How to Apply for a Saudi Arabia Stopover Visa?
Saudi Arabia launched the Stopover Visa program in early 2023. It makes visiting the country much easier for transit passengers. The visa itself is issued free of charge — you only pay a small application fee and mandatory medical insurance. The four-day Stopover Visa is available now for air travelers booking with Saudia or flynas. According to the information given on the Saudi website, this visa allows you to book an international flight offering 96 hours’ stay in the country legally. During this time you can visit Prophet’s Mosque, perform Umrah (schedule your Umrah or Ziyarah appointment in advance via Nusuk.sa), and explore other historical and tourist destinations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made many efforts to make the entire process more accessible to travelers, and the Stopover Visa application takes about 3 minutes during flight booking, and the visa is emailed almost instantly once your booking is confirmed and payment is completed. In today’s post, we will try to cover all the important information.
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Countries Eligible for the Stopover Visa:
The bright side is that the facility of online Saudi Arabia Stopover Visa is available for all countries. Anyone booking a flight with Saudia or flynas can apply for the transit visa at the time of ticketing. The entire transit visa process is done online.
The visa is issued under the strategic framework policy of Saudi Vision 2030. The purpose of introducing this visa is to invite as many people as possible to Saudi Arabia. They are indeed growing very fast to reach a target to attract 150 million tourists to the Kingdom per year by 2030.
Eligibility Requirements:
Below mentioned are the minimum requirements for a Stopover Visa:
- Passport with 6-months validity.
- Personal 200x200px Photo in a digital file.
- Ticket booked by flynas or Saudia.
- Any nationality.
- The transit visa application fee is approx. Saudi Riyal 39.50 (about USD 10.50), plus mandatory medical insurance starting from Saudi Riyal 13 (about USD 3.45). The visa itself is issued free of charge.
Validity of Stopover Visa:
The transit visa allows passengers to stay in the Kingdom for up to four days or 96 hours. A transit e-Visa can be used for one-time entry. Travelers with layovers on their return flights can reapply for the transit visa once the first flight has departed.
Summary of Procedure For Obtaining a Stopover Visa:
In order to obtain a transit visa, you will have to visit the electronic platform of Saudi Arabia and FlyNas. After that, the application will be automatically transferred to the national visa platform. Next, the Foreign Office will immediately process and issue the digital visa. All the updates are shared with the applicant via email. The transit visa has an expiry date of three months. Travelers are allowed to stay for four days on this visa.
How to Get a Transit Visa Through Saudi Airlines:
Saudi Airlines and FlyNas are great options to get a transit visa. You can select any of these two options and book an international flight in less than 96 hours stepping over. Follow these steps:
- Visit the official website of Saudia: https://www.saudia.com/transit-visa
- Select your departure and arrival destinations for example Islamabad to ABHA, Saudi Arabia.
- Select the flight dates according to your schedule, 96 hours maximum.
- If the time between departure is arrival is less than 96 hours then the transit visa option will appear.
- Click on the visit Saudi button.
- Travelers with layovers on their return flights can reapply for the transit visa once the first flight has departed.
- Select the number of days you would like to extend your step-over flight from the available options.
- Continue filling in all the information and steps until you see the Transit e-Visa option.
- Pay for the ticket, the visa application fee of approx. Saudi Riyal 39.50, and the mandatory medical insurance (from Saudi Riyal 13) in the next step.
Once you have completed all these steps, you will receive an email with the issued visa and insurance details.
Thank you so much for this information.