Saudi evisa & visa on arrival?
 

As Saudi Arabia is now issuing tourist visas, I am wondering about two things:

1. Is this a visa that is hard to get, or basically an automated process? Would I feel safe booking flights and hotels before I apply for the visa, or is there a fair chance that my application is rejected?

2. It seems that the evisa website has very strict requirements about the photo required, and will automatically reject any photo that doesn't meet the requirements. If this turns out to be too difficult, will there be a problem boarding a plane to Saudi Arabia without a visa, as it should be possible to get it on arrival, too?

(In the region, Kuwait has a similar system but the evisa website is terrible, however VoA works just fine.)

VoA is possible for many passport/nationalities, but I'm not sure if the airline carrying you to KSA will go along with the idea. In any case, the evisa is simple and fast: if your photo is rejected simply re-submit afer adjusting the image to fit the requirements,

Thanks! With my IT skills, I am not so sure I know how to do that but I'll try.

VoA should be just fine. There are kiosks at the airports to do them, get your pic taken and pay, though evisas aren't complicated. Also, there's a chance that you may need to present health insurance to cover possible covid-19 hospitalization (I haven't been able to confirm this with anyone recently).

The cost of evisas includes an element covering (full) health insurance. I'm not sure this facility is mirrored in the VoA. However, the evisa is simple to apply for (once you master the cropping and re-sizing of photos!), gets issued issued quickly and allows faff-free and multiple entries to the kingdom for a year.

I got the VoA in Jeddah in August flying in on Saudia and there were no issues whatsoever. Process was extremely quick and painless (like 6 minutes total - including time spent in line with one person ahead of me).

A useful data point!

My only niggly concern about the VoA is how airlines other than Saudia handle passengers checking in without a visa.

The switch from being a (largely) no-entry country to one with a fuzzy-bear welcoming image was sudden and just a little rocky :eek:

Can confirm about Kuwait's E-Visa system being terrible. But there are discussions about having the websites revamped again. The VoA, as you stated, is still business as usual here. However, if you have a strong Vitamin W (W -> wasta), you're always welcome.:D

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Managed to get an EVisa very quickly last week. Response in less than an hour. After having completed a Visa application for India, Saudi Arabia eVisa was easy. I used the same passport photo as the India one. 2x2 and white background. Took a selfie then used one of the many online passport photo converters set to India to get it to white and also resized it.

Visa on Arrival today - arrived on a GCC regional flight to RUH terminal 3, no line, had to go to specialized immigration desk where they processed a VOA, 395 SAR payable by card, multiple entry, 1 year, they wrote visa number in passport and stamped - all in all, finished before bags came out in about 10 minute or so (including walking)

I didn’t do eVisa because my Given Name was too long for the online form and didn’t want to take a risk cutting off my middle name and having to pay twice.

I did see kiosks but followed VoA direction signs to immigration desks themselves.