:: The General Directorate of Passports in Saudi Arabia has announced that, acting on the instructions of Minister of the Interior Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif, and starting from Oct. 5, regular residency permits (iqama) will be offered to Yemeni nationals holding visitor IDs, provided that the beneficiary holds a valid passport.

The beneficiary needs to complete certain service procedures with their employer in line with Labor and Social Development Ministry criteria. Individuals may also use the “Musaned” electronic system to complete the process.

However, the directorate said that dependents of holders of visitor IDs and those who entered the Kingdom legally and hold visitor IDs will not benefit from this decree.

They urged all employers — individual, family, organization — to benefit from the electronic services provided by the Ministry of the Interior (Absher and Muqeem) to issue resident IDs, and stressed that no applications will be accepted in person. All inquiries should be sent through the e-mail ([email protected]) and the official Twitter and Facebook accounts of the department.

This announcement follows a decree concerning the normalization of the status of Yemeni citizens who entered the Kingdom illegally by offering them renewable visitor IDs for six months.