I was chatting with a petroleum engineer who has lived for much of his career in Saudi Arabia (and sent three children to the Aramco school there, then on to boarding school in the U.S.). He mentioned that, as an expat, he was allowed to exit the kingdom, but Saudis were not free to leave for fear that they would return with coronaplague. His return to Saudi Arabia won’t be simple. He must spend two weeks in a country that the Saudis consider safe (i.e., not the U.S.!) and then transit only through airline hubs in countries that the Saudis consider safe. Once home in Saudi Arabia he must quarantine for two weeks with COVID-19 tests every five days.
See also “Saudi Arabia Eases Travel Ban for Vaccinated Citizens” (AP in USA Today):
Vaccinated Saudis are being allowed to leave the kingdom for the first time in more than a year as the country eases a ban on international travel aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus and its new variants.
For the past 14 months, Saudi citizens have mostly been banned from traveling abroad out of concerns that international travel could fuel the outbreak of the virus within the country of more than 30 million people. The ban, in place since March 2020, has impacted Saudi students who were studying abroad, among others.
With limited exception, foreigners from 20 countries, including the U.S., U.K, UAE and France, remain banned from directly entering the kingdom.
I mentioned that a friend had been similarly restricted from leaving the U.S. He lost his passport shortly before coronashutdown (a First World Problem… he has three houses and they’re all huge so the passport could be hiding anywhere within about 20,000 square feet). Getting a replacement passport requires an in-person interview, but the federal government shut down all in-person interviews except for family emergencies. As of this month, it looks as though the government has still not developed an alternative procedure (e.g., via videoconference) and appointments are “extremely limited” for “urgent travel” and “limited” for “LIfe-or-death emergencies” (like Ted Cruz going to Cancun?):
Related:
- “Passports Were a “Temporary” War Measure” (FEE): “In 1914, warring states of France, Germany, and Italy were the first to make passports mandatory, a measure rapidly followed by others, including the neutral states of Spain, Denmark, and Switzerland.”
Just at a glance, their policies may sound draconian but it’s tough to argue with their success. If all we care about is deaths from COVID, SA ranks 124th in the world in cases per million (12,564) and 111th in the world in deaths per million (206), so they make Hungary and the Czech Republic, most of the rest of Europe, the United States, etc., and even Sweden to a lesser extent, look like disease-ridden plague dens.
Massachusetts has more than 10x the deaths per million (258 per 100,000 or 2,580 per million) and I’ll take a wild guess and say that MA all by itself has spent a lot more money fighting COVID than Saudi Arabia has. So their: “You can’t leave to go and get it and bring it here and you can’t come in and bring it here either” policies have worked pretty well. I note that they allow children younger than 18 who have not been vaccinated to travel, at least under this relaxation of the rules.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
Probably helps that nobody really wants to visit SA.
Sad, but the real story is Taiwan being refused any vaccines because of its war with China. They’re still shut down & so is worldwide chip manufacturing.
In formerly free Australia, the story is the same. Actually worse, as even resident non-citizens are not allowed to leave without permission from Daddy government (which is declined in most cases). When I moved here 25 years ago I didn’t predict Australia becoming a penal colony again.
At least the state governments have down a competent job with lockdowns such that there are basically no restrictions.
Any flare-ups seem to be the result of leakage from the inadequate quarantine hotels which the commonwealth government refuses to take any responsibility for, because of political reasons.
When residents leave they typically want to come back, leading to this massive backlog of incoming residents ( again because of the lack of quarantine facilities ).
German health minister Spahn just said that 50% of new infections in 2020 were due to family visits in Turkey and in countries on the Balkans by immigrants:
In German (state television, counts as a reliable source for quotations):
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/spahn-reaktionen-103.html
In English (don’t know that source, but they say the same):
https://berlinspectator.com/2021/05/23/germany-to-prevent-import-of-corona-infections-in-summer/
Of course, a predictable outrage followed the statement.
I would trust COVID numbers from China, Russia, and even N. Korea over numbers from Saudi Arabia.
Don’t let the “friendly” projection of the SA government fool you.
You can get a passport. You might have to wait. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports.html
Processing Times: Save $60 by applying now for routine service and expect to receive a passport in 10-12 weeks.*
If you need your passport in less than 10-12 weeks due to international travel plans, you can pay an additional $60 fee to expedite your passport. If you plan to expedite your application, send your application using USPS’ Priority Mail Express. Expect to receive a passport in 4-6 weeks when applying for expedited service.
These processing times apply to applications submitted by mail and in-person at an acceptance facility in your community. Most acceptance facilities such as post offices, clerks of court, and libraries are open and accepting passport applications. Apply by mail when possible because it is a safe, contactless option for certain services.
Status Updates: It may take up to 4 weeks from the day you apply until your application status is “In Process.” During these 4 weeks, your application is delivered to a mail facility, your payment is processed, and your application is scanned and sent to us. If your passport status update says “Not Available,” your application and supporting documents are safely on their way to us.
Apply Early: Because of increases in COVID-19 cases and local health conditions, we have an extremely limited number of appointments for in-person service if you are traveling in the next 72 hours (3 business days). Visit our Passport Agency and Center page to learn more.
Maybe your friend tried at the very start of Covid, but didn’t check later? Or is so disorganized that he didn’t realize that there’s a difference between the urgent service and normal service.
In the past year, I renewed my own passport by mail, and arranged for a newly adult child to get a first adult passport. The latter transaction has to be done in person, at an acceptance facility. We did that, some months ago. So, yes, they are doing in-person transactions.
Renewing an existing passport did not require an in-person interview; I was able to do everything online, apart from mailing in the old passport & fill-in forms. Replacing a lost passport might. For our new adult, we used the same form one would use for a lost passport, DS-11: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/lost-stolen.html
From the State Department website: If… Then…
You are in the United States and are traveling in 4 weeks or less You may be eligible to make an appointment to apply in person at a passport agency or center to replace your passport. To go to a passport agency or center, you must be traveling internationally in the next 72 hours (or 3 business days). Appointments are extremely limited.
You are in the United States and are traveling in more than 4 weeks Make an appointment (if required) to apply at a passport acceptance facility to replace your passport.
You are outside the United States Contact your nearest U.S. embassy or consulate to replace your passport.
So, it will take some time for your friend to replace his passport. He can pay for expedited processing. He will, guaranteed, find the lost passport the instant he reports it missing, and/or when he submits the application at the passport acceptance facility.
The FEE article suggests passports never existed before WWI, yet the “modern passport” seems to have been invented either by Henry V or by Louis XIV, depending on who you ask:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130603215243/http://www.passport.gc.ca/pptc/hist.aspx?lang=eng
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport
If anything was “temporary”, it was the absence of passports for a few decades before WWI. Of course there were idealists who wanted to eliminate passports again, just as others reintroduced exit visas or city-specific visas.
Go read the first link in the FEE article and see if it makes any reference to eliminating passports. All I found was a recommendation to exempt holders of other identity documents that were already recognized internationally.