By Mariam Al-Sughair and Fatima Al-Dubais
RIYADH/Dammam — The details of revised visa fees for expatriates, pilgrims and visitors will be announced next week, said Director General of Passports Department (Jawazat) Maj. Gen. Solaiman Al-Yaha.
The new visa fees and changes in the traffic rules were announced by the Council of Ministers on Monday.
According to the Cabinet decision, new visa fees and amendments to the Traffic Law will be effective from Oct. 2 (Muharram 1).
“The details of the revised fee structure will be made public after the finalization of the regulations,” Al-Yahya said.
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Maj. Gen. Abdullah Al-Zahrani[/caption]Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that entry visas issued by Saudi diplomatic missions abroad include those for work, visit, and Haj and Umrah.
The government will bear the first time Haj and Umrah visa fees. According to economists, this will cost the government about SR2 billion annually.
Deputy undersecretary for consular affairs Tamim Al-Dousary said the new visa hikes will not include entry visas organized through bilateral agreements between the Kingdom and other countries.
Abdullah Al-Khiraif, spokesman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), said GACA will now decide on the airport tariff which every departing passenger will have to pay.
Earlier, this was the prerogative of the Council of Ministers.
He did not specify the airport departure tariff, but the Cabinet’s decision said that departure fee through seaports will be SR50 for every passenger.
Traffic Department Director Maj. Gen. Abdullah Al-Zahrani said there will be no leniency in implementing the amended traffic rules especially those concerning drifting, crossing red traffic lights and all other traffic violations.
Drifters may face jail terms, fines which may go up to SR60,000 and the confiscation of vehicles.
Zahrani said that there are more than 100 authorized agencies all over the Kingdom comprising 417 members to adjudicate traffic violation cases.
“It is these agencies which will decide penalties against drifters and other traffic violators,” he explained.
A source at the traffic department said that during the past year and the first seven months of this year more than 15,000 drifting cases, involving citizens and expats, were registered.
The source said that during the past nine months, the traffic department registered a total of 7,423 traffic violations of which 7,160 were committed by Saudis and 263 by expatriates.
