Riyadh, Jun 6: Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has revoked the license of Qatar Airways and ordered its offices to to be closed within 48 hours, the regulatory body said said in a statement.
Any licenses granted to Qatar Airways employees would also be withdrawn, the statement said.
The move comes a day after GACA banned all Qatari planes from landing in the kingdom's airports, following the worst rift in years among the Gulf countries.
Apr 18: Taking a strong notice of Islamophobia on social media, Princess Hend Al Qassimi, a member of the royal family of United Arab Emirates, called out a series of tweets by a user named Saurabh Upadhyay.
Upadhyay had posted tweets attacking Muslims over the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in March in Delhi that led to surge of coronavirus cases cases in India. He also gave into rumours of muslims ‘spiting on food’ to spread the virus.
Princess Qassimi shared the screenshots of his tweets and warned that those engaging in racism and Islamophobia will have to pay penalty and will be made to leave UAE. Upadhyay has apparently deactivated his Twitter handle now.
Responding to his earlier posts, she though the ruling family of UAE is “friends with Indians”, his rudeness was “not welcome”.
“All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed,” she wrote.
Cairo, May 20: A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker has called for imposing a tax on expatriates’ remittances to shore up the country’s finances.
MP Khalil Al Saleh, the head of the parliament’s Human Resources Committee, has presented a draft law on the proposed tax to the legislature.
“Imposing fees on expatriates’ transfers will have a role in improving the state's revenues and diversify sources of income,” he told Al Rai newspaper.
Migrant workers transfer about 4.2 billion dinars annually from Kuwait, he added, citing figures from Kuwait’s Central Bank.
“This system is in effect in most countries of the world and in more than one Gulf country. Expats there have not objected to it. Allowing this money to exit the country is very dangerous and has a direct effect on economy,” MP Al Saleh said.
“We do not target brotherly expats because imposing symbolic fees on financial transfers will not affect their money, but will have a positive effect on the state’s sources,” he said. “This has become a necessity after the money transferred outside Kuwait has reached 4.2 billion dinars annually without the state [Kuwait] making any benefit from this.”
Foreign workers make up 3.3 million of Kuwait’s 4.6 million population.
Several Kuwaiti public figures have recently pushed for redrawing the demographic imbalance in the country, accusing expatriates of straining health facilities and increasing the Covid-19 threat.
Riyadh, Jul 5: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has approved the extension of the validity of the expired iqama (residency permit) and exit and reentry visas of expatriates who are outside the Kingdom for a period of three months without any fee.
The iqama of expatriates inside the Kingdom as well as the visa of visitors who are in the Kingdom of which the validity expires during the period of suspension of entry and exit from the Kingdom will also be extended for a period of three months without any charge.
The validity of final exit visas as well as exit and reentry visas issued for expatriates, who are in the Kingdom, but were not used during the lockdown period will be extended for a period of three months without any fee, the Saudi Press Agency reported quoting an official source at the Ministry of Interior.
The ministry source said that these measures were taken as part of the continuous efforts made by the government of King Salman to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on individuals as well as on private sector establishments and investors, economic activities in the Kingdom, following the adoption of the preventive measures to stem the spread of the pandemic.
The beneficiaries of the King’s order include all expatriates who are outside the Kingdom on exit and reentry visas, which expired during the lockdown period and after lifting of the lockdown.
These expatriates are not in a position to return to the Kingdom due to the enforcement of suspension of international flight service and temporary ban on entry and exit from the Kingdom.
The beneficiaries also include those expatriates who are still in the Kingdom after issuance of final exit visas or exit and reentry visas but could not travel because of the suspension of entry and exit from the Kingdom.
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