What to Do If You Lost Your Passport in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that require both entry and exit visas. That is, a visa is necessary when one enters the country and also when he or she exits the country. This visa can either be a sticker attached onto the passport or a piece of paper stapled onto the passport.

Both visas are important for one to get in and out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, if one loses his or her passport, it becomes next to impossible for him or her to be able to return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless, now-a-days, rules have changed and there are new procedures allowing one to reprint his or her visas in case the original one gets lost.

Procedure or Steps to follow when a passport gets lost
Even if entry and exit visas can be printed, it is still important for one to have a passport. For instance, the passport one holds, containing the entry and exit visas, got lost in his or her home country or in another country. There are several important steps he or she has to take, and they are the following:

1. The first thing that an individual will need to do is to file a complaint at the most adjacent police station. He or she must state where and how the passport got lost. Moreover, it is also important to receive a copy of the report from the police.
2. Attach the police report to the application form for the new passport. Standard procedures vary depending upon where the passport was lost. Moreover, it is also important for one to carry his or her Iqama anywhere he or she goes.
3. The documents that need to be prepared and submitted along with the passport application form include the following: (a.) Proof of one’s date of birth, (b.) proof of one’s residence, (c.) an affidavit of lost stating when and how the passport was lost, (d.) police report, (e.) if available, a photocopy of lost passport, and (f.) photographs.

When the applicant obtains his or her new passport, the last page of it would contain details of the old passport. Furthermore, there will be a note stating that the old passport has been cancelled, but the visas contained therein remains active. This means that the old passport was cancelled, but the visas attached to it continue to be valid.