RIYADH – The Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) announced on Monday that all passport services for those expatriates who failed to register their biometric fingerprinting details have been stopped. "No computer services will be available for those who did not take their fingerprinting at the Jawazat offices across the Kingdom," the directorate said in a statement. The directorate urged the expatriates who have so far not registered their biometric details to soon approach the nearest Jawazat offices to undergo the procedures as a last chance. The Jawazat has been implementing a new rule on biometric fingerprint enrollment for expatriates who are living with their families in the Kingdom in a phased manner. According to the directive, it is mandatory for dependents of expatriates, including women and children above the age of six, to have their fingerprints taken at its offices across the Kingdom. Recently, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), the Ministry of Interior, and the security agencies imposed a strict new regulation on telecommunication subscribes and new SIM card mobile phone users to register their biometric fingerprints in a mobile SIM information system as a national security measure.
