HOW TO OBTAIN A BUSINESS VISA

        Indian businessmen generally like to visit Saudi Arabia see the prospects of their products/service here.  However, procedures involved in obtaining a business visa are other cumbersome for them unless they follow the correct procedures.

        The easy was to start business is to establish initial contacts with potential Saudi importers through correspondence.  However, for serious exporters, the advantage of visits to Saudi Arabia to establish personal rapport with the buyers concerned would far outweigh the travel expenses.  It is best to obtain the business visa for Saudi Arabia through a Saudi company who may be interested in importing goods from an Indian company.

Business visa can be obtained by the following methods.

  1.   Visa through a Saudi importer:  The easy way to start business is to establish initial contacts with potential Saudi importers through correspondence.  The list of importers of the respective products can be obtained from the Embassy/Consulate.

By this means again, there are two ways of obtaining visa.

(a)  The Saudi company will prepare an invitation letter, which shall be attested by Chamber of Commerce and Industry and also by Saudi Foreign Ministry.  The original of that invitation has to be sent to the Indian partner.

The Indian company has to produce this letter in Saudi Consulate in Mamba/Saudi Embassy in New Delhi.

(b)  Alternatively, the Saudi company can obtain visa.  The Foreign Ministry will send the original visa slip to Saudi Consulate or Embassy in India by their diplomatic bag.  The photocopy of the visa slip shall have to sent to the Indian company. 

By submitting this visa slip to the Saudi Consulate/Embassy, the Indian company can get the visa stamped.  This is a lengthy procedure, as the visa slip will take at least one week to reach India by Diplomatic Bag.

2.    Visa through Indian Associations/Authorities:

      Business visa could be obtained from the Saudi Embassy in Delhi/Saudi Consulate in Mumbai with the help of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), New Delhi/the Chamber of Commerce/Export Promotion Council concerned, routed through Ministry of Commerce or Ministry of External Affairs, (Gulf Division), New Delhi.  Recently, this Mission is unable to arrange such visas.

      Officials and Official delegations visiting Saudi Arabia on business or promotional purposes should approach the Saudi Consulate/Embassy through JS (Gulf), MEA, New Delhi to obtain visa.

      Recently, Saudi Arabia has opened up the tourism sector for international visitors and started issuing tourist visas.  However, the possibility of availing tourist visas and availing avenue for business purposes is still not clear.

A copy of the Guidelines and Instructions issued to Kingdom’s diplomatic missions abroad on granting entry visa to Businessmen and Investors to the Kingdom may also please be seen in the following pages for information.