Separation of Saudi section from Passport Dept. recommended

A recent study recommended separating the Passport Section for Saudis from the current Passport Department and reassigning it to the Civil Affairs Agency of the Ministry of Interior and renaming it the Passport and Travel Department.
This would combine the authority that issues ID cards, family books and passports all other official documents related to Saudi citizenship.
The intention is to transfer the issuance of the all documents related to foreign residents from Civil Affairs to the Passport Department, particularly the issuance of birth certificates to foreigners.
The new procedure — if it would be implemented — is to benefit from the modern equipment and advanced technologies at the Civil Affairs. These include fingerprint reader devices that are temporarily installed at the existing passports offices.
The study also recommended changing the name of the Civil Affairs Agency to Civil Status & Passport Department.
The Ministry of Interior’s Undersecretary for Civil Affairs, Maj. Gen. Abdurrahman Al-Fadda said, “The issuance of passports from the Civil Affairs headquarters is just an idea. It didn’t go into effect yet.”
Civil Affairs will issue a number of developmental and regulatory aspects to deliver a better service to citizens. If the recommendations for the Passport Department would be implemented, they will be announced in due course, said Al-Fadda.