Saudi authorities have begun imposing stricter rules for Pakistani nationals applying for visas to enter the Kingdom for visit, work, Umrah, Haj and business purposes. Beginning 15 August, all Pakistanis applying for Saudi visas have to use machine-readable passports (MRPs) and form B issued by the Pakistani Interior Ministry indicating the members of the family and their respective national identity card numbers and civil status. The move is intended to reduce the number of visa overstayers in the Kingdom.
A number of farmers across the Kingdom have sought the help of the Ministry of Labor over the high absconding rate among foreign farm laborers. According to farm owners, they suffered huge financial losses from crops going to waste in the absence of their laborers. Government rules allow farm laborers to travel around the kingdom without having to secure the approval of their sponsors. Hence many laborers tend to move around in search of other farms where they could get better pay. Farm owners are now pushing for a law to ban this practice.
Saudi nationals have condemned local placement agencies for putting the lives of their families in danger by recruiting untrained foreign drivers to work in the Kingdom. However, local agencies pass on the blame to foreign recruitment agencies, which, they say, failed to provide them with experienced and well-trained drivers that they requested. These foreign recruiters are the ones providing the drivers they recruit from the villages with fake licenses.
12 undocumented Yemeni migrants nabbed
Twelve Yemeni nationals were arrested by road safety police after a failed attempt to smuggle them into Jeddah. They were found inside a car driven by a Saudi man who led the police to a car chase when he failed to stop at the Al-Gauz checkpoint on 18 July.
Saudi Arabia has donated $1.2 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for the benefit of Palestinian refugees in the Near East. UNRWA provides education, healthcare, social services and emergency aid to more than 4.3 million Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Sources: Habib Shaikh, “$1.2m Saudi aid for Palestine refugees in the Near East," Khaleej Times, 16 July 2006; “Unscrupulous agents recruit untrained drivers, put families in jeopardy," Arab News, 18 July 2006; Driver, illegals busted after chase," Arab News, 20 July 2006; “Many farm workers in Saudi absconding," Khaleej Times, 29 July 2006; Mohammed Rasooldeen, “Pakistanis seeking Kingdom visas need latest MRPs," Arab News, 30 July 2006