Saudi Arabia: Maximum family visit extension set at 180 days

Cairo: Saudi authorities have said that the total extension of a foreign family visit must not exceed 180 days.

“Instructions make it obligatory that the total of extension must not exceed 180 days,” the kingdom’s General Directorate of Passports said.

The government agency, however, noted that the Yemenis and Syrians are exempted from the extension limit, according to the Saudi online newspaper Ajel.

Yemen, a neighbour of Saudi Arabia, has been locked in a devastating conflict since late 2014 blamed on a coup staged by the Iran-aligned Al Houthi militia.

A civil war in Syria of nearly 10 years has, meanwhile, displaced millions of the Syrians. The numbers of the Yemenis and Syrians in Saudi Arabia are not officially clear.

Foreigners account for about 10.5 million of Saudi Arabia’s overall population of 34.8 million.