How to obtain a Police Clearance Certificate in Riyadh, KSA

Just want to share the expatriates in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, how to obtain a Clearance Certificate from Riyadh Police. As of September 1, 2013, the procedure may take as long as two weeks and costs around SR 180 as fees. Translation charges are not included. Better to go to these offices before 12 noon, as some of them remain closed afternoon. So plan accordingly.

Always keep the following with you in the whole process:
1. Original passport and a few copies of their relevant pages
2. Original Iqama and a few copies
3. Two or more copies of passport size photos
4. Pen

Those who don't know "why PCC", if you are planning to go to USA, Europe, Australia etc. within 5 years of your stay in KSA, you require a PCC from Saudi Police in most cases. And some of the expatriates may require it for many other reasons. Whatever is your concern, if you are applying for a PCC after your stay in the Kingdom, the procedure is a little tedious. So to save your time and your friend's or relative's energy and time (because one of them should be authorised to do all these tasks on your behalf in your absence), better get it before your departure from KSA, if you really require it.

 Just follow the steps:

1. In order to obtain the police certificate from Riyadh Police, applicants will need to obtain a Letter of Endorsement addressed to the Saudi authorities from their respective embassies or Consulates.

For Indian expatriates:

Embassy of India, Riyadh has entered into a contract with VFS GCC LLC for outsourcing its Passport, Visa and Consular services. So Indian expatriates have to proceed to the India Passport and Visa Application Centre at Omm Al Hamam, Riyadh. You can spot the location here. Coordinates:   24°40'46"N   46°39'13"E

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Ask for "Form 2: Application for Miscellaneous Services" and fill the details and paste a photo. Tick 9 e in the form and specify "Police Clearance Certificate for (eg. USA) from Saudi Police". Alternatively you can download the form from the links here: as PDF and DOC format.  You have to submit your original Passport and pay SR 117 as fees  along with your application. Usually you will be asked to come after a week (or sometimes more depending upon the place and date of issue of passport) to get your letter. Remember these are steps for Indians, other nationalities have their own procedures.

2. Usually the letters of endorsement from the embassies will be in English. You have to get it translated to Arabic from a certified translator. This is not a must, but for your safer side.

3. With the original Letter of Endorsement from your embassy and its translation go to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), KSA (WAZARAT-UL-KHARIJIYA in Arabic) to get it authenticated. The location Coordinates are 24°38'56"N   46°41'31"E . How to reach Ministry's different branches in different parts of Kingdom.


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Go to the section "STAMP" not "VISA". Pay SR 30 as fees and they will fix a stamp and authenticate the original Letter of Endorsement. Keep your Iqama and translated copy handy as they may be required for verification in the counter. The stamped part of the document:

4. With this authenticated letter of endorsement, go to the Police Station in Dirah (Deera'h or Dhira).  Don't be confused, as there are two police stations within a distance of 300 metres, ie, on either sides of the Eidgah (Open Air Mosque, a large ground behind this office). You can spot it easily, as usually long queues can be seen here infront of a sheet covered blue door, which is accessible from the road, where you can see boards like "DO NOT WHIPPING YOUR HAND ON THE WALL"


View Saudi Police Clearance Certificate Issuing Centre, Dirah in a larger map

Here you don't have to pay any fees and all procedures are done in a hall. You will be called at the counter, where you have to submit the MoFA authenticated original Letter of Endorsement, Iqama/Passport, copy of Passport page, a recent photo. After the details are entered in the system by the officer in the counter, verify yourself the passport number and date of birth in the printed PCC form, which you have to submit for fingerprint impression using ink. Relax, give both of your hands to the officer at the thumb impression counter, who will do the rest of the job. Don't forget to retain the slip detached from the printed form, in which the date of collection of the certificate will be printed in Hijri date.

 If you dont know the Gregorian date, use conversion sites like that of Islamic Affairs of Dubai. Usually, within a week, you can collect your Police Clearance Certificate producing your slip. The PCC will be in Arabic which will bear a seal "No Criminal Record" along with many other stamps. 

Remember, to get this seal stamped, you are doing all these.

                                The other side of PCC with your fingerprint impressions.

5. With this PCC you have to go again to MoFA, mentioned in step 3, for authentication by stamping it by paying a fees of SR 30.

6. Now for international requirements, you have to translate this letter from Arabic to English or other preferred language through a certified translator. With the translated copy, your Police Clearance Certificate, is ready for its further journey. 

NB: You can skip any of these steps, you  may get your PCC, depending on your luck or influence in these offices.

Raavan

It may be a coincidence that two Hindi movies based on the two great Indian epics were released in the same month, June 2010. Raajneeti rooted in Mahabharatha and Raavan based on Ramayana. See, even the first letters of their titles are the same.

After being in production for about two years, the two versions of modern day Ramayana was released as Raavan in Hindi and Raavanan in Tamil. The twins were delivered on the same day. The only difference between the two movies is their lead actors.

Those who know the plot of Ramayana, will find nothing new in this newer version. Yes, here the hero is Raavana, instead of Rama. It should have been titled Raavanayana.
The cinematography of the movie is the most noticeable aspect. The climax fight is shot with the perfection of Hollywood standards. The performance of the lead cast is commendable. But, I gave full marks to Vikram, who has done the antagonist and protagonist roles in the two films. A.R. Rahman's music is good.

It can be given a rating of 3/5.

Raajneeti

Raajneeti is a visual treat based on Indian family political business. Although, the characters of Raajneeti are from highly rich families, the protagonists seem to have only one principle: "An eye for an eye".

The film is inspired by two epics: Mahabharatha, which is of ancient Indian origin and Godfather, the modern western novel. Although the basic plot is Mahabharatha, the events are much derived from the Godfather. Some of the characters are from the Indian epic like the illegitimate son, Sooraj Kumar (Ajay Devgan) and others from the Godfather like an aggressive elder brother, Prithviraj Pratap (Arjun Rampal), a younger brother who unwillingly heading to the top of family business, here politics, Samar Pratap (Ranbir Kapoor). The car bomb scene where the characters, Prithviraj Pratap and Sarah (Sarah Thompson) are killed is the same in Coppola's Godfather where Michael's wife is killed by a car bomb.

The film is worth watching for its storyline and performance of actors. All of them have done their parts well. Many of the scenes involve mob, but still they were filmed very neatly.

The film can be given a rating of 3/5.

A Wednesday of a Common Man

A still of the Common Man, portrayed by Naseeruddin Shah from A Wednesday!

It's an non-conventional name for a Bollywood film. This low-budget movie was directed by Neeraj Pandey, a new comer. But the movie is far better than those of celebrated directors. Those who worked in front of the camera and behind it have done their parts well. Perhaps you could find flaws and faults in the movie, but overall, it's truly superb!

The movie recalls an off the records episode happened on a Wednesday in the professional life of Mumbai Police Commissioner Prakash Rathod enliven by Anupam Kher: an uncommon effort by a Common Man (he doesn't have a name) who responds to the terrorism in his country. He don't have big agendas. His philosophy is simple: How will you react to the cockroaches in your house? Will you feed them or kill them instantly? He applies the very same philosophy for those who terrorize his country also. A very natural response from a very common man, but executed with an unusual, well-devised plan.

Every man will have some thing same in their minds, but they cannot execute it. It may seems to be unlawful, but it's the logic.

I think, each and every terrorist should find some time from their busy schedules to watch this movie. They should ponder for atleast for a moment why they are all doing and what they are doing.

Dear terrorists,

Please think for a moment from the view point of a Common Man. Then you will understand what you are doing.

Bollywood from Hollywood

A lot of Bollywood movies are lifted, to say more euphemistically, inspired from the Hollywood movies. A list of such movies can be seen here. This may not be a exhaustive list, but gives you an idea, how much is original and how much is inspired.

Hey Librarians, thou are not professionals!!!

Hey Librarians (or at least Library and Information Science degree holders), you are not professionals!!!

Who said that?

Yeah, I am saying, because I've been told like that by a Librarian himself (that too, by one of the India's prestigious institution's, but I don't know whether he is equally respectable).

The Library is one of the biggest in the country, especially in the field of Science and Technology. The library collection exceeds 490916 documents, Staff include 28 lucky people (I mean they are permanent) and 12 donkeys who do the work of the former 28, means they are trainees. Library budget for the year 2006-07 was Rs. 973.5 lakhs (97.35 million INR). The library has 3680 users. (All the statistics from the official website of Library). Although the head of the Library is supposed to be the Librarian, here the Library is governed by the unquestionable, so called "Supervisor". The reason is obvious, Librarian will never be on his seat. Don't ask me where he's going. I don't know :-) (And one more reason which I feel is, even the Librarian is under the feet of the SUPER "VICER"). Originally only entitled to look after the clerical jobs of the Library, the Supervisor is the Landlord here.

Now the context,

The salary for the employees and stipend and scholarships for the students in the institution was increased by almost 30 percentage or more. As the hike was effected from the previous year, many of them got thousands of bucks as arrears. The trainees in the library thought the authorities, might have forgotten their matter. When they enquired in other departments, the trainees who have engineering degrees like B.E. or B.Tech., told them they also got the hike. So they decided to go to their boss, the Librarian.

They put forward their issue infront of him. The immediate response was a cascade of questions, "Who told you? Who told others payment has increased? etc. etc." Then the poor guys told him that their counterparts in other departments are getting the hike. "You know", the Librarian's reply, "Earlier the people who used to come here as trainees, were doing free service in this library. We never paid them and comparing with them, you are lucky atleast you are getting this much. (The Librarian with too much of experience, dont know that experience only wont give bread for the hungry stomach. Remember, institutions which have much lesser annual budget than this institution, in the same city, are offering decent five digit stipend. And you must realise the fact that this particular institution's annual budget exceeds over a whooping one billion INR (yes, nine zeros after a ONE)!!!). You are getting much experience. (When you see experience, read here as sleepless late night shifts and other tasks which the permanent staff refuse to do through ages. It may not be surprising that about 90 percent of the permanent staff in this library, (I dont know about others) dont know where is the "enter/return" key in a keyboard. So you can imagine the whole of the work of this automated library is done by this unlucky donkeys only.) And regarding the trainees in other departments, they are holding engineering degrees, they are PROFESSIONALS, so they are entitled to get it. Who are you to claim the same? " I think there is no need of explaining the rest.

So what does it mean? The answer is very clear. "Library and Information Science", it is not a professional degree at all. And you Librarians, you are not professionals.

Tailpiece:
"Library and Information Science, My goodness, such a course is there on the earth?", "You need to do a course to become a Librarian?", "I thought it was just "taking and giving" books", etc. etc. These are some of the questions which I encountered when I said I am pursuing a course in Library and Information Science.

Yes, this is the so called INFORMATION SOCIETY!!!

So, what's peer review?

Do you use peer-reviewed scientific information? What is peer review process? Press I don’t know what to believe e-button to read a leaflet (in pdf), which helps you to question the status of science reported on the internet and scholarly journals.



Thanks to Sense About Science