Mansour Al-Shihri Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The residence status of 3,157 illegal Yemenis throughout the Kingdom has been corrected since a campaign to legalize them started on May 10, the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) announced on Sunday. The correction campaign, ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman as a gift to Yemeni nationals, will continue until July 7. It covers all Yemenis who have been residing in the Kingdom without legal residence permits (iqamas) before April 9. The Yemenis wanted for criminal cases and those reported as runaways (huroub) by their Saudi sponsors will not be covered by the amnesty. Under the correction procedures, the Yemenis will be given renewable visitor cards for six months that will enable them to work for the private sector. They can also register their children in government schools and obtain free-of-charge medical treatment in government hospitals. The Jawazat asked all illegal Yemenis to avail themselves of this opportunity to correct their residence status so they could stay legally in the Kingdom. In Madinah, a committee from the Jawazat and the Yemeni Consulate in Jeddah has issued 1,600 new passports and extended the validity of 800 others to use for status correction. The requirements needed for correction consist of the original ID card, two witnesses in case there is no ID card, four passport-size photos, medical certificate, fingerprinting and payment of fees of SR200. On completion of the required documents, the Yemenis will proceed to the Jawazat centers to be issued with a visitor card. In Makkah, about 2,000 new travel documents were issued while in Baha 1,100 new passports were issued, including 30 for children.
