Saudi Arabia’s new visa scheme to allow visa-free travel for GCC residents

News Network

June 16, 2022

Saudi Arabia is set to announce a new visa scheme allowing visa-free travel for GCC residents, according to reliable sources.

This facility will be applicable to GCC residents with a valid resident and work visa issued by the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qataris immigration authorities.

They are expected be allowed entry into Saudi Arabia for business, tourism, and umrah purposes, with the exception of Hajj.

Sources from the Kingdom’s Ministry of Tourism was quoted as saying by multiple news portals the draft law for the new scheme is ready and will be officially announced within days.

However, according to the report, there might be some exceptions for certain visa categories, such as maid’s visa or construction worker’s visa. Professionals, white-collar workers, and other residents with regular income will likely be allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia visa-free.

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb announced during a TV interview that Saudi Arabia will soon introduce a new visa scheme for GCC residents.

Al Khateeb stressed that the tourist visas launched by the Kingdom in 2019 still exist and there were no specific restrictions for those coming for tourism.

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Waqf land: Karnataka govt warns action against officials issuing eviction notice to farmers

News Network

November 10,2024

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.

In a letter, the Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria reminded all regional commissioners and deputy commissioners in the districts that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently had a meeting following complaints about certain land properties being made in favour of the Karnataka Board of Waqfs.

In the meeting it was decided that all the directions issued previously by any government office or authority to change the mutation records has been withdrawn, the letter said.

It added that all the notices served in the past have also been withdrawn and no action should be taken against the farmers who are cultivating on the said land.

On the directions of the chief minister, the previous letters and the latest reminders served on November 7 to the farmers and land owners have been withdraw, the letter said.

"The officials who served reminder-2 despite the chief minister's direction will face appropriate disciplinary action," Kataria said in his letter.

He said he has been instructed to strictly implement the chief minister's direction.

The fresh direction was issued in poll-bound Karnataka, where bypolls to three crucial assembly segments are due on November 13.

Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged last month that they were served eviction notices as the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.

Subsequently, complaints started in pouring in from some other parts of the state.

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on October 25 alleged that Karnataka Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan directed the deputy commissioners and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days, which resulted in confusion.

On Surya's request, the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal visited Karnataka on November 7 and met farmers in Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts who had alleged that their lands were marked as Waqf properties.

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