The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun to register and count people since the era of the founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdurrahman Al Saud, may God rest his soul. The beginning was in 1343H, when the task was assigned to the Directorate-General of Police in Makkah, which was assumed all security responsibilities, including civil affairs tasks.
Inception and administrative development
The first nationality law was issued on 22/3/1345H; and amended on 25/09/1349H.
Another law on the rules and provisions of the nationality of Saudi Arabia was issued by the royal order No. 7/1/47 on 13/10/1357H.
In 1358H, a system for civil affairs was issued by the royal decree No. 1872 on 15/07.1358H.
In 1374H, the cabinet approved the Saudi Arabian nationality law in its resolution No. (4), dated 25/01/1374H.
The Saudi Nationality System was issued by the royal decree No. 8/20/5604 to 22/2/1374H; and some of its articles have been modified to keep up with developments in the Kingdom.
In 1407H, the civil affairs law was issued by the royal decree No. M/7 on 20/4/1407H, canceling all old systems, including the systems of births and deaths, which have been integrated within the civil affairs law, and competence transferred from the ministry of health to the ministry of interior.
In 1408H, issuance of family books was stopped; and the civil affairs has begun to issue the Family Register.
Independence of Nationality, Passports from the public security
The cabinet resolution No. 571 on 05/11/1380H formed the Directorate General of Passports and Nationality; thus the work of the passports and nationality became separate from the public security.
Interior Ministry Agency for Passports and Civil Affairs
The general directorate of passports and nationality was renamed the "Agency of the Ministry of Interior for Passports and Civil Affairs" in 1395H, by the ministerial resolution No. 1039/T on 09/10/1395H.
Civil Affairs branches
The agency of civil affairs has thirteen branches distributed at the Kingdom’s regions. Each branch is formed of a number of departments and offices distributed in the cities of the Kingdom.
In this prosperous era of the custodian of the two holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the number branches and offices of civil affairs for both (men and women) reached one hundred and ten in addition to the other mobile offices.
Names of directors, undersecretaries before formation of the agency of civil affairs
Aziz Diaa, Assistant to Director-General of Public Security for Passports, Nationality, and General Investigation.
Omar Ahmad Shams, Assistant to Director-General of Public Security for Passports, Nationality, and General Investigation.
Abdullah Al-Muhanna, Director-General of Passports and Nationality.
Abdullah Yahya Al-Jafari, Director-General of Passports and Nationality.
Hashim Matouk, Undersecretary of the ministry of interior for Passports and Civil Affairs.
Ibrahim Abdurrahman al-Sadhan, Assistant Undersecretary of the ministry of interior for Passports and Civil Affairs.
Civil Affairs, Passports as independent directorates
A Royal Decree No. 21 633, dated 15/09/1402H, was issued in 14032H approving the Supreme Commission for Administrative Reform’s decision that stipulated formation of two separate directorates: the general directorate of passports, and the general directorate of civil affairs, which are directly linked to the interior minister and deputy.
In 1415H, a royal order No. 7/333/M, dated 17/02/1415H, was issued approving the separation of the civil affairs gradually with an independent budget.
In 1427H, the second deputy premier and interior minister issued a letter No. 1/1/3002, dated 10/05/1427H, which linked the civil affairs directly to the assistant to Minister of Interior for security affairs.
Civil Affairs undersecretaries
HE Nasser bin Ibrahim al-Zaid, Undersecretary from 01/07/1403 to 07/01/1420H.
HE Sulaiman bin Mohammed al-Hindi, Undersecretary from 07/01/1420 to 26/08/1421H.
HE Nasser bin Hamad al-Hanaya, Undersecretary from 26/08/1421 to 15/04/1431H.
- HE Maj. Gen. Abdurrahman bin Abdulaziz Al-Fadda, Undersecretary from 18/04/1431 to 22/01/1435H.
HE Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Abdalwahab, who has been appointed Undersecretary on 22/01/1435H.
Civil Registry e-systems
The civil registry was created in1405H. The agency of civil affairs started work on the central electronic systems at the national information center (NIC) in order to register the citizens and issue documents automatically through the information base. The issuance of the Civil Affairs ID card and the registration of events like marriage, divorce, birth, death and modification of records have already begun.
Documents, records and electronic archiving
The electronic archiving system has been implemented in 1424H to archive all the records of the citizens. Approval has been issued to construct a central archive for Civil Affairs.