RIYADH – The government of Saudi Arabia has restricted the issuance of e transit visa to only 18 countries as part of a fresh measure, it emerged on Monday.
The electronic transit visa, referred to as the e-stopover visa would now be issued to the citizens belonging to specific 18 countries.
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority has a Group-A list which contains names of countries and from now on, the e transit visa will be issued only to passengers travelling from or to these countries.
The following is the list of countries eligible for the stopover visa:
Canada, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
As part of the fresh regulations, the e transit visa is now strictly limited to travelers whose flight itineraries either originate from or are bound for one of the above mentioned countries.
It is to be mentioned that a transit/stopover visa allows passengers passing through Saudi Arabia to enter the kingdom for a variety of reasons, including to perform Umrah through Nusuk platform, visit the Prophet’s Mosque, exploring UNESCO heritage sites and attend sports and entertainment events. The transit/stopover visa is valid for up to 96 hours upon arriving in the kingdom but the visitors are not allowed to perform Hajj on that visa.
