A security source said the family visit visas have been completely stopped by the residency affairs departments or rather issued on a limited basis by the undersecretary and the director general of residency affairs sector or his assistant, saying the decision to suspend the issuance of these visas was taken because 20,000 expatriates who entered the country on visit visas have apparently not left the country.
A local Arabic daily quoting residence affairs sources said the issue of reopening the window for visit visas is in the hands of the First Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, saying no one knows when this will happen, but the sources stressed that the study includes controls to force the expatriates who bring his family members or relatives on visit visas to leave the country immediately before the visa expires. However, the sources pointed out that commercial visit visas are being issued and did not stop.
