DUBAI: Starting this Haj season, passengers arriving at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah and Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport in Madina will be finger-printed, a senior Saudi official has said.
The Saudi government has recently started finger-printing seven million foreign residents, who make up 30% of the its total population of 21 million and started training personnel to master the new system at the country’s entry points.
World Bank estimates this number to reach 34 million in 2020.
“When a foreign national is finger-printed, all his or her relevant data is stored in the database. Information includes the person’s full name, employer, religion and country of origin as well as the validity of his or her residence permit or visa,” Brigadier General Zaid al-Turaifi, the director of Saudi’s Passport Institute in Riyadh, told the Saudi Gazette.
“A digital photo of the person is saved in the database too,” he said.
In 2003, the Saudi government began a package of new measures including finger-printing to eliminate the problem of overstaying. Now foreign residents and visitors will be finger-printed to help put an end to those who enter the country with fake passports or forged papers.
