Saudi Arabia is a country that until just a few years ago could only be visited by Muslims or people who had business in the Saudi kingdom, Saudi Arabia has opened its borders and awaits tourists with open arms.
So, if you want to visit a wonderful country that is not very well known from a tourist point of view, you should know that you need a visa.
In this article I explain how to get a tourist visa for Saudi Arabia, what is the difference between an e-visa and a visa-on-arrival and how much it costs.
How to obtain a tourist visa for Saudi Arabia?
To obtain a tourist visa for Saudi Arabia, you have two options:
E-visa
It is obtained in a few minutes and is valid for 1 year.
- passport valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into Saudi Arabia
- "passport" photo 35 mm x 45 mm
- the visa also includes health insurance that covers the entire stay
- credit/debit card
Visa-on-arrival
It can be obtained in a few minutes and is valid for 1 year.
- passport valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into Saudi Arabia
- the visa also includes health insurance covering the entire stay
- visa-on-arrival is available for citizens of EU/Schengen countries
- credit/debit card
Visa-on-arrival – procedures
We arrived at Jeddah airport around 2:00 AM, after a 4-hour flight from Istanbul. We were the only non-Muslim tourists on the plane and therefore the only ones who didn’t have a visa.
Jeddah is a gateway to the holy land, which pilgrims use to reach Mecca, and since there is a high-speed train between Mecca and Jeddah, things are even simpler for pilgrims. When we left for Saudi Arabia, from Milan, we were checked to see if we were eligible for a visa-on-arrival.
We spent quite a while at the check-in desk because it’s not something you’re used to: going to Saudi Arabia and then leaving without a visa. Before boarding, this time to Jeddah, an employee checked all the visas, and when it was our turn, he had to make two or three phone calls to make sure that we were indeed eligible for a VOA. Apparently, VOA is a fairly new thing for Saudi Arabia.
After a bumpy landing, we arrived in Jeddah. Things moved pretty quickly there, and to my surprise, everything was well organized. There are signs everywhere, a special section for those applying for VOA, and friendly staff.
We went through the whole process pretty quickly: passport checked, photo taken, fingerprinted, and paid the visa fee (480SAR).
In the end, we didn’t have to go through passport control anymore, which seemed logical to me. Someone had already checked our passports, taken our fingerprints, and put the visa in our passports.
I noticed online that there are dozens of opinions and discussions regarding the tourist visa for Saudi Arabia. That's why I chose to write this article and I hope I managed to shed some light with it. I invite you to read some more travel tips for Saudi Arabia, which will help you get an idea of the budget, but also to plan your itinerary.
