Latest on President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia here
Citizens of Saudi Arabia will soon be able to obtain 10-year US visit visas, under an agreement reached during President Joe Biden’s visit to the kingdom.
The US embassy in Riyadh announced on Saturday that the agreement will extend the validity of visitor visas for Saudi citizens from five years to a decade, starting from August 1.
Travel contributes significantly to both countries’ economies and strengthens ties between citizens, authorities said.
In 2019 alone, before the pandemic affected international travel, more than 150,000 Saudi citizens visited the US.
The extended visas come after the US also issued a visa interview waiver earlier this year, which means Saudi citizens aged over 50 are exempt from attending interviews in person to renew tourist visas to the US.
It also comes as the UK has removed visa requirements for a number of Gulf states and plans to remove all requirements for citizens of GCC states by 2023, meaning they can visit UK without first applying for a visa.
Mr Biden is on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia that began on Friday with a meeting with King Salman.
The two countries signed several agreements and discussed energy and food security, and economic co-operation.
That was followed by a highly watched face-to-face meeting with the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
While you're here
The National editorial: Turkey's soft power weighs heavy on Europe's Muslims
Con Coughlin: How extremists use Zoom and other tools to exploit pandemic
Nicky Harley: Peace TV preacher Zakir Naik prompts UK hate laws review
While you're here
Samanth Subramanian: Imposing Hindi could undermine India's linguistic diversity
Phil Mercer: Aboriginal musicians are struggling to be heard
Gavin Esler: What we lose when we allow languages to die
The%20specs
The specs: 2018 Honda City
Price, base: From Dh57,000
Engine: 1.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 118hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 146Nm @ 4,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
Whiile you're here
Damien McElroy: Anti-science attitudes in America are proving lethal
Editorial: What makes the UAE such a good place to test vaccines?
Editorial: The fight against Covid-19 should be guided by science
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
Huroob Ezterari
Director: Ahmed Moussa
Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed
Three stars
Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
Company%20Profile
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Pakistanis%20at%20the%20ILT20%20
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The%20Roundup
The%20specs
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
