Nationals of U.S, Schengen or UK tourist or commercial visas holders can get visa on arrival into Saudi Arabia, state news agency SPA reported on Thursday (Jan 2).

SPA states in the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage that the passport holder must have used their visa to enter the USA, UK or any of the 26 Schengen countries prior to entering Saudi Arabia.

These visas upon arrival into Saudi Arabic for passport holders having U.S., UK or Schengen visas stamped in their passport are not included in the E-visa programme.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia started giving tourist visas on 28th September 2019 as part of efforts to increase tourism as the country diversifies its economy away from oil exports

Saudi Arabian officials quoted on 8 Oct that 23715 tourist visa were sanctioned between 28 Sept and 8 Oct.

Passport holders of 49 qualified countries can request for E-Visas while nationals from other countries must request separately. The 49 qualified countries are mainly in North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia, including 3 muslim majority nations Kazakhstan, Brunei and Malaysia.