The US Consulate General in Dhahran has issued its first visa to a Saudi medical graduate student on Saturday. That was the first day visa services at the consulate officially opened. Shukri Al-Qudihy, a 30-year graduate of medicine at the King Saud University in Riyadh, was the first Saudi student to benefit from the service on Saturday. He is taking up his post-graduate and residency program in internal medicine at St. Peter University Hospital in New Jersey. “The availability of visas now at this consulate will greatly help us Saudi students in pursuing our careers in America,” he said. Qudihy was among a dozen Saudis and other nationals who filed their visa applications on Saturday. US Ambassador Ford M. Fraker, Consul General John Kincannon and Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Jalawi, the representative of Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd and Director of Studies and Research at the Eastern Province Governorate, jointly opened the consulate visa services. Ambassador Fraker said the opening of visa services at the US Consulate General in Dhahran is another step in further strengthening the friendly relations between Saudi Arabia and the US. He announced that US President George W. Bush would make a one-day visit to the Kingdom by mid-May to mark the occasion of 75 years of US-Saudi relations. Fraker said the opening of visa services in the Eastern Province will facilitate and encourage more business between the two countries, including growth of bilateral tourism. “The opening of the visa services will allow a larger number of Saudi students to study in the United States,” he said. “There may still be lapses in the procedures, but we will address these problems as we go on improving them,” he added. The US had issued more than 30,000 visas to Saudis and expatriates in the Kingdom in 2007, according to Fraker. To apply for a visa at the US Consulate in Dhahran, applicants first must complete an online application and then request an interview date on-line at the Dhahran Consulate General's website. __
