Jeddah, Jul 27 (Arab News): The Ministry of Interior’s Civil Affairs Bureau sent text messages to citizens underlining the importance of preserving national identity and family records, and called on citizens not to carry these papers outside Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
“You cannot take benefit of the national identity outside the Kingdom except in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries; be careful not to carry it with you in your travels outside these countries,” the text read.
The message comes at a time when a large number of citizens are preparing to leave for a summer vacation abroad, while the agency is stressing that citizens who want to travel outside Saudi Arabia should not take this ID with them because they will not benefit from it, advising them to take a copy instead in cases where it might be needed.
The spokesman for the Civil Affairs Bureau at the ministry, Mohammad Al-Jaser, said that the main goal of the campaign is to warn citizens of the importance of preserving the ID, especially during travel seasons such as the summer holidays, pilgrimage and others.
These and earlier campaigns have contributed to the reduction of cases where these documents are lost, where the role of the Civil Affairs Bureau is not limited to providing the national identity to the citizens, but also in educating them to realize the importance of these documents so as not to lose or damage them.
According to Article 76 of the civil affairs executive regulations, in case of losing or damaging the national ID or the family record, the citizen must notify one of the civil registration services within a maximum period of fifteen days from the date of loss or damage, as to not be exposed to systemic irregularities.
The article applies to those who are living abroad, where they have to contact one of the representative offices of the Kingdom abroad. After losing the ID for the first time, the citizen will receive a replacement at no charge; the second time, he will pay SR100; the third time the cost will be increased to SR300; and will increase to SR1,000 for the fourth time.