What you need for the Saudi tourist eVisa

The short answer. Four things: a passport valid for at least six months after the date you arrive, a recent digital photo of your face on a plain white background, an email address you check, and a debit or credit card. Medical insurance for your stay is included with the eVisa. You do not need a hotel booking, a flight ticket, a bank statement or an invitation letter.

The checklist

Everything else on the form is a date, a number or optional.

Your passport

The rule is six months of validity counted from the date you arrive in Saudi Arabia, not from the date you apply and not from the date you leave. If your passport expires within six months of your arrival date, renew it first and apply with the new one. A passport too close to expiry cannot go ahead, and it is the first thing we check.

The eVisa is linked to the passport you apply with, so apply with the passport you will show at the Saudi border. Dual nationals choose one passport and use it for both.

We need an image of the photo page: the page with your photo, your name and the two lines of letters and numbers at the bottom. A PDF, JPG or PNG up to 8 MB. Lay the passport flat, keep all four corners in the frame, avoid glare from a lamp or a window, and keep the page the right way up. We read your details from this image rather than asking you to type them, and a person on our team checks what was read against the page, so a sharp, straight image saves a round of emails.

Your nationality must be one of the 68 that Saudi Arabia accepts for the tourist eVisa. The list is in our guide to eligible nationalities, and the apply form checks it before you start.

Your digital photo

A recent photo of your face, looking straight at the camera, against a plain white background. JPG or PNG, up to 8 MB. A photo taken on a phone against a white wall in daylight is usually fine. Keep your whole face visible, keep a neutral expression, and do not use filters, effects or a face cropped out of a group picture.

Children's photos follow the same rules. For a baby, lie the child on a white sheet, take the photo from above with the eyes open, and keep hands out of the picture.

Your email address and phone number

Everything about your application comes by email: the confirmation with your reference, any request to correct a document, and the eVisa itself. Use an address you check, and look in the spam folder if you are expecting a message from us.

The form also asks for a phone number with its country code, so that we can reach you about your application if email is not enough.

Paying

The price is per traveller: $145 USD on the Regular lane, $185 USD on the Same-day lane, shown before you enter any card details. Pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay; the payment is processed by Stripe and your card is charged in US dollars. Our guide to the cost explains what the price includes and the refund rule.

What the form asks

• Your nationality.
• Your arrival date, anywhere between today and one year from now.
• The length of your stay, from 1 to 90 days.
• Your email address and phone number.
• For each traveller: the passport photo page and the digital photo.
• Optional: the name of your hotel or accommodation, and the name and phone number of a contact in Saudi Arabia. Optional means optional. You can apply before you have booked anywhere.

One order covers up to nine travellers, so a family or a group applies once and pays once.

What you do not need

• A hotel booking.
• A flight ticket.
• A bank statement or proof of funds.
• An invitation letter or a sponsor.
• A visit to an embassy or consulate.
• A separate medical insurance policy.

Medical insurance

Visitors need medical insurance valid in Saudi Arabia for the length of their stay. For the tourist eVisa it is included with the application, so there is nothing to buy and nothing to upload.

The mistakes a review catches

A person on our team checks every application before it is submitted. These are the problems a review catches, and what to do about them:

• Passport expiring within six months of arrival. Renew first.
• The wrong page, or a cropped page. We need the whole photo page, including the two lines at the bottom.
• Blurry, dark or sideways scans. Take the photo again in daylight with the passport flat.
• A photo that does not meet the rules. A coloured or patterned background, a filter, part of the face hidden, or a picture that is several years old.
• One file uploaded for two people. Every traveller, including every child, needs their own passport page and their own photo.

If something needs fixing, we email you and tell you exactly what to send. Nothing is submitted to the Saudi authorities until your file is complete.