Saudi Arabia Denies Halting Visas for Lebanese Laborers

The Saudi Embassy in Beirut denied on Monday a report saying that several Lebanese nationals were informed that the kingdom halted issuing visas for the Lebanese.

“The report is false... Visas are still being issued according to the adopted mechanism without any changes,” the embassy said in a statement.

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported earlier that several residents from the southern port city of Sidon headed to the Saudi embassy in Beirut to apply for visas to enter the kingdom, however, they couldn't.

An employee at the embassy informed them that issuing visas for the Lebanese is currently halted until further notice, the newspaper said.

In March, Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary general Abdul Latif al-Zayani handed over to President Michel Suleiman a letter expressing “great concern” over the government's failure to abide by the Baabda Declaration.

Media reports said that the letter stressed the obstacles threatening the Lebanese-Gulf relations and the interests of Lebanon in GCC states including the conditions of around 600,000 expatriates in the Gulf.

The Baabda Declaration was sponsored by Suleiman and calls for different parties to adhere to the disassociation policy to avoid the spread of the unrest in Syria to Lebanese territories.

An official statement carried by SPA state news agency on Sunday said that Saudi Arabia has given illegal foreign workers a three-month grace period to legalize their status, after panic over reported mass deportations.

King Abdullah ordered the interior and labor ministries to allow "workers violating the labor and residency system a maximum of three months to rectify their situation," said the statement.

The Saudi authorities this year imposed new labor constraints affecting millions of expatriates in the Gulf state, in a move that sparked fears of mass deportations among the immigrant workers.

The new regulations introduced by the labor ministry aim to reduce the number of foreign workers to create jobs for millions of unemployed Saudis.

Under the new rules, foreigners are allowed to work only for their legal sponsors in the kingdom while their spouses cannot take up jobs.

The labor ministry imposed new quotas in 2011 on companies regarding the hiring of local staff, which determines their ability to recruit foreigners.