Why get a Saudi Arabia Business Visa For Uk Citizens? To know why you should get a business visa for your trip to Saudi Arabia, you should know the benefits of having one.
Saudi Arabia Business visa for UK Citizens is the best option if you want to start a Business in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
If you are a citizen from UK and you want to visit Saudi Arabia for business due to the potential investment opportunities, starting a new business or transferring your current one, then you should know about the business visa requirement for doing business in the kingdom. In general, there are two types of visas offered by the government of Saudi Arabia: private and public.
Saudi Arabia Business Visa For Uk Citizens
Want to come to Saudi Arabia for business? But you are not a professional business visit visa holder. As a matter of fact, you don’t know much about visas either. You’re just a regular citizen, who is looking to come to Saudi Arabia. You’ve done some research and it seems like Business Visit Visa is the way you need to go.
Saudi Business Visa UK Application
Saudi Arabia Visa Services is a professional London based visa agency that specialises in the issuance of:
- Saudi Arabia business visa
If you are intending to undertake business in Saudi Arabia, you will need a Saudi business visa. There are 2 main types of business visas for Saudi Arabia available – this includes a single entry and a multiple entry.
Please review our table below on the Saudi visa application for business. If you have any questions that may not be answered please contact us by phone or email.
| Visa Type | Visa Information |
|---|---|
| Saudi Visa Type | Business Visa |
| Processing Time | Visa processing – 2 days ABCC Attestation – 1 day |
| Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Visa Fees | 3 Month Single Entry – £146 6 Month Multi Entry – £146 1 Year Multi – £476 If you are a non UK passport holder, please click here to see our visa prices page, which gives the specific prices for other EU, US, Turkish and rest of the world visa prices. Please note that your invite will state which type of visa will be issued. Our team can translate your invite. |
| Arab-British Chamber of Commerce Employer | Arab British Chamber of Commerce registration – £36.00 Service fee for ABCC registration – £75.00 + VAT Medical and Enjaz Fee – £70.00 |
| Service Fee | Services Fee based on service, nationality and visa details. Click here for detailed pricing page. |
| Requirements | Visa Order Form – Stage 1Completed Saudi Visa Application Form – Stage 2 2 Passport Size photographsPassport – 2 clean pages adjacent to each other, and at least 6 months validitySaudi Government invite from either the Saudi Chamber of Commerce or the Saudi Ministry of Foreign AffairsUK Employer Support Letter (Template found via downloadable application pack). Important: Please note that the letter must be the original hard copy. If your employer is based abroad, the the letter must be legalised by the Saudi embassy in the country of registration and then sent to us. Please contact us.The Letter must be attested at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London. We can provide this service for you if you are unable to visit their offices for registration. |
| Extra Information | You must ensure that you do not hold any existing Saudi visas that are current. All previous visas must have expired before making your new application.Your passport must not contain a Israeli.Important Note: The Saudi Arabia embassy visa department is only open Monday – Thursday, and closed on Fridays. Therefore the processing time is exclusive of these. The Saudi embassy have also requested that all visa applicants provide their flight bookings during their visa application process. Both new rules have been issued in the same week as the Saudi government look to limit the Coronavirus outbreak. |
Saudi Arabian Business Visa
Please note that the main types of job roles for the Saudi business visa are described below. Please see our business visa guides webpage which defines that type of business invitations that are issued in Saudi Arabian which will allow for the application to be made.
Main Purposes of trip for Saudi Business Visa
General meetings, discussions, conference, discussing projects, meeting a client, opening a new branch – office jobs not related to any manual work
Main Job Titles for Saudi Business Visa
Director (sales, product, technical, general), CEO, Consultant, Advisor, Manager (product, project, sales, office), HR, Administration Officer, Representative, Partner, Company Owner
Saudi Arabia Business Visa Application Process Guide
| Step Number | Description |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Obtain invitation letter from Saudi Arabia sponsor. This can be emailed to you |
| Step 2 | Have your invitation translated by one of our visa consultants |
| Step 3 | Complete Employer Support Letter (see below). The ESL can only be completed on the back off information given on the invitation. |
| Step 4 | Complete all other requirements including application form, medical form, order form and photos |
| Step 5 | Send all information to our London office. We will process this in 2 to 3 working days. |
Invitation Letter for Saudi Business Visa
All business visas for Saudi Arabia require an invitation from the chamber of commerce or ministry of foreign affairs. The information of the invitation can be seen at our invitation page, you can send a link for this page to your sponsor or inviter in Saudi Arabia. This is the first step of your visa process and needs to be obtained before you can commence. This will commonly be written in Arabic, therefore if you need a translation for this, please contact one of our team members. Please also see our invitation page which states how to decode the invite and apply it to the ESL as below.
Employer Support Letter for Saudi Business Visa
For more information on completion of the ESL which is included in our application pack, please see our dedicated page, however note that all applicants are required to provide this with their visa application.
The ESL will be attested at the ABCC ( Arab British Chamber of Commerce ). If the applicant’s employer is registered in the UK, then the company registration is checked against the companies house database.
For self employed applicants please contact us. For applicants with foreign based employers or are freelancers, please see our ESL guide page for further information, however in short the employer support letter for foreign employers will need to be legalised by the Saudi embassy and then sent to us. The ESL can only be completed once you have the invitation as the invitation number needs to be stated on it, along with the information of the traveller, and be within one month old, with the future travel date stated on it.
Saudi Arabia Business Visa processing Time
Once you have the invitation, we can then proceed to start your saudi business visa application compiling all the requirements (see below). The normal processing time is 2 to 3 working days, depending on the day we receive the application inside our offices. If we receive the application before 1pm then this will allow us to attest the employer support letter that day and to submit the application into the embassy the following day. After 1pm we would not be able to attest the letter.
The above timeframes assume that all applications have been accurately completed and there are no issues with any of the paperwork. This is why we would advise all applicants undertaking a precheck with one of our saudi visa consultants beforehand, and before completion of the order form.
Saudi Arabia Business visa application form
The business visa application form for Saudi can be downloaded from our website Saudi visa form page and also via the downloadable email application pack as well. This contains an overview of the process, a template of the employer support letter, precheck guides and questions. The visa application form will ask you for your residential information, the details for the people you are looking to visit in Saudi Arabia, information about your travel information (flights and travel dates), along with details of the applicant such as their religion and marital status. Please see our how to complete the Saudi visa application form page for more information on this.
Saudi Arabia business visa extension
If you already hold an existing visa, and it is close to expiry, unfortunately these cannot be extended. Applicants will be required to obtain a new invitation from the chamber of commerce and make a fresh application via the embassy. Note that the extensions can be applied to an Iqama which allow applicants to reside in Saudi Arabia. Note that one would need to apply for a Saudi Arabia work visa for this.
Saudi Arabia Business Visa Cost
The costs are variable for all business visa applicants based on various factors, please see below for more details. It is advised that when you are liaising with your Saudi Arabian inviter, if you have any specific requirements that you wish for your visa, you should request this from your Saudi Arabian counterpart who will make the request when they obtain the invitation from the MOFA or Chamber of commerce.
Visa validity: Typically most visas are either single or multiple entries. Visa lengths will typically vary from 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 2 years and 5 years.
Nationality: Although this is something that is fixed, the price of the visa will vary based on your passport nationality.
For a full breakdown of visa fees, please see our Saudi Visa fees page which goes through every combination
Saudi Visa Medical Insurance
For more information about the Saudi Arabia visa medical insurance, please visit our Saudi medical visa insurance page. However, all visas issued from the embassy will automatically issue travel insurance which covers medical requirements whilst in the kingdom. The Saudi government has a set number of suppliers, and whilst we undertake the enjaz creation using the Saudi MOFA government website, this will be created. We will print the insurance out accordingly and attach it for you when we return your passport with the visa inside it. Please note that typically these medical insurances will be the same as the length of your visa.
Entering via Bahrain-Saudi Causeway
If your business trip requires you to travel to Saudi Arabia’s 3rd city of Damman, then many travellers will fly into Bahrain and cross the Saudi Bahrain causeway. The visa issued by the embassy in London will allow you to make this landing crossing. When our company completes the application on the enjaz website, we select “open visa” for travel ports, thus allowing travellers easy land access. For more information about this, please contact one of our team members.
Not Permitted To Work Statement
If issued a business visa, on it it will say “Not permitted to Work”, please note that this is stated to imply that an applicant cannot reside on this visa on a long term basis, and the visa cannot be used to obtain an iqama, rent a property or get full time employment. For these activities, an applicant must have a full time job with a contract, visa block number from the company and apply for a Saudi Arabia work visa. However for the purposes of obtaining a business visa, and undertaking meetings, this will be ok.
Saudi visa application for nationals outside the UK
If you are a Pakistani application looking for a business visa based in Pakistan, an Indian national based in India wanting to apply for a Saudi business visa please visit the embassies page which shall point you in the correct direction. If you are located elsewhere, or in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, another EU country or the US, please contact your local embassy.
Quick links:
Saudi embassy in Dubai
Saudi embassy in India, Delhi
Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan
For further information about a Saudi business visa, please contact our visa consultants who will advise on any of the processes or requirements described above.
All visa fees are subject to 20% VAT. Saudi Visa fees are exempt from VAT
Please note that we are not the embassy or an official government website, however a Saudi visa agency that acts as an agency ensuring that all “enumbers” and “ewallet” payments are made to the Saudi embassy, and full submission and processing is done on your behalf. If you wish to apply directly to the Saudi embassy, please visit there official website
If you have any questions regarding the Saudi Visa application process, please contact us via email or phone. As consultants to businesses for visas to Saudi Arabia we assist in all areas and have experience in all parts of this. Our Saudi visa consultants are on hand to assist.