Saudi Arabia - Visa Rules

Types of Saudi Visa

 

All visitors require a visa to enter Saudi Arabia, and visas are only granted to those with sponsorship in the country. Tourist visas are granted only to selected groups on a limited basis, and all visitors to Saudi Arabia are required to have a valid passport with at least six months validity, in addition to the appropriate visa and a return ticket, with all necessary documents.

Due to the strict requirements of Saudi Arabia, women entering the Kingdom alone must be met by a sponsor or male relative and have confirmed accommodation for the duration of their stay. Additionally, entry may be refused to any visitor judged as behaving indecently, according to Saudi Arabia law and tradition.

Travelling to Saudi Arabia? If so, you'll need a Saudi Arabia visa. Click here to make applying for a Saudi Arabia visa easyTravelling to Saudi Arabia?  If so,you'll need a Saudi Arabia visa. Click here to make applying for a Saudi Arabiavisa easy.

If you are going to be working in Saudi Arabia then you will need a Saudi Arabia Work visa or a Business Visa. There are 5 main types of Visa that you can apply for when looking to enter The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for either work or just to visit;

Business Visa, this is for business men working for companies outside Saudi Arabia so that they can come into the Kingdom to work with or for a Saudi company. The duration can be one, three or 6 months. It can also be used by companies to bring you into the kingdom to work on a short term contract or to try you out during your trial period, although this is not what the visa is for.

Work Visa, this is for those that have been offered a contract to be working in Saudi Arabia, you will require to have medicals and submit educational certificates, all of which have to be legalized. Use an agent to do this as you will have to complete a large amount of paperwork.

Holiday Visa - It is available, but unless you are Muslim with family in Saudi Arabia to sponsor your visit you are unlikely to get it! They do however want to develop the tourist industry so it will be interesting to see how this develops.

Dependent visa for Saudi Arabia (KSA), this is for the family of those that have an approved work visa. Please note however that only legalized marriage will be recognized, you can't bring your girlfriend even if you have been together for 20 years.

Umrah/Haj Visa, this is for those that wish to visit to make Umrah/Haj, religious pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca). This is only for Muslims and the visas are limited by number and through approved travel agents only.

 

Country-Specific Requirements

Applicants from all countries require a visa to enter Saudi Arabia, except for:    Nationals of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.    Transit passengers continuing their journey by the same or first connecting aircraft within 18 hours, provided they hold  valid onward or return documentation,  do not leave the airport and make no further landing in Saudi Arabia (except nationals of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria who always require a transit visa).

 

Processing Times

When applying for a Saudi Arabia visa, processing time and fees are very dependent on the visa class, as well as the nationality of the applicant and the time of year.  Both the time taken to process the visa application and the cost are subject to change, but by having an understanding of each Saudi Arabia visa class and seeking professional assistance when making an application, you can be assured the most time and cost efficient process possible

Locals to get 3-7% and expats 5% salary hike

Emiratis will get seven per cent while expatriates will receive five per cent salary hike based on their outstanding performance under the recently-announced increment for Dubai government employees, a senior official said.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, on Wednesday ordered the payment of annual performance-based increment for employees of the Government of Dubai for last year.

Amal Bin Adi, Director-General of the Human Resources Department of Dubai Government, told 'Emarat Al Youm' that increment will be given on basic salary.

She said those Emiratis whose performances just meets the expectations will get three per cent salary hike of their basic salary.

The Human Resources Department also emphasised that those employees who have completed six months in the job and those who are on duty and not resigned from the work will qualify for the increment.

“The increment will be given to employees of 42 departments and institutions of the Dubai government under the provisions of the human resources law of the Government of Dubai No. 27 of 2006, as amended and applied performance management system to the staff of the Government of Dubai,” she said.
Employees who completed six months in the job and those on duty and not resigned will qualify for the increment

Visa, ID to be linked in Ajman from June 1

Renewal or issuance of residence permits would be linked directly with ID card registration in Ajman from the June 1, the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) has announced.

The Gulf Today quoted a senior EIDA official making a statement to this effect.

In a statement, Abdul Aziz Al Maamari, director of Public Relations and Marketing, Eida, said this would mark the fifth stage of the operation in the Emirate.

The issuance of ID card would be subject to completing preventive medicine procedures, and the residence visas would be issued only if the applicant submits the ID registration documents are submitted along with other regular documents.

Al Maamari clarified that the registration receipt with the ID seal will be one of the main documents required by Ajman residents to obtain or renew residency permits.

For those residents whose permits will be issued or renewed in Ajman and who want to obtain an ID card, the official said that they should go to an authorised typing office in the Emirate, the customers will then need to go to the Preventive Medicine Centre in Ajman for medical examination before heading directly to the Eida’s Ajman Registration Centre.

Eida has already started linking ID card registration with residence issuance or renewal procedures through registration centres annexed or close to preventive medicine centers in UAQ, Fujairah, RAK, Dibba Al Hisn, Al Dhaid and the Western Region.

Six-month ban on job- remains in UAE, but with conditions

Employees need to work a minimum of two years in a company and can transfer to another facility of the same employer

Labour Ministry has clarified the amendments it made to labour laws early this week and said the six-month ban on job transfers remains, but with certain conditions, reported Arabic language daily Al Khaleej.

Humaid bin Dimas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, said: "While the amendments in labour laws aim to improve employer-employee relationship and make it easier for people to switch jobs, if the agreements between the two parties are not adhered to or employees breach any of the labour laws, such as not spending a minimum two years with an employer, then they can face a six-month ban."

"There will be no ban if employees transfer to another facility of the same employer or to those companies in which the employer has a share in or is a partner" he said.

Employees will not be banned on taking up another job if the facility is shutting down or they are not paid salaries for more than 60 days. But in such cases the employee must alert the Labour Ministry and submit a report from the Inspection Department within two months, Al Suwaidi added.

Alternatively, employees can also approach the Labour Ministry in cases of unfair dismissal from work without justification; termination before the contract period ends; denial of contract renewal without a valid reason; etc. However, employees should be clear of any breach of practice.

Al Suwaidi said, as per the new amendments, all categories of workers have the right to transfer jobs, but did not specify the number of times a worker can transfer employment.

"The system of transferring sponsorship, which has been valid for more than 30 years, is abolished," he said and called on employers to speeden up renewal of labour contracts.

Meanwhile, according to a source in the ministry, establishments that fall under Category 1 is exempted from providing a bank guarantee.

The Ministry of Labour has amended the labourers' Visa Transfer Law, which, I believe, are in favour of both - the labourers and the labour market. The ministry has ceased the previous condition that obligates the labourer to complete one year continuous service for his/her employer before being permitted to transfer his/her visa to another employer.

According to the new rule, the Ministry of Labour no longer requires such a condition. So, any labourer who has not completed a year's service for his/her employer may transfer to another employer after obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the employer to transfer the visa to another employer, provided that the newly imposed fees should be settled. Such fees are called "the one year non-completion fees" which is calculated at the rate of Dh500 per month. For instance, if the employee continues a period of two months service only then he/she would be obliged to pay a fee of Dh5,000 for 10 months.

Now any labourer, who completes a period of  years service and who could not obtain an NOC, can resign and can approach the Ministry of Labour and the ministry - as per his demand - will cancel the visa and apply a six-month ban. With the new rules and upon completion of three years' service, this ban can be lifted and the employee can transfer to another employer without the need to obtain such NOC from the previous employer, provided that the newly imposed fees should be settled in addition to the visa transfer fees. Such new fees are called 'ban lifting fees'. Worth saying is that this new law is not applicable in Abu Dhabi but might be in the future. Therefore, the reader as per the new law will not have any problem as long as the company has promised to grant him a n NOC to transfer his visa.

Only Oqood-registered investors will get project cancellation notice : Rera

Dubai: Ensure you are registered in the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's (Rera) Oqood system, otherwise you won't get an official email of your project's cancellation.

“If the project is cancelled all investors will know that by an official email sent to them, but they have to ensure that they are registered in Oqood system, Real Estate Regulatory Agency CEO Marwan bin Ghalita .

Oqood system allows the registration, tracking and collation of all real estate contracts in line with Dubai Land Department regulations. No registered property sale or transfer can take place unless it has been registered on the system.

Rera has scrapped 202 projects since the global financial downturn and more were expected this year. Officials have said that cancellation is not an easy process with the department having to assess the reasons for the delay and how the claims will be settled. Currently, the agency is carrying out a financial review of a number of real estate projects and trying to assess their viability.

Rera said in March that 220 projects were moving forward. Separately, this website reported that 114 projects had been registered under the Tayseer (guaranteed funding) initiative launched in 2009.

Late last year, Hadef and Partners found that majority of their respondents to their survey sought public announcement of cancelled projects which they felt will assist Dubai’s real estate market. The survey found said that developers, who cancel or place developments on hold without a definitive completion date, should be required to pay loss of profit related damages to buyers who are not in default.

On Sunday, this website reported that a developer cannot compel an investor to switch over to another project if the project, where he had originally invested, is put on hold.

“Investors can’t be forced to accept any offer by the developer and they both need to agree to do the transfer,” Ghalita said.

ID cards to be delivered through post offices

Dubai: National identity cards are not being delivered to residents' homes or offices despite payment of the courier charges.

The Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) said lack of courier services has forced it to distribute the cards through post offices in various emirates.

In focus: ID card

However, Empost on Wednesday announced that it has stopped accepting new cards from Eida since January 27 to clear the backlog of cards.

Officials said they were processing an average of 10,000 cards daily. "The two courier companies engaged by us have certain limitations in handling that many cards a day, Dr Ali Mohammad Al Khoury, Director-General of Eida, told Gulf News on Wednesday.

The lack of courier service companies which can deliver huge volumes of National ID cards in the country had forced Eida to distribute the cards through post offices, Al Khoury said.

"We are printing more than 10,000 cards a day and the two courier service companies engaged by us have certain limitation to handle that many cards a day," he said.

"That prompted us to engage Emirates Post to distribute cards through its post offices across the country," he said. Empost has been delivering the cards since 2007 and Aramex courier company started delivering them recently.

The official was responding to complaints raised by Gulf News readers who said that they were asked to collect their cards from the post offices despite paying courier charges when they applied for the card. They said they were surprised to receive a message from Emirates Post, saying, "Please pick up your National ID card from [a particular post office]."

Large volumes

Despite communication with the several other courier companies in the country, Emirates ID could not find one which could deliver huge volumes of ID cards, Al Khoury said. Two other companies which came forward had limited capacity, he said. Al Khoury explained that Emirates ID does not save money by distributing the cards through post offices.

The official said out of Dh70 extra charges paid by the applicant, Emirates ID receives about Dh10 towards courier charges which is paid to the Emirates Post.

He said the rest of the Dh60 goes into typing, envelopes and packaging. Courier companies charge more than Dh10 which is paid by Emirates ID, not by the applicant, the official said.

Asked about the request from the applicants to get the cards distributed through the nearest post offices, he said all such requests would be taken up with Emirates Post. Meanwhile, a meeting of Higher Management Committee of Emirates ID lauded the positive response of the citizens to the registration process.

Dr Al Khoury who chaired the meeting, called on Emiratis to register before the final grace period expires by June 30.

Temporary stop to clear backlog

Empost, the express courier company delivering the ID cards since 2007, has stopped accepting the new ID cards from the Emirates ID since January 27 to clear the backlog of cards, Sultan Al Medfa, CEO of Empost told Gulf News.

Due to huge volumes of cards printed by the Emirates ID, Empost had a large number of cards, awaiting delivery, he said. Al Medfa said Empost will take new cards from Emirates ID after clearing the backlog.

He said many people are not aware that Empost and Emirates Post are two different organisations.

Visa renewal : Emirates ID card to be linked

Abu Dhabi: The national ID card registration will be linked with residence visa issuance and renewal in Western Region in Abu Dhabi from Sunday, the Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID) announced on Tuesday.

The preventive medicine centres (PMC) conducting visa medical tests at Madinat Zayed, Sila and Delma will start linking the process with ID card registration from April 24. The PMC in Ghaythi will link the medical test with ID card registration on May 1.

In focus: All you need to know about the ID card

This will require all expatriates in the Western Region residents to apply for the ID card before applying for or renewing their visas, said a statement issued by Emirates ID. A resident's visa application form should have the Emirates ID's seal, as proof of registration.

Residents can visit authorised typing centre to fill out the application form and pay the fee, complete the visa medical test at a PMC and then visit the Emirates ID registration centre to complete the registration process.

This has already been implemented in Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah as part of Emirates ID's 2010-'13 strategy to enrol all expatriates in the country as part of process to procure a residence visa.

Apart from expanding the linking process emirate-wise, Emirates ID has started linking the visa medical tests and ID card registration at small preventive medical centres across the country, a senior official told Gulf News recently. This is to expedite the linking process, Dr. Ali Al Khoury, Director-General of Emirates ID, said.

Dh12,000 annual fine for labour card violations

Employers violating labour card rules will now be fined Dh12,000 per year. Earlier, companies were fined Dh5,000 for each year of delay in renewing labour cards, according to a top official of the Labour Ministry.

Humaid bin Dimas, Assisstant Undersecretary, Ministry of Labour, while addressing the weekly meeting said there were about 60,000 expired labour cards of the total four million cards as per 2010 statistics. This means about 5.1 per cent employees do not have a valid labour card, 'Al Khaleej' newspaper quoted Bin Dimas as saying.

Labour Ministry will not accept requests of fine exemptions for non-renewal of labour cards, he stressed. After the installtion of the new electronic system in order to reduce the time taken to issue a card to a mere 10minutes, the ministry had given companies 60 days to clear the backlog, the official explained.

The imposition of fines is to improve employer-employee relationship, he added.

Bin Dimas said: "While earlier the fines imposed on violations was about Dh5,000 for each year of delay, the same has been increased to Dh1,000 for each month of delay, which means Dh12,000 per year."

It would be difficult to handle absconders if they do not have a valid labour card. Bin Dimas urged companies to adopt the WPS system and renew labour cards on time.

There are about 120,000 small companies from a total of 160,000 firms registered with the ministry system.

UAE Visa Rules and Procedures: Workers with valid labour card and residency visa...

UAE Visa Rules and Procedures: Workers with valid labour card and residency visa...: Earlier rule of mandatory completion of one year with an employer before requesting for a temporary work permit lifted


All workers with a valid labour card and residency visa can now apply for temporary work permits. The earlier rule which required workers to complete one year with an employer before applying for a work permit has been lifted, according to a report in 'Al Khaleej' newspaper.

However, the Ministry of Labour will issue permits only to those workers who meet the conditions stipulated by the ministry.

Eligibility criteria for obtaining a temporary work permit include a valid residency visa and labour card. Also, the application request must possess authorised signatures of both the current establishment and that of the seeker.

However, the ministry will also consider cases wherein the current employer has breached the contract with the employee; has not paid salary for more than 60days; or if the worker was not told of the planned closure of the firm; or if the company has stayed closed for more than two months.

In case of closure of company the worker is required to inform the ministry and obtain approval to that effect from the Department of Labour Inspection officials before applying for a temporary work permit.

The permit will be valid strictly only for a period of six months or until the validity of the labour card, which ever comes first.

Dubai Visa Rules and Procedures: New UAE companies law expected to lift the foreig...

Dubai Visa Rules and Procedures: New UAE companies law expected to lift the foreig...: Abu Dhabi: A new UAE companies law that is expected to lift the foreign ownership ceiling from the current 49 per cent in certain businesses could be introduced this year, Minister of Economy Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri said.


"It could be any time this year. At the ministry level, our work is done," Al Mansouri told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the 5th Annual GCC Regulators Summit. Al Mansouri said the ministry has finalised the draft and is waiting for approval from the UAE authorities concerned.

Experts say the introduction of the new companies law will help attract more foreign investments and give a boost to the local economy and employment.

The UAE Companies Law allows foreigners a maximum stake of 49 per cent in companies outside free zones.

However, foreigners are allowed 100 per cent in companies registered within the free zones. The new law will also make it mandatory for companies to create a general corporate governance framework.













The legislation is part of a move to modernise the UAE's company, foreign investment and industrial laws to boost transparency and investor confidence.













Separately, Al Mansouri in his speech at the regulators summit said that after the financial crisis regulators are assuming increasing roles to strengthen the financial sector.

"The regulatory role is under reform in many countries to touch all bases including systemic stability, micro prudential regulations, conduct of business and consumer protection," he said.

Preparedness

"Regulators need to be proactive by being prepared for adverse outcomes, and need to be reactive to the needs of the industry. The world is still learning from past experiences and evidence shows that the regulatory process is an evolving one," he added.

He said the GCC countries have distinctive regulatory needs since the financial sector in the GCC is developing at an unprecedented pace.

"Regulators need to tackle issues like introducing new instruments besides the pure longing of stocks of listed companies, improve mechanisms like delivery versus payment (DVP), auxiliary tools like security lending and borrowing, licensing new financial services like investment management and regulate existing practices like rating agencies, auditing firms and research and financial analysis services," he said.

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