Originally Posted by
g289t
I believe tourist visas are issued only for specific events, such as a Formula race. Fans (or maybe "fans" is more accurate!) can do other things while in the country. I guess you'll need to keep watching for something like that coming up.
In January 2018 I got a 5 year multiple entry business visa for Saudi Arabia. I am American. I used a visa agency. While very expensive, it was rather simple once I figured out what I needed to do.
Could you please PM me whatever info you have and the cost? I'm a Saudi citizen who's a US permanent resident and one of my friends (a US citizen) has been wanting to get the Saudi business visa and so I'd like to know agency was able to deliver for you.
As for the OP's question, the Saudi government announced plans to implement an electronic tourist visa for certain nationalities that haven't been announced yet, though the US and Australia ought to be included. The authorities claim they'll start issuing these visas at some point in 2019 but there's no way to know, so set up a Google news alert for "Saudi visa" until they make an announcement. Your best bet is the
Sharek visa for events but there aren't that many events that qualify for that visa yet. I think there have only been two from December until now.