By Innovation-sa on April 26, 2020 in News
The General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) announced the modalities of facilitating the return of expatriates, visitors and tourists in the Kingdom to their homelands through its newly launched “Awdah” (Return) Initiative.
The initiative is aimed to benefit all expatriates who have an exit and reentry visa or final exit visa, those who have arrived to the Kingdom under various types of visit visas and tourist visas.
The extraordinary initiative, launched in line with a directive issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, will be available only through the website of Ministry’s Absher portal and not through its App. Moreover, it is not mandatory for expats to have their own Absher account to avail the service.
The Ministry of Interior said that departure of expatriates would be through King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Steps to benefit from Awdah
- The applicant must have a fingerprint in the Jawazat system, a valid visa (exit and reentry visa or final exit visa), a valid passport not involved in any security cases, and the destination should be within the countries included in the initiative.
- The applicant shall select the Awdah icon from the main screen of Absher portal and fill in the following details: iqama (resident permit) number, date of birth, mobile number, departure city and airport of arrival, and then send the request.
- When the request is approved, applicant will receive a text message notifying the travel details such as date of travel and ticket number. Upon receiving the confirmation message, the beneficiaries shall purchase the ticket and go to the airport on the specified date.
- The text message will be considered as a permit for travel and beneficiaries are advised to take print out of all the data from the Absher portal before travelling.