Passport Department fingerprinting centers are still witnessing a huge rush as the summer break approaches despite a number of measures taken to make the process easier. The Passports Department is now distributing tokens in the morning and has raised the number of employees as well as the working hours but the queue seems to be getting bigger and bigger every day. The department reportedly recorded a daily show up of more than 4,500 people at each center as 1,000 to 1,500 passports are processed daily. Some 1,500 tokens are distributed in the morning every day, said Makkah Passports Department's Media Affairs director Fahd Al-Harbi. Evening time is allocated for companies and students. At King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah the process of fingerprinting and iris scan is so tedious that it takes each passenger 10 minutes to complete the formalities. This has resulted in long queues at at immigration counters. Meanwhile, confusion still confounds many expats about the process. No one seems to be sure whether fingerprinting is required for housewives and children below the age of 18. There are rumors that the token system has led to a black market outside the fingerprinting centers. Many expats are reportedly making a fast buck by selling these tokens. Many expats are also complaining of the misbehavior of some of the personnel at these centers. The Saudi government through its Directorate General of the Passport Department has strengthened its internal security measures. As part of this effort, The Passport Department started fingerprinting expatriates from May 10, 2008. Now without fingerprinting, expatriates cannot obtain residence permits (Iqamas), transfer sponsorship and request other passport services. Several GCC countries have already put in place similar requirements. Qatar issues ‘Bataqa' to expatriates only after fingerprinting, and the UAE has made eye
