RIYADH: In a bid to facilitate expatriates amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi passport authorities have started automatically extending the validity of Residency Permit (Iqama), exit and re-entry visas at no charge till March 31, 2022 .
According to a statement issued by the Saudi Press Agency on Monday, the extension will benefit expatriates who are from countries facing travel restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak and who are currently out of the kingdom.
The General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) stated that the extension would be done automatically, in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre, without the need to visit the Directorate of Passports or the Kingdom's missions abroad.
However, the extension will not apply to expatriates who had received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine inside the Kingdom before their departure.
The validity of travel visas will also be extended till March 31 by the Ministry of External Affairs for visitors who are outside the Kingdom in countries from where entry has been temporarily suspended due to the virus.