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Saudi Arabia opens e-visa for tourists

Source: Samigration, 27/12/2018


An electronic replacement of the regular visa is expected to ensure a
much faster process and will be available to citizens of 34
countries, including the United States and the whole Schengen area.
People from the US, the Schengen zone and other seven countries will
soon be able to apply for an e-visa to Saudi Arabia
The new measure is an attempt by relevant Saudi authorities to boost
the country’s travel sectors, as the majority of tourists nowadays
consists of religious travellers.
However, the program is not new to the country. The introduction of
the e-visa follows a pilot project launched for the event of Formula
E, a race of electric-powered cars, that took place in Riyadh this
year.
Visitors coming for the race from 80 countries overall were allowed
to obtain an electronic visa for the price of $170. Its holders could
travel throughout the whole desert country except for the holy cities
of Mecca and Medina.
“This process was limited to the Formula E. Usually if you apply for
a visa it will take some time to get it and you will have to do it
through the embassy,” Prince Abdul Aziz, member of the Royal House of
Saudi, said regarding the e-visa.
“We did it [the e-visa] hand in hand with the ministry of foreign
affairs. We went from a very complicated process to a very simple
one.”
The new e-visa will be available to citizens of the 26 countries of
the Schengen zone, as well as to travellers from the US, Australia,
Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.
Saudi authorities haven’t yet revealed further details connected to
the e-visa requirements, such as the price, validity, or whether it
permits the visitor to enter the holy Arabian cities or not.


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