Illegal residents have become the target of a scam advertised on Jeddah streets promising them that their status in the Kingdom can be legitimately legalized. Printed paper notices in Arabic purporting to be from the Passports Department and bearing official monograms have been posted on street walls offering “regularization of status in the country through legal sponsorship from companies and individuals”. However, according to Major Badr Mohammad Al-Malik, a senior Passports Department official in Riyadh, these notices are fictitious and merely a scam. “There is no truth in what is being advertised, and no such orders have been issued by the Ministry of Interior to legalize illegal residents in the Kingdom,” he said. The posters offer the phony service for fees of “SR2,000 plus SR500 for a one-year legal residence permit”, adding that the service also registers individuals on government computer records and fingerprint registers. The notices also make the claim that the Passports Department conducted a similar scheme to legalize the status of visa overstayers 13 years ago. Al-Malik said: “There is no truth in what is being advertised, and no such orders have been issued by the Ministry of Interior to legalize illegal residents in the Kingdom.” He also advised any persons residing in the Kingdom illegally or on out-of-date visas to leave the country forthwith, warning them that they are “subject to fines, imprisonment and deportation”. A similar warning was issued last month by Brig. Gen. Salem Bakheet Al-Zahrani, Director of the Passports Department in Makkah region, who also denied any move to provide residential permits to overstayers. “These are only rumors; there is no substance to it,” he said, warning that overstayers should go back to their countries at the earliest, or else face penalties and jail sentences.” Al-Zahrani maintained that fingerprinting and eye-scanning systems were working well and have greatly reduced the problem of overstaying.
