Announcements

**smokinglazarus** · #1 8 Mar 2013

Hi,

Has anyone had any experience of riding through Saudi? On another thread a user was pessimistic of success. I need to cross Saudi to Qatar.

**achim-in-jordan** · #2 9 Mar 2013

Hi Smokinglazarus,

"riding" seems to indicate that you want to cross Saudi by motorbike. If that is the case I am also pessimistic from reading other threads.

By car it is definitely possible and there are two to three ferry operators crossing the Red Sea from Safaga to Dibba in Saudi. You will need a Qatari visa before applying for the Saudi transit.

While I am not an expert on crossing Saudi by motorcycle, I know that people have even managed to cross Saudi by bicycle - followed by a police car and policemen being fed up of crossing their country at 20 km/h

Therefore, it might be worth a try given the fact that hardly anybody applies at the Saudi embassy in Cairo. In Khartoum or Amman or Abu Dhabi it might be more difficult because of the number of travellers applying.

Greetings,
Achim

**Mehmet Zeki Avar** · #3 9 Mar 2013

My Turkish friends did in 2011 by KTM. Dubai-Qatar through SA..No visa for transit if transitting is less than 18 hours.If you take this way,following country visa is a must..

Sure there will be many riders to Dakar-2014 from Dubai and other Emirates.
You can easily participate the group for coastline ride to north with your SA.visa...Done several times for activities in Dakar.

If you make bandarabbas, sharjah by ferry, highly recommend visit Dubai Riders and Riders Cafe..They have good contacts with local bikers in all Gulf countries, SA.,and as far as I know,they meet eachother often to have desert activities...

They are all nice,appreciated friends and you can meet Saleeh Jamal in HUB. forums...He has a thread here and travels a lot in the area by his handsome GoldWing!!!!..Helped many biker friends last year..

Wish you all the best..

**pecha72** · #4 11 Mar 2013

Because the bad or worse situations in Syria, Iraq and Yemen are practically cutting off the land routes between eastern part of North Africa and the Persian Gulf right now, I think it would be important to know more about the possibilities with Saudi-Arabia (if they exist).

I know basically nothing of that, other than I´ve heard that it´s pretty damn hard to get a visa, if you´re just a regular tourist. Certainly not many travellers with their own vehicles have gone through Saudi-Arabia lately. Even those, that I´ve seen, had been working somewhere in the Gulf.

Anybody with more knowledge of their visa requirements? Could it be considered an option (..depending on your passport, of course)?

**achim-in-jordan** · #5 11 Mar 2013

Hi Pecha72,

It is very possible to get a three-day transit visa for Saudi Arabia, if you drive a car - a LHD car that is.

The Saudi embassy in Khartoum / Sudan issues transit visa to cross to Jordan or to any of the Gulf states - provided you have a visa of the following country before applying for the Saudi one.

Equally, the Saudi embassy in Abu Dhabi issues transit visa to go to either Jordan or Sudan. Since not many travelers have taken the ferry from Egypt to Saudi or vice versa, I can't confirm this transit route but it should be possible as well.

I have read from travellers who came from Iran to Kuwait and continued to the Emirates from there. So this is also possible.

The confusion stems from the fact that Saudi Arabia - under normal circumstances - only offers TRANSIT visas with a validity of three days. They do NOT offer TOURIST visa for regular tourists unless you have an invitation from somebody in Saudi Arabia, i.e. from the embassy or from some expat working in a company there.

It might be useful if we continue this specific question elsewhere, for instance on this one:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...nd-sudan-66587

Greetings,
Achim

**pecha72** · #6 12 Mar 2013

Ok, that´s interesting info (and partly new to me at least). Thanks for this!

**AliBaba** · #7 12 Mar 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by achim-in-jordan

Hi Pecha72,
It is very possible to get a three-day transit visa for Saudi Arabia, if you drive a car - a LHD car that is.

I think that's the main problem here - most people drive bikes.

Many years ago we drove from Qatar to Jordan with a three-days transit visa, we also drove from Qatar to/from UAE but this was with a car.

Later I've tried to get a visa for entering with a bike both in Norway and Sudan without luck, even if I had good pretty good contacts.
I'm not saying it is impossible (and things might have changed) but it's not easy. It would be nice if you post your findings here, I would love to go back to Qatar with a bike.

Another issue, unless you are traveling mid-winter, is the heat. Three days is not a lot of time and there are long hot stretches, it's hard not to get dehydrated.

**Tom-Traveller** · #8 28 Mar 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by achim-in-jordan

Hi Pecha72,

It is very possible to get a three-day transit visa for Saudi Arabia, if you drive a car - a LHD car that is.

The Saudi embassy in Khartoum / Sudan issues transit visa to cross to Jordan or to any of the Gulf states - provided you have a visa of the following country before applying for the Saudi one.

Equally, the Saudi embassy in Abu Dhabi issues transit visa to go to either Jordan or Sudan. Since not many travelers have taken the ferry from Egypt to Saudi or vice versa, I can't confirm this transit route but it should be possible as well.

I have read from travellers who came from Iran to Kuwait and continued to the Emirates from there. So this is also possible.

The confusion stems from the fact that Saudi Arabia - under normal circumstances - only offers TRANSIT visas with a validity of three days. They do NOT offer TOURIST visa for regular tourists unless you have an invitation from somebody in Saudi Arabia, i.e. from the embassy or from some expat working in a company there.

It might be useful if we continue this specific question elsewhere, for instance on this one:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...nd-sudan-66587

Greetings,
Achim

Hi Achim

things have changed ....

Liebe Traveller,

die Beantragung von Transit-Visa in Abu Dhabi funktionierte laut diversen Reise-Berichten seit Jahren einwandfrei wie folgt:

Deutsche Botschaft in Abu Dhabi stellte Empfehlungsschreiben bzw. Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung aus (letter of recommendation bzw. no objection letter)
Visaantrag wurde mit Empfehlungsschreiben bzw. Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung, Pass inkl. Anschlussvisum und Fahrzeugschein in der Saudi-Botschaft abgegeben
am Folgetag erhielt man das Approval
alle Papiere wurden dann gegen eine Gebühr von 130 AED einer Agentur übergeben
innerhalb einer Bearbeitungszeit von max. 2-3 Tagen erhielt man dann sein Transitvisum für 3 Tage

Dieser Prozess wurde kürzlich umgestellt:

Die Deutsche Botschaft in Abu Dhabi stellt keine Empfehlungsschreiben bzw. Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigungen mehr aus. Sie verweist auf eine Abmachung mit der Saudi-Botschaft, wonach darauf verzichtet wird.
Die Saudi-Botschaft in Abu Dhabi (für Dubai gilt das gleiche !) stellt Transit-Visa nur noch für Residents aus
Residents müssen bei Visabeantragung beruflichen Status der dortigen Arbeitsstelle durch Arbeitgeber nachweisen
Freigabe für die Transit-Visa erfolgt nicht mehr durch die Saudi-Botschaft in Abu Dhabi direkt, sondern seit neuestem durch das Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riad, Bearbeitungszeit mind. 7-10 Tage
Nach Freigabe geht der Vorgang dann wie gehabt zur Agentur zur weiteren Bearbeitung

Vier deutschen Travellern wurde heute nach mehr als 3 Wochen Verhandlungen mit viel Glück, diplomatischem Geschick und diplomatischer Hilfe ausnahmsweise noch ein Transit-Visum ausgestellt. Die Freigabe dafür musste das Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riad erteilen.

Fazit für zukünftige Reisende:
Als non-resident scheint es zukünftig nicht mehr möglich, hier ein Transit-Visum zu erhalten.

It says that the Saudi Arabian embassy in Dubai and Abu Dhabi doesn´t issue transit Visa to traveller anymore only residents

So ... there is no way to get to Jordan and take the ferry to Egypt or
crossing the Red Sea to Sudan directly ...

You can get a Transitvisa in your home country, but you need the Visa for the next country (like Jordan) and that will expire (2 month) until you reach border ...
so what :confused1:

It´s realy anoying ... because I don´t want to take the ferry from Turkey to Egypt .... and I wanted to travel Oman and UAE before Eastafrica

Thomas & Andrea

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