Saudi Arabia: Visit visa not valid for iqama
Denial exposes fraudulent online claims
Cairo: Saudi authorities have denied online claims that the visit visa can be transferred into an Iqama or residency permit and warned of related fraudulence.
The Saudi General Directorate of Passports dismissed as baseless reports that such visas can be transferred into permeant residency.
“Instructions from specialised agencies in Saudi Arabia do not allow transferring the visit visa into an iqama,” Okaz newspaper quoted the directorate as saying.
“If new decrees or instructions are issued regarding the visit visas, they will be announced via official channels,” the directorate added.
Current Saudi rules do not allow a foreigner coming to the kingdom on a family visit visa to work, it said. “Any visitor violates this, will be deemed an offender.”
The clarification comes after claims on some social media that they can transfer the visit visa into an iqama in return for certain fees.
According to Saudi law, such fraudulent practices are punishable by up to seven years in prison and a maximum fine of SR5 million or one of both penalties.