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At a Glance
Foreign nationals traveling to Saudi Arabia for business must now obtain a visa pre-approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) before they submit a Business Visit Visa application.
Details of the new pre-approval process include the following:
In October 2019, immigration authorities in Saudi Arabia made fundamental changes to the business visa scheme by replacing Commercial and Work Visit Visas with a uniform Business Visit Visa issued with the notification “not permitted to work”.
Until now, the MOFA system continued to allow foreign nationals to opt for a visa invitation letter for either Commercial or Work Visit Visa, although it had no impact on a category of the visa that was endorsed (i.e. a Business Visit Visa was issued regardless of the type of supporting visa invitation letter). By eliminating Work Visit Visas, Saudi immigration authorities removed the only work authorization option available to foreign nationals traveling to Saudi Arabia for short-term work.
It is not yet clear whether Saudi immigration authorities will expand Business Visit Visa eligibility to foreign nationals with technical skills to compensate for the elimination of the Commercial and Work Visit Visas.
A new short-term work visa is expected to be introduced by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development in the coming months. Fragomen will provide updates as soon they are available.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].