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Saudi Passports Not a Means of Identification
Never doubted it for a minute:
Saudi passports cannot be used as a means of identification in the Kingdom, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said here yesterday.
The what the hell are they good for?
The prince said it had come to his attention that many Saudis were using their passports to identify themselves but said passports “are only a method to facilitate travel abroad or moving from one country to another.” The interior minister said some government offices were issuing national ID cards based on Saudi passports. Prince Nayef has instructed both public and private sector organizations not to accept Saudi passports as proof of identity.
Read that again. He just admitted that official Saudi passports can’t be trusted as proof of ID.
That might be because most of them are produced by Olde Worlde craftsmen in Pakistan...
The prince said the only acceptable identification was the civil status card for Saudis and the iqama for non-Saudis.
Really, and why is that?
He said Saudi passports are sometimes issued to non-Saudis.
BINGO!!!
“The reason why they were given Saudi passports was to ease their travel abroad.”
For flights to the US, for example.
But in the Kingdom, the proper means of identification “is the iqama or the temporary card issued by the Passports Department,” Prince Naif said.
Hello, State Department? Anyone listening?
Posted by: Steve 2003-12-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=23193