Samar Yahya

Saudi Gazette



JEDDAH — A number of Arab diplomats based in Jeddah expressed their gratitude to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, saying the four-month extension of the grace period came as a blessing for many foreign workers.



Algerian Consul General Saleh Atteyah, who is also the dean of the African Group of Consuls General, expressed his deep gratitude saying it reflected the Saudi leadership's concern for the welfare of expatriate communities in the Kingdom.



“We thank King Abdullah for the grace period that came for the benefit of expatriates of different nationalities, despite the fact that the Algerian community in the Kingdom is small," Atteyah said.



He said he welcomed the move even though legal complications faced the Algerian workers were minor. "Only a few of them came to the consulate seeking help during the correction period.”



Tunisian Consul General Fathi Neffati said, “All Tunisian workers have legal residency status as most of them work in technical fields, especially in medical sector. Around 40 to 50 people came for correction of residency status and their procedures were completed.”



He thanked King Abdullah for extending the grace period as many members of various expatriate communities have yet to correct their status, which put tremendous pressure on government departments. "It is a real humane resolution for the benefit of many expats,” Neffati said.



Aly Al-Ayashy, consul general of Yemen, said the extension was greatly appreciated by the Yemeni government. “I would like to thank King Abdullah, Crown Prince Salman and Interior minister Prince Mohammad Bin Naif for their efforts. A large number of Yemenis came to the consulate since the beginning of the grace period and I call for anyone in the Yemeni community that needs to correct residence status to benefit from the extension.”



Egyptian Consul General Adel El-Alfy the extension came as a blessing to many expats. “We thank King Abdullah for this generous gesture. Still there are approximately one and a half million expats who want to correct their status or return to their countries and this necessitated more time to complete the procedures.”



He said 90 percent of Egyptians who came to the consulate seeking repatriation have already left the Kingdom.



Lebanese Consul General Zial Atallah said, “Over 90 percent of Lebanese here are legal residents. We received a few Lebanese who wanted to correct their status.”



Sudanese Consul General Khaled Al-Tarras said the extension "will give everyone the opportunity to correct their status and this will have positive results. After the extension there will be no excuse for anyone who didn’t correct their status."



He said the Sudanese consulate received about 30,000 cases for status correction.