Who can apply for the visa?

Almost everyone in the world! 

First you need to know which group is your country part of. 

• Group A includes:

1. Holders of the following passports:

Switzerland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco, Andorra, Russia, Malta, Montanegro, San Marino, Ukraine, UK, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, Netherlands, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Brunei, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Kazakhstan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

2. All regular residents/expatriates of Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain can enter Saudi Arabia during Saudi’s festivals period through a number of border outlets, and the competent authorities have been instructed to give them a free visa in the name of “attending an event”.
3. Citizen of almost all countries around the world holding a TOURISM or BUSINESS VISA for USA, UK or the Schengen Zone will automatically be eligible of entering KSA as Group A.They will be able to obtain their Visa from the airport upon arrival to Saudi Arabia or online through the official Saudi tourism Visa website. A traveller must have entered the country that issued the Visa (USA, UK or Schengen zone) before coming to Saudi Arabia. It only includes those who have a tourism or Business visas from UK, USA or Schengen zone. Same rules for the citizens from the 49 countries, who are already eligible of obtaining their Saudi Visa online as Group A will apply to them. Airlines have been notified about this new regulation. This does not mean that Entry to the country became Visa-Free. Travellers still have to get a tourism visa, which became much easier now. Note: if you have a citizenship that enables you to enter USA, UK or the Schengen visa-free, It doesn’t mean that this rule applies for you automatically. They still need to go through the normal Visa process as Group B.

 

• Group B includes all other countries that were not mentioned in Group A

 

• Visa Requirements
• For Group A:

1. Group A can apply for the visa online throught visa.visitsaudi (https://visa.visitsaudi.com) or upon arrival using one of the self service visa machines at the airports or land ports.
2. Applicant must be 18 years old or above.
3. Passport must be valid for at least 6 months.
4. Visa will be valid for one year, it‘s a multiple entry visa that allows applicant to stay up to 90 days in the kingdom. If the number of days exceeds 90, the applicamt has to pay a charge of 100 Saudi Riyals for each extra day.
5. Visa fee is 440 Saudi Riyals (includes health insurance) and can be payed in Saudi Riyals, Credit cards (mastercard, Visa, UnionPay, Apple pay, American Express)
6. Tickets and hotel reservation are NOT required to apply for the visa.
7. Issuing the visa would only take 5 to 30 minutes.

• For Group B: 

8. Visa can be applied for at a Saudi embassy or consulate in a foreign country (Search for the nearest one to you here) or by visiting com offices, which allows citizens from Group B to submit their form electronically. (Update: As of 30 September 2019, most saudi embassies were not aware about the new visa regulation. We truly regret to inform you about that. However, applying for the visa through Vfstasheelwas very successful, visit their website for more details vfstasheel.com)
9. Applicant must be 18 years old or above.
10. Passport must be valid for atleast 6 months.
11. Applicant must provide: ticket, hotel reservation, a document, which proves that applicant has a job in their country, a bank statement. Identification document, home address and a traveling route in the kingdom.
12. Issuing the visa would take 1 to 2 working days.
13. Visa will be valid for one year. It’s a multiple entry Visa and allows applicant to stay up to 90 days. If number of days exceeds 90, applicant has to pay 100 Saudi Riyals charge for each extra day.
14. Visa fee is 440 Saudi Riyals (includes health insurance)

 

• General questions
• Can women travel alone? – Yes
• Does this visa allow me to visit Mecca and Medina? – For muslims only but not during Hajj season.
• Is it possible for non-muslims to apply for the visa? – Yes, visa is open for all.
• As a women, do I need to wear Abaya? – Women are not required to wear Abaya by law. Please check the “What to wear section” in this guide.

 

• Further inquiries?

For further details, visit the official tourism visa website https://visa.visitsaudi.com

Saudi Arabia is the home for over 34 million people, most of them are under 30 years old. Non-Saudi nationals make one third of the population. The majority of the population live in big cities such as Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar.

By the age of 6 to 7, boys and girls start a 12 years long school education system followed by vocational or university education.

There are over 43 universities around the Kingdom and the number of females is higher than the number of males enrolled in Saudi universities. The oldest university, known today as King Saudi University, was founded in 1957.

Many young Saudi males and females had the chance to get a scholarship abroad, so it’s quite common to meet young Saudis who lived abroad at some point of their lives.

Public education is free at all levels. In fact, those enrolled in post high school education get a monthly allowance from the government and Education is the second largest governmental spending in Saudi Arabia.

Language:

• Arabic is the main and only official Language.
• Many people speak English to some extent, especially the young generations.
• traffic signs are usually written in both Arabic and English.
• You might as well meet some young people who speak Korean to some extent, since K-pop is quite popular among young ladies.

Here are some basic Arabic words:

Arabic	Meaning in English	Remarks
Asalamu Alaikom	peace upon you	A common greeting that can be used at any time of the day
Sabah Elkheer	Good morning	The answer to “Sabah Elkheer” would be “Sabah En’nor”
Masa’ Elkheer	Good evening	The answer to “Masa’ Elkheer” would be “Masa’ En’nor”
Hala/Ahleen	Hello	Different variants of saying hello
Kaif Alhaal	how are you?
Alhamdulillah	Thank god	This is a very useful word that can be the answer for “Kaif Alhaal”, when finishing a meal or after sneezing
Ana	I or Me	-
Anta(m.)/Anti(f.)	you	-
Shukran	Thanks	-
Afwan	you are welcome	-
Ee/Eewah/Aiwah	Yes	Different dialects. For example in the western regions “Eewah” is more common while in the central region “Ee” is more common.
La	No	-
Khalas	Finish or Done or that’s it	-
Inshallah	By god’s will	Often used as a way to say ok.
Mashallah	It means “what god has willed” and can be used to express appreciation, joy, praise, or thankfulness of an event.
Ma Assalamah	Goodbye
Lao Samaht	Excuse me
Ya Mohammad	Slang way to say excuse me or call any male on the street who you don’t know.	Mohammad is a very common Name for males, which made it kind of a universal name for anyone you want to call but don’t know their name.
Bkam Haza?	How much is this?
Sawwi Khasem	Make a discount	Very useful if you want to bargain prices of goods at a local market.

Oil has been the main contributor to the GDP but since the announcement of the Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016, great steps have been made towards diversifying the economy. There is a 15% value added tax on all goods and services, however; education and health care are excluded from the value added taxes.

Saudi Arabia is a relatively conservative nation. Mosques pray five times a day, during which all commercial activities close. You would hear the prayer calls (Athan) five times a day almost everywhere you go. It would be very useful to know when prayer times are for your time management. (Useful Apps)

• Sunday is the first day of the week and the weekend is Friday and Saturday.
• Banks work from Sunday to Thursday from 8 AM until 4~5 PM.
• Commercial activities operate on a daily basis, usually from around 8-9 in the morning until 10-12 at night.
• Friday at noon is an exception, almost everything closes at that time for Friday prayer. So, it is not the best time to visit a Museums or go shopping.
• Commercial activities stop for around 15 to 30 minutes during prayer times.
• During the fasting month of Ramadan, working hours change to start at about 10 in the morning until about 3 in the afternoon. Shops also start at around 10 in the morning and have a longer break in the evening to reopen after the last prayer of the day “Salat Al Isha” at around 7~8 in the evening and stay up until 2~3 in the early morning hours.
• During Ramadan, restaurants are usually closed during day time. They start shortly before sunset, when fasten is broken, and stay up until 3 in the early morning.
• Supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations operate 24/7 all year round and only close during prayer times.

You can access pretty much all internet websites and social media platforms. Google, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Netflix are widely used. The only censored sites are some political and pornography sites.

• Navigate using Google Maps functions pretty well.
• Car is the main mean of transportation, but do not expect every driver around you to follow the traffic rules.
• Airports are available in 28 cities around the country, which include 13 International airports and 15 domestic airports. Most international flights arrive to King Khalid International Airport located in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport located in Jeddah and King Fahad International Airport located in Dammam. You can learn more about airports here ( https://gaca.gov.sa/web/en-gb/content/airports-links )
• Train : There are three passenger train lines between cities:

o The first starts from the capital city Riyadh and ends in Dammam in the eastern province, stopping in Abqaiq and Hufof on the way. For train schedule and bookings visit https://www.saudirailways.org/sites/sro/Pages/en-us/Services/Passenger/Schedule.aspx (link)

o The second line is a relatively new one that starts in Riyadh, stops in Majma’a, Qassim, Ha’il, Aljouf and ends in Algraiat in the top north. To check the timetable and booking visit https://www.sar.com.sa/Travel-information/Service-information/Timetable.aspx

o The Third one connects the holly sites in Makkah and Madina with Jeddah in the western part of the country. To view the timetable and make a booking visit https://sar.hhr.sa/sites/sro/Pages/home.aspx

• Busses : There are new city busses in Riyadh, it is part of a new public transportation project of the city. In the other cities, busses are not reliable.

For traveling by bus between cities, you can use the local Saudi Public Transport Company “SAPTCO”, they have high quality busses, reasonable pricing, good service and quite reliable timetable. For timetable and reservations visit https://www.saptco.com.sa/Buses/Home.aspx

• Metro : Riyadh Metro is currently the only available Metro in Saudi Arabia; operation is planned to start by end of 2020. (Link to Riyadh metro visitor center on Experbia)
• Highways : Cities are built for cars; it is hard to get from point to point without a car and you will see wide highways crossing through big cities like Riyadh and Jeddah.
• By foot : Sidewalks are not the best option in most cities but in 2020 we started to see decent improvement especially in Riyadh.