Saudi Arabia launches free four-day visa

The transit visa for stopover allows entry to Saudi Arabia for tourism and pilgrimage purposes.

Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a free stopover visa for visitors to stay in the Kingdom for up to four days, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The transit visa for stopovers comes into effect on Monday, January 30, 2023, immediately.

The new Saudi visa is free and entitles its holder to a four-day stay in the Kingdom and will be valid for three months.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the relevant authorities and cooperation with national airlines, launched the digital transit visa for stopover to facilitate the arrival in the Kingdom for all purposes, and the procedures for obtaining and automating an entry visa.

The transit visa for stopover allows those in transit who wish to enter the Kingdom to perform Umrah and visit the Prophet’s Mosque, in addition to roaming and attending tourism events.

When purchasing tickets to visit the Kingdom via Saudi Airlines, Flynas passengers will be automatically passed to the unified national visa platform at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When the request is processed, it will be automatically approved and emailed to the passenger.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced the visa in order to boost tourism, as part of the Vision 2030 strategy.

The new service comes within several steps taken by Saudi Arabia to support tourism and make it one of the main tributaries of the national economy and to enhance the Kingdom’s position as a global tourist.

The Kingdom aims to attract investments worth 220 billion Saudi Riyals in the tourism sector by 2023, and 500 billion Saudi Riyals by 2030, according to previous statements by the Minister of Tourism.

The annual revenues of the Saudi tourism sector exceed 211 billion Saudi Riyals, according to 2019 statistics.

During 2022, Saudi Arabia topped the G20 countries in the rate of international tourist arrivals, according to the World Tourism Organization.

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