Transiting in Jeddah (JED)
 

Hello,

I will be flying through JED on Saudi with a 9 hour halt. I understand that I do not need a visa.

I found the following information on visado.com, which I am not familiar with:

Travellers whose connection time is over 6 hours and less than 18 hours may be allowed to leave the airport for hotel accommodation or shopping. If travellers are granted permission to leave the airport, immigration authorities will hold their passports and issue a transit permit which must be submitted to immigration three hours before departure. One coloured passport photograph is required.

I would love to leave the airport and see the city if this is possible, but I cannot find any information on it from any official source. The consulate website does not mention this possibility at all.

If anyone has any more information on this, please share.

Here is the page I'm looking at: http://visados.com/en/visa-for-Saudi-Arabia

I arrived in Jeddah in February of 2013 for a 17hr 45min layover I was armed with a printout of the cited page.

I was denied. After taking it up the ladder, they told me that said rule was no longer in force. It was a long visit to the lounge for me.

gopackjo, thanks for the response. Disappointing, but good to know.