Saudi Arabia launches online service to automatically extend validity of visit visas

Saudi Arabia has launched a service to automatically extend the validity of visit visas for travelers without incurring additional costs, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.

Travelers from countries which were banned entry due to the Kingdom’s COVID-19 precautionary measures qualify to apply for the extension if their visas expired and were not used due to the suspension.

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The new service is being provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance.

The extensions will allow visas to be valid until July 31.

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Visitors from outside the Kingdom who are eligible will be able to access the service through the foreign affairs ministry’s e-visa services platform.

In February, the Kingdom banned the entry of people traveling from: Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, France, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Argentine, Indonesia, Italy, Portugal, Japan, Ireland, Sweden, Turkey and Switzerland.

The General Directorate of Passports began to automatically renew residency visas for expats who were stranded abroad at no additional cost, the country announced on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia detected 1,175 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the Kingdom’s active cases to 10,112 – of which 1,559 were critical – and the total diagnosed cases in the country since the pandemic’s onset to 463,703.

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