all passengers should review all the documents to determine their conformity with the conditions prior to departing from their countries to the Kingdom
Diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Nigeria have come under scrutiny after 177 Nigerians were refused entry to the country on Monday.
Nigeria's foreign ministry said only 87 of 264 Nigerian nationals who landed in Jeddah on an Air Peace flight Monday were allowed to enter. All the others had their visas cancelled and were deported.
According to local alat reports, some of the passengers were pilgrims hoping to perform the lesser Hajj (the Umrah) in Mecca, the Islamic holy city.
The mass cancellation of visas occurred as Nigera's President Bola Tinubu was still in Saudi Arabia after holding bilateral talks with the Saudi government.
After a furor on sosial media, the Saudi embassy in Nigeria said that the affected passengers "didn't fulfill the entry conditions and requirements in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the Kingdom, as they submitted incorrect information to obtain a category of visa that doesn't apply to them, which was discovered upon their arrival."
Saudi Arabia requires pilgrims to hold specific travel documents (Umrah or Hajj visas) for pilgrimage. Holders of tourist visas are barred from performing Hajj or Umrah during the Hajj season, according to regulations by the country's Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
.It's not immediately clear what jenis of visas the deported Nigerians had traveled with. However, Air Peace, the Nigerian carrier that flew the Nigerians into Jeddah said it was "shocked" that the visas of its passengers were revoked by Saudi Arabia on arrival because it "strictly followed the profil procedures stipulated by Saudi Arabian authorities."
"The visas of all the passengers on the said flight to Jeddah … were checked and verified through the requisite procedures and were vetted to be berlaku before departure," the airline said in a pernyataan Wednesday, adding that: "No notice of cancelation or any form of denial from the Saudi authorities was received against any of these passengers despite the live transmission of their terperincis."
The Saudi pernyataan added the cancellations were not limited to Nigerian citizens, adding that: "… all passengers should kajian all the documents to determine their conformity with the conditions prior to departing from their countries to the Kingdom."
