Saudi Cultural Attaché in the US Mohammed Al-Issa has said that 60 visas for Saudi students on scholarships to the United States have been canceled over the past three months for the violation of US immigration laws.
He said that in some cases, the violations involved possessing handset devices that contained banned materials featuring violence or unethical content.
Al-Issa told a local newspaper: “The US immigration regulations’ offenses include the transition of the student from one university to another without informing the former university, or because of the low level of the student’s academic study, or even for committing traffic violations.”
He explained that some of the visas were canceled while the students were on vacation in the Kingdom, others were notified on their arrival at US airports, and a number of them were notified while in transit from European airports on their way to the US.
“There are 120,000 Saudi students on scholarship to the US, and the return of only 60 of them because of violations is very normal,” he added.
He pointed out the Saudi Cultural Mission sent e-mails to everyone a month ago notifying them of the procedures regarding the violation of the unwanted content on their portable devices, which were classified as inappropriate content in all categories.
The Saudi Cultural Mission warned students against possessing mobile devices (cellphones, computers) containing banned materials such as clips or pictures relating to conflicts, or of a religious nature, or indecent clips and items related to violence in all its forms. The Ministry of Interior also urged all travelers to the US to abide by the regulations and laws within the framework of its efforts to maintain the safety of its citizens traveling abroad.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Muraul, the director general of public relations and media at the Ministry of Interior, said the ministry received reports from the Foreign Ministry stating the arrest of a number of citizens at US airports and canceling of their visas.
“Further communications with the competent authorities revealed that some of the major reasons for canceling the visas involved possessing cell phones and electronic devices containing banned content,” said Al-Muraul.

Source: Arab News