Foreign residents in Saudi Arabia will now be able to conduct a marriage contract in court or have it approved if his wife enters the kingdom on a visit or transit visa.
According to Okaz, the ministry stated that both the husband and the father of the bride must be Saudi Arabian citizens.
According to the report, the marriage contract can also be authenticated through the ministry’s Najiz portal if the couple arrives in the kingdom on visit visas.
“This service is accessible via Najiz, but in order for it to be fully processed, all parties must be registered on the Absher platform,” the document continued.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia’s transition to digitalization has been accelerated by the restrictions imposed by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The Interior Ministry of the Saudi Arabian kingdom launched the Absher app in 2013, which provides Saudi citizens and foreign residents with access to a variety of government services. Since then, the scope of the services has significantly expanded to include job applications and the renewal of passports, residency cards, and driver’s licences.
In November of 2017, the Saudi Ministry of Justice added eleven new judicial e-services to Najiz, bringing the total number of services available through the portal to over 150.
The official Saudi news agency SPA reported that the new services included verifying an attorney’s law practise licence, checking the validity of powers of attorney during litigation, and viewing attachments on Najiz.
Saudi Arabia, a nation of approximately 34.8 million people, is home to a sizable population of migrant workers.