Immigration control at international airports is rarely fun. Some places make it worse. Flying into a Saudi airport on a jumbo jet inevitably means long queues. It can also mean surly officials examining passports and visas, though to be honest, my last several trips have been relatively easy. That’s not always the case, though, particularly for workers coming in from other countries.
Arab News reports that Immigration officers are going to be getting some needed training, in both manners and English as the global lingua franca. That should help, but I think hiring more officers would also help. Very often, particularly for late night arrivals, you see very long lines of non-Arab, non-diplomatic travelers who will be inching their way forward for well over an hour before getting to the desk. The officers assigned to GCC Immigration Control appear to believe it not their jobs to open up to non-GCC travelers once all the GCC passengers have passed through their lines. Or, perhaps, these are only the junior officers who can’t be trusted to deal with more complex issues presented by travelers who don’t speak Arabic?
Immigration officials to get lessons in etiquette
JEDDAH: Passport Department personnel, consisting of officers and privates working at Saudi Arabia’s airports and other inlets, will be sent abroad for intensive English language courses and etiquette training, according to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
“Some of our staff lack diplomacy in dealing with passengers and many of them cannot communicate in English,” Lt. Col. Talal Al-Malik, a spokesman for the Passport Department, told the newspaper.
He said groups of 60 officers and privates will be sent to Canada, Australia and other countries to study English for a year. He said the program started last year and would benefit hundreds of their staff.
“The program, under the directives of Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Prince Naif, is aimed at improving the English language of our staff and teaching them how to deal with passengers,” Al-Malik said.
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March:16:2010 - 13:04
I do hope they work this out. On my one trip to KSA we arrived in Dammam at like 9pm from Amsterdam. Our line alone took literally 3 hours and we were all westerners. (this was especially fun with a toddler who had been traveling for almost 24 hours at that point) There were I think 2 agents helping us – and they were having problems with some new fingerprint scanners or something.
However, there were probably over 100 women who looked to be from SE Asia there from another flight. They were in a separate line and the whole time we were there no one even bothered to help them. They just sat on the floor (as there were about 3 chairs in the entire waiting hall).
May:14:2010 - 05:14
This is just like one of those lame promises which Saudi officials usually make. My recent arrival at Dammam Airport was one pathetic experience. We had arrived after traveling around 15 hours, and it took us 3 1/2 hrs at the immigration. Thanks to the Saudi immigration officers who were in no mood for serious work. Out of the 7-8 counters, only 4 officers were available, and that too occasionally. They get up from their chairs after just 3-4 passengers and go around joking, laughing and giving hi-5s to their colleagues. they gather and drink tea or gaava every now and then not perturbed at the fact that 300 odd tired passengers are at their mercy, and dare we remind them to hurry up, they scream at us and send us at the end of the queue.
Just then a flight from London arrives with many elite Saudis, and suddenly they are up on their feet, a new queue was arranged for them and a new officer entered, he worked as if a gun was kept at his forehead. and Abracadabra, the long queue of Saudis was all but gone in 20 mins. Poof… We were just helpless. and at last just 5 people were ahead of me, i was so ecstatic, but the officer stood up, yawned and directed us to the end of a new line, we begged, pleaded requested but he went off unnerved. We found ourselves waiting behind 35 passengers, all of them first time visas so it takes 15 mins for each one to scan fingerprints and photographs. My stomach growling with hunger, i couldn’t help crying out loud. They treat us like animals.
I have no hope of these people learning manners. May Allah punish them.
May:14:2010 - 08:41
Krista and Rashed–WOW! Thanks for sharing your experiences. May I never complain about airport lines again–until I go to Saudi it seems!
May:14:2010 - 09:10
Yeah Chiara..that’s right..
but what is strange that these people are sending them to foreign countries, this is just like a paid vacation for them. they wont return with any any change of any kind whatsoever. Being an Islamic country, and the fact that Islam and Prophet Muhammad preach the best of courteousness and manners, these people should learn something from their own religion rather than finding excuses to improve.
Sometimes at the immigration when forced to shifting lines, you feel as if you a amongst a cattle herd being toyed around. don’t know but looks like they derive some sort of sadistic pleasure by bullying petrified passengers.
May:14:2010 - 09:35
Ah, the power of the functionary–then lower the level the more delusions of grandeur.
My pet peeve? The women in the Post Offices in France. They have passed a CONCOURS! (entrance exam), hence they are far too mighty to serve the peasants below, unless they are in the mood, or have finished talking to their friend, checked their nail polish, fussed with imaginary paper work, finished lying about phone access,whatever.
Ah, but when an innocent American teenager still with peach fuzz, all homesick, and distracted after a phone call home, absentmindedly walks toward the door forgetting to pay, well then they are at attention. Didn’t I just tell them in perfect French I would be paying? Aren’t I standing right beside the counter, didn’t I call him back? No matter because, John (yes real name, there are so many good Johns in the world), has forgotten to bring back the little precious cardboard ticket…
They also seem to have the same…uhh, discriminatory powers amongst Europeans, Arabs, Africans, and “real” French people.
May:14:2010 - 09:38
Rashed: That’s not my experience at all. Part of my job, for most of 25 years, was sending foreign students to the US. Whether they were from the UK or Saudi Arabia, they came back very different people than they were when they first got on the plane. Mostly, they came back with wider horizons, with a more expansive view of the world and tolerance for how people live differently, but still as good people. Some, of course, did not get that message. Sometimes it was because the differences were simply too great for them to mentally accommodate; sometimes it was because of unfortunate incidents that befell them.
Some students find themselves underwater from the very start. They’re not confident (or sometimes capable) in the foreign language skills so they can’t merge well. They get homesick. They get morally lost. Often, they seek familiarity by making themselves part of communities that resemble what they left at home, often at the mosque or Muslim student organizations. That can be good or bad, ultimately, but it’s not making the best use of the opportunities. But then, people don’t always do what’s best, even when they know what it is.
Foreign education is not a miracle cure for close-mindedness, but it really does put a strain on the ability to keep one’s mind closed.
May:14:2010 - 09:44
I have to agree with John Burgess, experiencing different culture might and will wider their horizon, and hope they learn some lesson in equality. its so obvious from their attitude, they have a feeling of self superiority over others.
May:14:2010 - 11:21
Hmmm I think we are talking about 2 populations here, or I misunderstood something. There is the population of students flying in and out of Saudi, and who will gain a lot by studying abroad, even the ones who struggle with it in situ (I see some of those in clinic, usually after the first 2 years of feeling like fish out of water they want to immigrate), and then there is the population of airport passport officers who have probably gone no where but do command the arriving passengers, and enjoy their authority.
I certainly agree with overseas studies, and of course the functionaries could use the proposed civility lessons.
October:29:2010 - 02:56
Saudi is good, except for a) Bad manners of Saudi passport control officers b) Worst English of Saudi Passport control officers c) Laziness and slow speed of Saudi passport control officers d) Utter ignorance of English language of Saudi Passport control officers e) Unruly driving of Saudi Drivers f)Racism and treating other country nationals as sh*t while saudis are treated good while visiting hospitals in Third countries. May allah give them wisdom to treat people with respect and if they still dont understand may allah curse them