Expats who have an illegal status in the Kingdom have three months to leave without facing any consequences.
26 March 2017
| Last updated on 21 July 2017
This move is part of the Nation Free of Violators campaign to regulate the status of undocumented expats.
Amnesty will apply to any expat who has no residency or work permit and those who have not renewed them. It will also apply to anyone who has entered the country on a visit or transit visa or for Haj/Umrah and didn’t leave before their visas expired.
Those who do leave will still be able to return to the Kingdom to work legally. There will be no fingerprinting process that would normally take place if one was deported and not allowed to return.
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Procedure
The process is fairly simple. You would first need to settle all your dues and make sure you have no outstanding debts. Then, you can simply start the departure process through the Ministry of Labour website or at any passport department.
Those have overstayed on visit or transit visas don't need to do anything and can simply go straight the airport and leave.
Hefty fines
Expats who choose not to leave or regulate their status before the 3-month amnesty period will have to deal with hefty fines starting from 15,000 riyals and reaching up to 100,000 riyals.
All illegal expats are urged to take advantage of this amnesty period as it is unknown if or when it’ll happen again. The last time this happened was in 2013.
