DUBAI: Tourists travelling to Saudi Arabia can now get their visas on arrival in five minutes, the Ministry of Interior said on Wednesday, unveiling the new Saudi e-visa machine at Dubai’s electronics trade show GITEX.
The interior ministry rolled out the machines in all airports in the Kingdom, following the announcement of the new Saudi tourist visa scheme last month, which is available for 49 nationalities.
The new machines will allow tourists from eligible countries to obtain their visas upon arrival with a few simple clicks, Tourism Project Manager, Thear Sadi Al-Rogi, said at the trade show held at Dubai World Trade Center,
He said they tourists would need to scan their passports, input their fingerprints, and pay the fee of around $115 to get their 90-day visa before proceeding to immigration for entry.
At #GITEX2019 Thear Sadi Al-Rogi, tourism project manager at the Saudi interior ministry, gives an explanation of how the e-Visa machine works https://t.co/bErix1x4Aj pic.twitter.com/BoJydfJLbS
— Arab News (@arabnews) October 9, 2019
The machine is currently in English but there are plans to include up to 40 languages in the system, Al-Rogi said.
The new technology comes as the Kingdom implements a host of other tourism-related changes, including easing dress restrictions for female tourists, allowing them to go without the body-shrouding abaya.
Locations such as AlUla, NEOM, and the Red Sea are expected to become potential tourist locations.
