Saudi Arabia Grants Six New Countries e-Visas

The government of Saudi Arabia has announced that they will be granting e-visa privileges to six new countries.

The six new countries are Turkey, Thailand, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles and Mauritius. Thanks to the changes, visitors from these six countries will be able to travel to Saudi Arabia using an e-visa, instead of a traditional visa sticker. The visa applies for leisure, business and religious (Umrah only) travel.

According to Arabian Business, a Saudi Arabia news portal, the changes are aimed at further stimulating the tourism industry of Saudi Arabia, which is part of the bigger goals outlined in the Saudi Vision 2030.

The major goal of Saudi Vision 2030 is to achieve economic diversification, which includes raising the tourism sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) from 3 percent to more than 10 percent, and providing one million jobs in the Saudi tourism industry.

Previously, Arabian Business reported that under the new e-visa system which was first introduced in 2019, incoming travellers from countries granted e-visa privileges will no longer be asked to display a visa sticker in their passport.

For Malaysians, there are two types of eVisas, Tourist eVisa or Umrah Visa. Both are in the form of electronic authorisation. The application process is online as well as the payment method. Applicants will be informed via email.

Instead, they will be provided with a printed e-visa featuring a QR code, which will contain all the required data and information on the traveller.