30 July 2023
Immigration
Impact Medium
Major Changes to the KSA Visas from Multiple Countries
Summary
The Saudi Arabia General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has announced that new rules for travellers to the KSA from many countries will take place soon.
The Detail
As part of the KSA Ministry of Foreign Affairs directions towards digitalisation of the consular services, the Kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has recently issued a circular confirming that the Saudi visa sticker for travellers to the Kingdom from selected countries will no longer be needed, and will be replaced by a printable e-visa with a QR code. This applies to the KSA labour, visit and residency visas, and the QR code will contain all the information of the visa holder.
The Kingdom’s plan for this procedure to take effect in the below targeted countries as follows;
In addition to the above, The kingdom has already stopped issuing visa stickers in (UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia,and Philippines) earlier this year.
How we can help
We are closely monitoring these changes in Saudi Arabia, and can advise you with respect to the impact of those changes as well as conduct any assessments your business might need to comply with the new requirements.
Contact us
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:
● Anir Chatterji, EMEA Immigration Partner | anir.chatterji@vialto.com
● Ali Ibrahim, Director, KSA and Bahrain Lead | ali.a.ibrahim@vialto.com
● Ahmed Amer, Manager | ahmed.amer@vialto.com
Further information on Vialto Partners can be found here: www.vialtopartners.com
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