RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has announced to grant free visas to all nationals who have been evacuated from Sudan on a legal basis.
Lt. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya, director general of Passports (Jawazat), confirmed the development and said that this initiative comes under the directives of the wise leadership of Saudi Arabia.
“Accordingly, those who were evacuated from Sudan can enter the Kingdom as any member of the Saudi society and as any person who visits the Kingdom and they can have free movement. However, they must have scheduled departure plans,” he said.
Besides, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 5,013 people belonging to 100 countries from Sudan have been evacuated since the beginning of the military operation between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
The development comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to lend helping hand to those in trouble either belonging to the kingdom or are nationals of friendly countries.
Meanwhile, 45 Saudi citizens and 36 Pakistani nationals arrived at King Abdullah Air Base in the western sector in Jeddah from Sudan on Sunday morning. They were evacuated on board a transport plane of the Royal Saudi Air Force.
Pakistan’s Foreign office said on Monday that nearly all 1,000 Pakistanis would be evacuated from war-torn Sudan within the next 24 to 48 hours.
As per the statement, a total of 636 stranded Pakistanis had returned home as they landed in Karachi via Jeddah separately on five special PAF flights to date.
With the latest batch of evacuees, as many as 729 Pakistanis have been repatriated to the country so far. The FO has been working to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in the war zone ever since the conflict began earlier this month.