RIYADH — As many as 462,333 Yemeni nationals who were living in the Kingdom illegally have corrected their residency status during the three-month grace period that ended on Sunday.
The grace period announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on May 2 was to end on July 7 but was extended to Aug. 15 in view of the large number of applicants.
Yemeni nationals who had entered the Kingdom before April 9, 2015, and residing in the country illegally were eligible to have their status corrected under the royal amnesty.
According to the Directorate General of Passports, the correction process, which lasted for 100 days, was carried out in 49 centers all over the Kingdom.
It said more than 120,000 Yemenis corrected their residence status in Makkah Province, 55,000 in Asir, 21,000 in the Eastern Province and 8,500 in Tabuk.
Yemeni nationals are issued visitor cards valid for six months, which will enable them find jobs in the country legally.
Though the last day witnessed huge crowds of Yemenis wishing to correct their status, the Passport Department said it has not received any instructions from higher authorities to further extend the grace period.
"The present situation does not require any further extension. We are now only working on replacing the lost visitor's cards or rectify mistakes in the data," said Brig. Sami Mohammed Al-Rasheed, deputy director of the Eastern Province Passport Department.
