Saudi free stopover visa
Feb 6, 2023, 10:27 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 290
I'm curious as to this as well. Also, curious of 2 other points:
can you fly [int'l city X] - Riyadh [then drive or fly domestically to Jeddah or another domestic city] - fly to [Int'l city Y]? Or is it that your 4 days must be in the same region of your flight?
Separately, can you do a stopover in Riyadh one way, and another in Jeddah on the return?
can you fly [int'l city X] - Riyadh [then drive or fly domestically to Jeddah or another domestic city] - fly to [Int'l city Y]? Or is it that your 4 days must be in the same region of your flight?
Separately, can you do a stopover in Riyadh one way, and another in Jeddah on the return?
Feb 7, 2023, 12:13 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In between BRU, AMS, DUS and LUX...
Programs: AF/KL Plat, BA Gold, A3 Gold, IHG Diamond, MR Gold, HH Diamond, ALL Platinum
Posts: 1,044
I'm curious as to this as well. Also, curious of 2 other points:
can you fly [int'l city X] - Riyadh [then drive or fly domestically to Jeddah or another domestic city] - fly to [Int'l city Y]? Or is it that your 4 days must be in the same region of your flight?
Separately, can you do a stopover in Riyadh one way, and another in Jeddah on the return?
can you fly [int'l city X] - Riyadh [then drive or fly domestically to Jeddah or another domestic city] - fly to [Int'l city Y]? Or is it that your 4 days must be in the same region of your flight?
Separately, can you do a stopover in Riyadh one way, and another in Jeddah on the return?
Would love to see some reports of this free stopover visa and free hotel night, as I am considering booking a trip for october via a long transfer in JED.
Feb 9, 2023, 2:53 am
#4
Join Date: Dec 2021
Posts: 32
I'm also interested
My return form Singapore to Athens has been changed and there is now a 13 hour transit at Jeddah. There was no free stopover visa option when I originally booked some months back.
What are my options to discuss with Saudia when I call
- Free stopover visa and hotel
- Possible reroute from Asia ? I'd love to come back from Seoul if they allow ( just 4 hours transit )
Any tips or advice warmly welcomed
My return form Singapore to Athens has been changed and there is now a 13 hour transit at Jeddah. There was no free stopover visa option when I originally booked some months back.
What are my options to discuss with Saudia when I call
- Free stopover visa and hotel
- Possible reroute from Asia ? I'd love to come back from Seoul if they allow ( just 4 hours transit )
Any tips or advice warmly welcomed
Feb 23, 2023, 1:25 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 5
Sadly calling them only resulted in the answer that the free visa is availably during booking. I already have tickets for the whole family, and it seems I would need to buy evisa or VOA if I wanted to leave the airport (costly sadly).
I also asked if I could make a booking om the same date, include free visa, and then cancel the booking, and although I couldn't see the person I was talking to, I am sure she was frowning upon me. Afterwards I received a link to the visa section of saudia, which did not include anything free.
I also asked if I could make a booking om the same date, include free visa, and then cancel the booking, and although I couldn't see the person I was talking to, I am sure she was frowning upon me. Afterwards I received a link to the visa section of saudia, which did not include anything free.
Feb 23, 2023, 3:41 am
#6
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 160
Flying to Dubai while on Transit???
There is a good MNL-JED-USA return ticket with married segmet of 60 hours or 80 hours connection in JED on SV on the return. There is a free Saudi Transit Visa offered as well.
Can I buy a separate JED-Dubai-JED on SV and when I break my trip in JED, can I go on a quick trip to Dubai and return thru JED to catch my SV flight to MNL within 11 hour maximum (no transit visa required). I can avail the 1st night free hotel and entry. I am just afraid the Saudi Immigration will not let me leave on a Dubai flight when my transit visa is an arrival from US going to Manila in few days.
Anyone have experience on this or opinion on Saudi transit visa rules?
Can I buy a separate JED-Dubai-JED on SV and when I break my trip in JED, can I go on a quick trip to Dubai and return thru JED to catch my SV flight to MNL within 11 hour maximum (no transit visa required). I can avail the 1st night free hotel and entry. I am just afraid the Saudi Immigration will not let me leave on a Dubai flight when my transit visa is an arrival from US going to Manila in few days.
Anyone have experience on this or opinion on Saudi transit visa rules?
Mar 27, 2023, 4:31 pm
#7
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: DL, UA, AA
Posts: 82
HI
I'm also taking a 4 day stop over in JED in early Aug and already booked the tixs for family of 5 in J cabin, Could not apply for visa as it was asking for specific photo size, I thought I can come back and apply for visa with "Manage Booking", Looks like there's no direct way to do it after you've booked the tixs..
couple of queries :
1) Is there a way to get the free transit visa after the booking is done..
2) is the transit visa tied to ticket/Boarding pass..? in case I decide to do a fully refundable dummy booking just to get the visa.
3) Is the transit visa valid for 1 month and is there a start/end date specified on it..?
3) How Do I book the hotels provided as part of stop over..?
4) Are SV Al-fursan miles credited immediately after flying first leg of the round trip OR after the trip is completed..?
Appreciate your insights.
I'm also taking a 4 day stop over in JED in early Aug and already booked the tixs for family of 5 in J cabin, Could not apply for visa as it was asking for specific photo size, I thought I can come back and apply for visa with "Manage Booking", Looks like there's no direct way to do it after you've booked the tixs..
couple of queries :
1) Is there a way to get the free transit visa after the booking is done..
2) is the transit visa tied to ticket/Boarding pass..? in case I decide to do a fully refundable dummy booking just to get the visa.
3) Is the transit visa valid for 1 month and is there a start/end date specified on it..?
3) How Do I book the hotels provided as part of stop over..?
4) Are SV Al-fursan miles credited immediately after flying first leg of the round trip OR after the trip is completed..?
Appreciate your insights.
Mar 31, 2023, 7:56 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: FB, M&B, UA, AA
Posts: 2,489
ad 1) Earlier in this thread someone had the experience it was impossible to add a free visa after booking.
ad 2) Seems questionable. The free transit scheme is clearly linked to a stop in SA with a SA carrier. I would assume the visa is gone after cancelling the flight, or that the visa is linked to a specific PNR and flight number. If not, this would be a loophole that gives free visa away that they certainly will close. If you book fully refundable no further harm.
Re others: no clue....
And mnlfqtv : you apparently can plug in one stop in a return flight - I highly doubt you can leave the Kingdom during such a stop, again seems playing with fire. If you can't, at best you lose your DXB ticket if they do not let you board, but at worst you find yourself in DXB without any option to fly back to JED and catching your flight there (or even worse - JED airside without an option to go to departures or leave the airport). Note that in the majority of cases regular visa for countries are single entry and multiple entries have to be asked for specifically. But maybe you can simply call SV what the rules are....
ad 2) Seems questionable. The free transit scheme is clearly linked to a stop in SA with a SA carrier. I would assume the visa is gone after cancelling the flight, or that the visa is linked to a specific PNR and flight number. If not, this would be a loophole that gives free visa away that they certainly will close. If you book fully refundable no further harm.
Re others: no clue....
And mnlfqtv : you apparently can plug in one stop in a return flight - I highly doubt you can leave the Kingdom during such a stop, again seems playing with fire. If you can't, at best you lose your DXB ticket if they do not let you board, but at worst you find yourself in DXB without any option to fly back to JED and catching your flight there (or even worse - JED airside without an option to go to departures or leave the airport). Note that in the majority of cases regular visa for countries are single entry and multiple entries have to be asked for specifically. But maybe you can simply call SV what the rules are....
Apr 6, 2023, 1:37 am
#9
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: DL, UA, AA
Posts: 82
Thanks for the responses,
Its Bizarre that they wouldn't allow you to book the visa as part of "manage My booking" after initial booking as adding photos and other details were taking a lot of time for 5 pax and I went ahead to buy the tixs without the transit visa hoping i can add it later on.
talking to Customer care and writing to their back office team did not help either with standard reply being it has to be bought with the original booking.
Any one actualy tried using visa from a different/dummy PNR to fly on a stopover flight booked without the transit visa..?
Worst case I'll have to spend $120 per person to get visa on arrival defeating the free transit visa promo.
Its Bizarre that they wouldn't allow you to book the visa as part of "manage My booking" after initial booking as adding photos and other details were taking a lot of time for 5 pax and I went ahead to buy the tixs without the transit visa hoping i can add it later on.
talking to Customer care and writing to their back office team did not help either with standard reply being it has to be bought with the original booking.
Any one actualy tried using visa from a different/dummy PNR to fly on a stopover flight booked without the transit visa..?
Worst case I'll have to spend $120 per person to get visa on arrival defeating the free transit visa promo.
Apr 6, 2023, 2:42 am
#10
Join Date: Apr 2022
Location: YouTube: @FindingFoodFluency
Posts: 441
Had an SV IST-RUH-DXB itinerary last week, with <96 hours in Riyadh. My local contacts booked the ticket, so I may have forgotten to tell them in due time to avail of the visa-free scheme.
Asking at RUH, it seems the visa-free thing must be done during booking; getting the visa-on-arrival took quite a while.
Even though it's an expensive visa, it is multiple-entry valid for one year (can stay a total of 90 days within that one year period). Me thinks they want to discourage backpackers.
Asking at RUH, it seems the visa-free thing must be done during booking; getting the visa-on-arrival took quite a while.
Even though it's an expensive visa, it is multiple-entry valid for one year (can stay a total of 90 days within that one year period). Me thinks they want to discourage backpackers.
Apr 7, 2023, 3:25 pm
#11
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 169
Had an SV IST-RUH-DXB itinerary last week, with <96 hours in Riyadh. My local contacts booked the ticket, so I may have forgotten to tell them in due time to avail of the visa-free scheme.
Asking at RUH, it seems the visa-free thing must be done during booking; getting the visa-on-arrival took quite a while.
Even though it's an expensive visa, it is multiple-entry valid for one year (can stay a total of 90 days within that one year period). Me thinks they want to discourage backpackers.
Asking at RUH, it seems the visa-free thing must be done during booking; getting the visa-on-arrival took quite a while.
Even though it's an expensive visa, it is multiple-entry valid for one year (can stay a total of 90 days within that one year period). Me thinks they want to discourage backpackers.
However, one thing I realized is that the possibility of receiving a visa while booking appears if and only if the flight is to be taken 90 days from now. AFAIU this is due to the fact that the free stopover visa is made on the fly while booking the ticket and that has a maximum of 90 days of validity. I have been trying to play with the dates and as soon as the dates are > today + 90 days the banner disappears from the routes and it's not possible to get a visa while booking. Now, is it only me or is this happening to everyone? I couldn't talk to a phone agent but this is blocking me from booking as of today. I will try to double check tomorrow as well, but if this is the case it's a bit weird and it means that everyone booking a flight in 3+ months time from now will not receive the free visa...
So for example this is a screenshot for a flight MXP - MRU from 6th of July (OK for visa) to 15th of July (already outside the 90 days window). As you can see the return trip is not selectable for visa. This is really unfortunate as a decision, it looks like the IT is interpreting this "90 days rule" in a weird fashion....
Last edited by jumpallover; Apr 8, 2023 at 12:27 am
Apr 7, 2023, 8:57 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: EWR Ionosphere Club, LAX Clipper Club, Still Traveling Global, yearly BIS miles
Programs: EAL Silver Wings, I-Club, Flying Colonels DL, WorldPass PLat from the olde Meatball and PE SMARTbank
Posts: 1,988
what about those Wizz flights?
can i utilize a 48 hr visa for them?
can i utilize a 48 hr visa for them?
Apr 8, 2023, 5:46 am
#13
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: DL, UA, AA
Posts: 82
transit visa is for saudia & flynas only
jumpallover - Yes, transit visa is only applicable for travel originating within 90 days of booking. Moreover if the stop over is in return leg, then the visa is not covering the return leg if its outside the 90 day window..Someone in Saudia visa issuance needs to think through this issue before going live.
they should not collect money for transit visa when they can't give visa for the return leg.
jumpallover - Yes, transit visa is only applicable for travel originating within 90 days of booking. Moreover if the stop over is in return leg, then the visa is not covering the return leg if its outside the 90 day window..Someone in Saudia visa issuance needs to think through this issue before going live.
they should not collect money for transit visa when they can't give visa for the return leg.
Apr 8, 2023, 8:16 am
#14
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 169
transit visa is for saudia & flynas only
jumpallover - Yes, transit visa is only applicable for travel originating within 90 days of booking. Moreover if the stop over is in return leg, then the visa is not covering the return leg if its outside the 90 day window..Someone in Saudia visa issuance needs to think through this issue before going live.
they should not collect money for transit visa when they can't give visa for the return leg.
jumpallover - Yes, transit visa is only applicable for travel originating within 90 days of booking. Moreover if the stop over is in return leg, then the visa is not covering the return leg if its outside the 90 day window..Someone in Saudia visa issuance needs to think through this issue before going live.
they should not collect money for transit visa when they can't give visa for the return leg.
Apr 9, 2023, 12:09 pm
#15
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In between BRU, AMS, DUS and LUX...
Programs: AF/KL Plat, BA Gold, A3 Gold, IHG Diamond, MR Gold, HH Diamond, ALL Platinum
Posts: 1,044
Hello, If I book a trip with a long transit in JED (like 12 hours), but with a departure more than 90 days out, can I book the free visa with 1 hotel night later on, using the Manage My booking section less than 90 days from departure date ? I am interested in booking a trip with SV for a departure in November but i don't want to wait until August to book this trip to that I can apply for a transit visa...