RIYADH – The General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) reiterated that the direct entry of expatriates to the Kingdom from countries facing travel ban is only for holders of residency permit (iqama) who have received two doses of vaccine against coronavirus in the Kingdom before their departure on exit and reentry visa. The Jawazat stated that it will strictly follow the decision announced by the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday in this regard, and that this is not applicable to those iqama holders who took two vaccines from their respective countries or one vaccine each from Saudi Arabia and their country. The Jawazat drew attention to the earlier statements of the Ministry of Interior in this regard. The ministry had stated earlier that direct entry will be granted only to Saudi citizens, as well as to foreign diplomats, health practitioners and their families from the countries facing travel ban. All other segments are required to spend 14-day quarantine in a third country before their entry into the Kingdom. Currently, the countries facing the travel ban are India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Lebanon. The Jawazat's new clarification came while responding to a flurry of inquiries made by expatriates, who are followers of Jawazat on its Twitter account, after Tuesday's decision to allow entry to fully vaccinated iqama holders. Most of the questions were about the status of those iqama holders who received one dose of the vaccine in the Kingdom, and the second one from their countries. One of them tweeted: "My status on Tawakkalna application is immune. I have completed coronavirus vaccine doses as I took the first dose in the Kingdom in March and in May, I recovered from coronavirus infection, and in July, I left the Kingdom on vacation. Can I come back directly or not? A Saudi citizen tweeted: "I have a driver from India who completed two doses in his country. Is the new decision applicable to him? Another citizen asked: "I have a worker, who took two doses in India. Is it possible for him to have direct entry to Saudi Arabia? An expatriate asked: "I took the single dose of Johnson & Johnson in Egypt and the status on Tawakkalna application has become immune with completion of vaccination after sending the report to the app. Can I enter the Kingdom? The wife of an expatriate asked: "I am the wife of a resident who has received two doses of vaccine in the Kingdom, is it permissible for me to enter the Kingdom along with my husband? The Jawazat responded to all these questions by citing the official statement issued by the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday in this regard.
