Saudi Arabia Launches Free 96 Hours Stop-Over Transit Visa.

 


The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced a new transit visa for passengers booked on Saudi Arabian airlines - Saudia Airlines or Flynas- with a stopover in the country.

The visa has a validity of three months and will be issued free of cost. This means that you can apply for the visa up to 90 days before you travel.

It will allow you to stay in Saudi Arabia for 96 hours (four days) to perform Umrah or for tourism purpose. In an official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the service was now effective and passengers can apply for the transit visa through the electronic platforms of Saudia Airlines or flynas.

The applications would then “be automatically passed to the unified national visa platform at MOFA to process and issue the digital visa immediately and send it to the beneficiary via e-mail.”

“In partnership with our national air carriers, Saudia and Flynas, we are using digital platforms to provide an instant Stopover Visa, which only enhances Saudi’s accessibility and our world-class destination offering,” said Fahd Hamidaddin, chief executive and Saudi Tourism Authority board member.

The new move comes as part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 strategy to boost tourism and make it one of the main tributaries of the national economy and to enhance the Kingdom’s position as a global tourism destination.

Saudia the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia currently flies to 11 African countries with the planned launch of a new route to Dares salam in Tanzania beginning March 26th 2023. In Nigeria, the airline flies to Kano with a cargo service to Lagos. Plans are underway for the airline to begin flight operations to Abuja.

This new free transit visa policy introduced by the Saudi Government will tremendously make visiting the Kingdom much more easier for Muslims around the world to perform the Umrah and also open to anyone in respective of religion who are interested in exploring the country for tourism.


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