Saudi Arabia launched a unified visa platform - KSA Visa to facilitate visa application procedures

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday the opening of the "KSA Visa" single visa application portal, which will streamline the process. This is a component of the government's plan to draw more visitors in the upcoming years.

Assistant Minister for Executive Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdulhadi Almansouri spoke at the Digital Government Forum (DGF) in Riyadh on Tuesday. He said that this platform is connected to over thirty ministries, agencies, and the private sector to streamline the process of obtaining various visas, such as work visas, visitation visas for Umrah or tourism, and Hajj visas.

By automating the most crucial steps in the visa issuing process, the GOV.SA platform will enhance the tourist experience and help empower over 50 government organisations and the business sector. GOV.SA is a smart search engine that provides visitors with instant access to the available visas. It serves as a comprehensive resource for learning about the prerequisites for each kind of visa as well as the application process. Additionally, the portal offers an updated visitor personal file that makes it easier to apply for visas and renew them later.

The Saudi action fits with the country's effort to attract more visitors, particularly after introducing several new travel locations and increasing its goal to 150 million visits per year by 2030. Launching concurrently with the new Saudi platform are the attempts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to introduce a unified Gulf tourist visa, after the approval of a decision in this respect by the GCC nations' Supreme Council during the November Doha Summit. The GCC interior ministers were permitted the summit to take the required actions to enforce the new visa regulations.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia granted over 18.6 million visas and shortened the processing time for digital visas to 60 seconds. The Kingdom collaborated in the digitalization of visas with 56 other nations.