Riyadh Expats

Tourist Visa Of Saudi Arabia

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2019-Jun-15

Now you can apply for a Saudi tourist visa and the authorities of Saudi Arabia claim that the visa will be issued within 3 minutes. Today we are going to share the procedure to apply for a tourist visa in Saudi Arabia.

When is Saudi Tourist Visa issued?

It is important to mention here that the tourist visa of Saudi Arabia is opened only for some festivals. You can apply for it only when a mega event organized by the General Entertainment Authority is going on in Saudi Arabia. Currently, the Saudi tourist visa is available for those who buy at least one ticket of Jeddah Season Festival.

How to apply for a Saudi tourist visa?

In the first step to applying for a Saudi Tourist visa, you need to buy a ticket for the ongoing festival in Saudi Arabia. Open the following website, register it with the details of the person who wants to come to Saudi Arabia.

Browse and select an event which would show that you qualify for the visa as shown in the screenshot below. Please be careful and select the option “Yes, I do require a visa”. https://www.sharek.sa/

Once you are done with booking the ticket, the system will take you to the page to apply for a tourist visa of Saudi Arabia. Fill in all the details, select port of entry and upload passport size photo in white background.

In the next step to apply for a tourist visa of Saudi Arabia, you need to review all the details you have entered in the previous step. If all the details are correct, click on the submit button.

If you are eligible to apply for the Saudi tourist visa, you will be taken to the next page as shown below. At this point, you need to mention the entry date. Make sure that the entry date entered here is before the date of the event for which you have purchased the ticket.

Saudi Tourist Visa fee

The fee to apply for a tourist visa of Saudi Arabia is SR 342. You will also have to pay the insurance fee of SR 225 as shown below. In the next step, you will be directed to the payment page. Currently, the website only offers the credit card method of payment. I had to pay a total fee of SR 620 which includes the ticket cost.

After the payment, you will receive an email from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the email address you provided while registering for your account. They say that the visa is issued in 3 minutes, however, in my case, it took them less than 30 seconds to issue a tourist visa of Saudi Arabia.

The validity of the Saudi Tourist Visa

The validity of Saudi Tourist visa applied online is 30 days. I am not sure if the government has been issuing a tourist visa for a time lesser or more than this. In other words, the validity of the tourist visa of Saudi Arabia is 30 days.

Can we visit other cities of Saudi Arabia on a tourist visa?

Some people have asked this question if they are allowed to visit any other city of Saudi Arabia on a tourist visa? Well, the answer is yes. You can visit any city of Saudi Arabia including Riyadh and Dammam on this visa. Nothing restricts you from traveling to any part of Saudi Arabia.

Can we perform Umrah on a tourist visa?

Another question which would be coming to your mind if it is allowed to perform Umrah on a tourist visa in Saudi Arabia? Once again, there is nothing which restricts you from traveling to Makkah and Madina if you are on a tourist visa.

If you are a Muslim, you can go to Makkah and Madina and perform Umrah too. However, it is important to mention here that Non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Makkah and Madina. Even those Non-Muslims who live in Saudi Arabia on Iqama are not allowed to travel to Makkah and Madina.

The cost of an Umrah visa is way less than the cost of a tourist visa. In Umrah visa, you just have to pay a minimal amount of visa fee and you get the free medical treatment by the government of Saudi Arabia. In a tourist visa in Saudi Arabia, you will have to pay for the emergency insurance which only covers emergency cases.

Special Thanks: I would like to thank Mr. Mohammed Uzman who shared the entire process with us. The shoura approved the tourist visa in December 2017.

Tourist Visa Of Saudi Arabia

Tourist Visa Of Saudi Arabia

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