Saudi Arabia Visas
 

It is reasonably well known that getting a visa to go through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has some difficulties so a quick run through of the issues may be in order. There are a number of different types of visa – family, business, transit, Pilgrimage for Hajj etc. However, there is, at present, no such thing as a tourist visa (except as part of an organised tour) and therein lies the issue for overlanders. There is talk of an e-visa but the details are sketchy at the moment but is part of a long term drive to reduce the dependence on oil for the economy. This post is looking at transit visas and their idiosyncrasies.

Firstly, transits visa are normally used by people on stopovers at the airport rather than people travelling across the country. As a result the entry and exit points are specified on the paperwork and appear to be stuck with most of the time. You may get away with the wrong exit / entry point but don’t count on it and more than one traveller has been turned around.

Secondly, transit visas are normally of a short duration – as little as 72 hours has been suggested to me - when you consider that they are mostly used for people on stopovers at the airport you will understand why that is considered normal. However, they can also be for round trips and may be for as long as 90 days however this may still impose a 72 hour transit time at each end - the 90 days is the time between the start and finish of the visa validity but the clock starts for the 72 hours when you cross the border - i don’t know if this 72 hours is negotiable or fixed. If the duration is as short as 72 hours then this could be problematic as the distance from the Red Sea ferry port of Duba to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is around 2,000km (1,250 miles) and if that has to be done in 72 hours then the sightseeing may need to be curtailed.

Thirdly, the application for the visa needs to be done in advance and have accompanied to it the visa for the countries before and after the KSA. This is done to ensure that no-one gets stuck in the KSA. As a result you will need to get the KSA visa after you have them for, say, UAE and Egypt.

Fourthly, documents – particularly those relating to the vehicle - should be translated into Arabic for the border crossing – it may be prudent to have a couple of spare copies available. A carnet is required as is international driving permit etc - the normal sort of thing really. There is a requirement to have health insurance – this needs to be bought at the border but doesn’t appear to be very expensive.

Fifthly, motorcyclists can’t use the causeway to go across to Bahrain so the bike has to be trailered across. Driving styles in KSA are described as interesting.

Finally, Israel. If you have an Israeli stamp in your passport then you are likely to be turned back. If you have been to Israel and crossed over the land borders to say Egypt or Jordan then the absence of the Israeli stamp will not help as the Egyptian / Jordanian crossing point will give the game away that you have been to Israel so entry may still be denied. US citizens may be able to get a second passport to avoid this situation. Also remove all luggage labels etc that indicate you have been to Israel - they have been enough to be denied entry in some Arab states.

To have a read of what a UAE resident went through in June 2017 to go to Bahrain have a look at the web page - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g294012-i871-k10623763-o30-Driving_from_UAE_to_Bahrain_via_Saudi_Arabia-United_Arab_Emirates.html - there is a huge amount of detail together with costs and time taken. Note 1 Arab Emirate Dinar = about 0.21GBP = about 0.27 USD. This webpage mentions a Tourism Certificate being needed for a transit visa but I am not sure whether this is obtainable outside the UAE or even what it is - if anyone can add to this bit it would be appreciated.

To add a couple of things; right-hand drive vehicles and motorcycles may not be brought into the country. I think a few people in the past on motorcycles managed to get assistance from well-connected motorcycle clubs in the Kingdom, but in general the rule is no motorcycles.

Women under I believe 40 or 45 must be accompanied by a male relative.

I have just been digging into that and right hand drive vehicles are indeed not allowed to be imported nor are motorcycles over five years old. Under 5 years and the bike should be OK. Whether this applies to a transit visa I do not know - more digging to be done.

Yip, RHD vehicles are put on the back of trucks and driven to your destination exit port on any type of visa. Immigration and customs/vehicle issues are not linked.
You get to pay a heavily inflated price for this (bigger the vehicle the more you pay) and the vehicle is security tagged to the truck so you can't just drive off the back of the truck after 10km etc

Thats how is was in 2012 anyway...

I was in contact with a shipping agent yesterday and they have said that they ship motorcycles to Saudi Arabia occassionally and as this is a temporary import that 5 year rule doesn’t apply. I am going to get it confirmed by another agent or two just to be on the safe side. I got the impression that if it had been a permanent import then that would have been treated differently. I forgot to ask about cars etc and RHD.

Be warned - a shipping agent makes his money from shipping your cargo. He doesn't suffer at all if you can't drive it at the other end, in fact he can charge you more to try and sort it out. Worth remembering that in a way he'll tell you anything to get his sale commission.

Unless you know for certain that you can customs clear and ride a motorbike in Saudi then I'd treat his advice along those lines. You may well end up in Saudi with your bike in the port and no way to get it out, or if your successful with that, no way to drive it in Saudi, you need the correct paperwork for all of the checkpoints, so you'll have to stick it on the back of a truck and pay to be drive to your exit point, aka a RHD drive car.

At the Saudi embassy in Khartoum they assured me many times I could drive a RHD in Saudi, but in the port in Jeddah it was very firmly a no go, I spend two nights sleeping on a park bench outside customs politely trying, and but for a slice of bad luck would have wriggled my way into doing it :-)

I know some motorcyclists had snuck through after a similar tactic a few weeks before, but that was on a technicality that was closed afterwards.

So unless you can find some recent blog posts of foreigners (I'd take that as non-Muslims btw) then I'd say it's not possible.... (if you do, please post them here...)

Cynical? Moi? It isn’t just you that has a healthy cynical streak and it is for that reason that I am getting second and third opinions from other sources and am trying to get some information from the Saudi authorities directly. Hopefully, if they line up, then the reality on the ground may emerge.

I realise that you are doing some good research here and sharing it, but as someone who found out a week ago that Saudi Arabia is one of the most difficult countries to tour through, you might want to listen to some of the experience on this board rather than chase 'official' information. It is not really structured, but a bit of a search on here will show you that members have many years of experience, often but not always unsuccessful, of trying to get through Saudi. The idea that the country is opening up has yet to be demonstrated.

Something that one learns when travelling outside of the 'Western' world is that official 'rules' often mean very little; it comes down to the reality on the ground, at the border. And that information comes from the experience of others.

EO

The other shipping agent has come back to me.

Firstly, even though it is a temporary import, the five year rule applies to cars and motorbikes.
Secondly the RHD bit is still there.
Third for those vehicles that are LHD and under five years old there is a 5% charge based on assessed value
Fourth, documents required are:

• Title Certificate / Car Registrations
• Saudi Arabian Standard Organization (SASO) Conformity Certificate from the country of origin
  
  SASO Conformity Certificate may be secured in locally. SASO office may require replacement or conversion to some parts of the car to meet the SASO Standard at owner’s expense. Application for the SASO Conformity Certificate may be rejected and may be required to re-export the car back to origin at owner’s expense.
  
  
• Police Clearance / de-registrations from the country of origin
• Other proofs of ownership i.e. Purchase Invoice

Stuffs my plan of going over there on my airhead. :(