U.S. Requests Permanent Saudi Visas for Workers

The United States has asked Saudi Arabia to begin issuing permanent exit and re-entry visas to American workers, a move that would speed up departures from the country in the event of increasing military hostilities.

But U.S. officials privately are playing down the current level of danger to Americans in Saudi Arabia and said it is unlikely that the State Department will recommend evacuation or strengthen travel restrictions even in regions closest to Saudi Arabia’s border with Kuwait.

“There’s not a present danger to Americans living in the Eastern province,” said one State Department official. “Right now we’re at about the weakest possible travel advisory that’s still a travel advisory.”

The policy on Americans living in Saudi Arabia reflects a growing mood of confidence here that there is little imminent danger of an Iraqi attack that would penetrate deep into Saudi Arabia. Despite the presence of more than 100,000 Iraqi troops on the Kuwait border, U.S. officials have placed stronger restrictions on travel and employment in Jordan and Yemen than in Saudi Arabia.

Their optimism, some sources said, reflects not only the presence of a massive American military deterrent force on Saudi soil but a belief that there is little chance that Iraq would succeed in delivering chemical weapons to population centers in Saudi Arabia.

Nonetheless, there has been restiveness among some of the estimated 12,000 American workers and families in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province, the heart of the Saudi oil industry, that it may be difficult for them to leave in the event that the danger level increases.

Under Saudi law, employers hold the passports of all their foreign workers, and applying for an exit visa on the passport normally takes anywhere from two weeks to a month. Some workers fear there could be delays in the event of a crisis should the Saudi government find it essential to retain foreign workers at vital oil installations.

No American workers who have wished to leave so far have been denied either passports or exit visas, and Saudi officials have declared that any foreign worker who wishes to leave the country can do so at any time.

But U.S. officials in Riyadh have quietly opened discussions with the Saudi government about obtaining permanent exit and possibly re-entry visas for American workers and their families that would allow them to leave the country quickly if necessary. Re-entry visas would also help assure employees not under a fixed employment contract that they would not lose their jobs if they left the country temporarily.

“The desire of the Americans to have their passport in their possession and an exit visa . . . conflicts with the desire of the Saudi employers to make sure they didn’t leave,” explained one U.S. official.

So far, thousands of Americans, most of them dependents, have left the Eastern province. About 5,500 of the 12,000 Americans normally living in the region remain.

But U.S. officials say that the Saudi government has cooperated in processing exit visas quickly for any American workers or dependents seeking to leave the country.

The government immigration office processed 900 exit visas in a single day shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait for dependents of employees at Saudi Aramco, the company that produces the vast majority of Saudi oil, and granted emergency exit visas for hundreds of Americans who congregated at the airport in Dhahran to catch a charter fight out at about the same time.

Saudi Aramco, the largest foreign employer in the region, has told its employees they must forfeit their jobs and many benefits if they wish to leave the country. U.S. officials say they are willing to help Aramco employees who want to resign to obtain an exit visa quickly, but they warn them that they will not be able to return to work later under present regulations.

“They were told the risk they were taking by having (the U.S. government) intervene is that they would get an exit-only visa, and it will be exit-only for a long, long time,” said one source.

A number of American workers have pressured the U.S. government to step up the level of its travel advisory in the Eastern province or even order an evacuation, a move that would allow workers on some contracts to leave the country at company expense and still retain their jobs.

The government in early August advised dependents to consider leaving the Eastern province and recommended no travel to the region. On Aug. 15 the advisory was softened to recommend the deferral of “non-essential” travel to the region.

“The U.S. government has determined from all information available that the threat to American citizens justifies this level of travel advisory,” said a State Department official.

Western sources said the United States is basing its recommendations on the belief that the U.S.-dominated multinational force will be able to deter or block any significant incursion into Saudi Arabia.

Officials also believe that a successful chemical weapons strike against population centers is unlikely. Iraqi Scud and Hussein missiles have sufficient range and are theoretically capable of delivering a chemical weapons warhead, but Iraq has never before discharged chemical weapons except by artillery, which is limited to a range of about 18 miles, one official said.

Moreover, the liquid-fueled Scud takes about 18 hours to refuel, a process that would give plenty of warning time before an attack could be launched, according to some sources.

“An aerial drop is possible, but in order to do that you have to fly low and slow, which turns you into a target in this area,” said one official.

Accordingly, U.S. officials have said they are willing to re-evaluate the travel advisory in the future but remain unconvinced that any additional restrictions are warranted now.

“If war were to break out, the question in all of this is, ‘Are Americans in danger” said one source. “It’s not, ‘Is there a war?’ but ‘Are Americans in danger?’ I figure on a realistic basis, I’m in greater danger of being hit by a bus.”