There’s been a major problem with visas for Saudis wishing to visit the US since 9/11, not surprisingly. Not only must all visa applications be run through a complicated security mill before being issued, but the closure of visa offices in Jeddah and Dhahran has meant that all applications must go through a single consular office in Riyadh. As a result, there have been enormous backlogs. For Saudi students, whose visas had only a two-year period of validity, this often meant returning to Saudi Arabia to renew the visa, then getting stuck while waiting, resulting in missing the next semester of classes, sometimes leading to dropping out entirely.

By extending the period of student visa validity to five years—to include the typical first year spent in English language courses—this new policy should ease the situation both for students and consular officers.

Ambassador Fraker’s remark about the equal-handed misery of security screening at airports is on the mark. The presence of a Saudi visa in my diplomatic passport meant that I got tagged for ‘enhanced security screening’ every time I entered or left the US using that passport. Discrimination against Saudi Arabia? Likely, but then there was that matter of 9/11….

Saudis to get 5-year Visa for Studies in US
Met’eb Al-Awwad

HAIL – US Ambassador Ford M. Fraker said the validity of US student visas for Saudis would be increased from two to five years and that procedures to obtain such visas would be restructured.

He made the announcement during a meeting Sunday with businessmen at the Hail Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Fraker denied that Arabs are generally mistreated at US airports, explaining that security measures are applied to all – including his wife who was once searched and interrogated at a US airport because her bag carried a Saudi sticker.
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