The Embassy of India in Riyadh released an advisory on 8 March urging the roughly 2.4 million-strong Indian community in Saudi Arabia to stay vigilant as regional tensions continue to roil commercial aviation and cross-border logistics. While confirming that Indian and Saudi carriers have ‘‘resumed normal scheduled operations’’ at both Jeddah and Madinah airports, the mission warned that the security outlook could shift quickly and asked expatriates to monitor official channels for updates. Consular services—including outsourced visa and passport centres—remain fully functional, but the embassy advised travellers to re-confirm flight availability before booking tickets home. A dedicated 24×7 helpline (landline, WhatsApp and toll-free numbers) has been activated in both Riyadh and Jeddah, complementing regular consular camps that rotate through labour-intensive cities such as Dammam, Jubail and Yanbu. For global-mobility managers the notice is significant. Many Indian conglomerates rotate project engineers and maintenance crews through Saudi Aramco sites under short-term business-visitor visas; sudden curfews or air-space closures could strand staff and trigger extra-territorial tax exposure. HR teams are therefore advised to log employee locations daily, verify emergency-contact data and keep passports valid for at least six months. The advisory also highlights the embassy’s social-media strategy: real-time alerts are now pushed on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, reflecting lessons learned during past evacuations from Yemen, Afghanistan and, most recently, Iran. Companies should encourage travellers to ‘follow’ these channels and to store hotline numbers in their phones.
Source: Embassy of India, Riyadh
