Saudi Arabia: Stricter Exit Visa Rules Implemented for Resident Permits

Holders of a resident permit who are applying for an exit visa must now have at least 30 days of validity on their resident permit; whereas previously such foreign nationals could apply for an exit visa up until the last day of their resident permit. As a result of this change, resident permit holders whose resident permit has a remaining validity period of less than 30 days must first renew their resident permit before they can apply for an exit visa. This new rule only applies to standard resident permits, as premium resident permits are not subject to any exit visa requirement.

As a further change, if the resident permit’s validity is between 30 and 60 days, the final exit visa will be issued for the remaining validity period of the resident permit. If the resident permit’s validity is 60 days or more, a final exit visa with a duration of 60 days will be issued. Previously, companies could issue a final exit visa for employees up until the resident permit's last day of validity and were issued with a validity period of 60 days regardless the remaining validity period of the resident permit. In certain cases, these changes mean that foreign nationals will have to depart the country more quickly than was previously the case and, in all cases, foreign nationals will have to depart prior to the expiry date of their resident permit. This reform seeks to avoid the previous situation where employees remained in the country without a renewed work permit.