Saudi Arabia launches e-maritime transit visa

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has announced that it had launched an e-maritime transit visa for those coming to the Kingdom via cruise ships.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) KSA.

The e-visa will be issued to those arriving via cruises, as the beneficiaries who are wishing to obtain the visa can submit their applications through MOFA’s electronic platform.

The visa application should be filled up after purchasing the cruise ticket and that is in cooperation with the Red Sea Development Company. The application data shall be furnished on the foreign ministry’s Visa Services Platform.

Visa procedures will be processed after completing the application formalities and accordingly, visa will be issued through the Saudi Embassy’s digital platform.

Earlier in the month of November, last year, Saudi Arabia announced to extend the validity of residency permit- iqama- and exit and re-entry visa without charging any fee until January 31, 2022.

Acceding to local state media, the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) had started automatically extending the validity of iqama and exit and re-entry visas without charging the expatriate or any other fees.