third.

More than four in ten salaried workers (44 per cent) saw either a reduction in their salary or received no salary during the lockdown.

Six out of ten households reported that they did not have enough money to buy even a weeks worth of essential items, according to the survey.

Eight out ten households reported a reduction in food intake, while less than three in ten vulnerable households (27 per cent) in urban Karnataka received any form of cash transfer from the government, it said.

In summary, the disruption in the Karnatakas economy and labour markets is enormous. Livelihoods have been devastated at unprecedented levels during the lockdown.

The recovery from this could be slow and very painful, the statement said.

As a response to the findings of this survey, the team which has conducted the survey suggested a universalisation of the PDS to expand its reach and implementation of expanded rations for at least the next six months.

It suggested cash transfers equal to at least Rs.7000 per month for two months, and proactive steps like expansion of MGNREGA, introduction of urban employment guarantee, and investment in universal basic services, among others.

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coastaldigest.com news network
February 16,2020

Mangaluru, Feb 16: A 45 year-old man committed suicide by jumping into Netravati River from the bridge near Thokkottu along with his six-year-old son in the early hours of Sunday here, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Gopalkrishna Rai and his son Aneesh Rai, residents of Baltila in Bantwal.

According to the police, Gopalkrishna along with his wife Ashwini Rai and son had come to Konaje for a family programme. At about 4:30 a.m. he came to the bridge with his son, left a suicide note and jumped into the river.

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