Saudi visa system goes digital; No more travel agent business now

The new system that eliminated the traditional visa sticker on passports came into force from May 1

Jeddah: In a significant development, Saudi Arabia has begun to implement e-visa for Indians arriving from India.

The new system that eliminated the traditional visa sticker on passports came into force from May 1. Now only a QR code needs to be read to extract the visa details. However, the visa information is being sent to the registered email ID of visa holders and the same can be printed on an A-4 size paper to have a hard copy to prove they are the one who obtained the visa.

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The new system is part of Saudi’s Vision 2030 that enables digital governance in a gradual manner. The e-visa initiative came into effect from May 1 in India and seven other countries. As per this, employment, visit and residence visas for Indians can be processed through an e-visa system where immigration authorities extract the details scanning a QR code.

The new system will reduce the time in processing and bring transparency. More importantly, it will weed out the existing travel agent system that is currently acting as an intermediary to endorse Saudi visas in New Delhi and Mumbai.

However, any person now applying for a Saudi visa has to mandatorily visit VFS Global visa processing centres as visa applications would be processed through them only. VFS Global is the official partner of the Embassy of India, Saudi Arabia.

There is an influx of visitors from across Telangana into Saudi Arabia, who are able to arrive directly by sitting at home and their visas processed by travel agencies. However, now it’s mandatory to physically visit the VFS centre, NRI activist and AP NRT coordinator Muzzamil Shaikh said. The VFS Global centre operates in Punjagutta, he added.