Saudi Arabia has approved a new high-tech e-visa facility for those seeking visit and transit visas to the Kingdom. While the technology’s development was confirmed earlier this month, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud officially approved it during a cabinet meeting.
Saudi Arabia with new e-visa facility
Following the facility’s approval, applicants will now be issued visas via a quick response (QR) code that will easily read all the data, replacing the previous procedure that included a visa sticker on passports.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched the initiative earlier this month as part of the digitization of the Kingdom’s consular services, which included visit visas, work permits, and residence, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The process will automate and improve the quality of consular service for visa applicants in the Kingdom.
In the first stage, the new procedure was implemented across Saudi missions in India, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
“Last year, the ministry announced a mechanism for obtaining a “personal visit” visa, which enables visitors to enter the Kingdom to visit friends or acquaintances who are Saudia citizens,” Arab News previously reported.
Visitors were also permitted to travel throughout the Kingdom, including the ability to perform Umrah and visit Makkah and Madinah, as well as other religious and historical sites, with this visa. The visa also allowed you to attend cultural events in the country.
The ministry used the visa platform website to allow people to apply for visas in simple and convenient electronic steps.
“Saudi citizens can invite friends to visit Saudi Arabia and perform Umrah by submitting a request for a personal visit on the visa platform and applying for a ‘visit’ request, by logging in through the unified national access platform, and filling out the data for the invitees,” Arab News mentioned in its report.
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