Saudi Arabia expands eVisa services for Bangladeshi workers, visitors and residents

Bangladesh is the first country to get the services for work, visit and residence visas, with the visa sticker system eliminated

Saudi Arabia has expanded its eVisas for Bangladeshis, making it the first country to get the services for work, visit and residence visas, with the visa sticker system eliminated.

Issa bin Yousef Al-Duhailan, the Saudi ambassador in Dhaka, inaugurated a project to cancel the sticker from the visas and replace it with the electronic visa, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Bangladesh said in a twitter post on Monday.

In continuation of the facilities provided to beneficiaries of consular services, the new services will be provided with the participation of a work team from the ministries of foreign affairs and interior and the National Information Centre, the embassy said.

“This step comes in implementation of the generous directives and in achieving the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 to automate all procedures and to provide highly efficient digital services,” it added.

Currently, citizens of 49 countries are eligible to apply for a Saudi eVisa – a one-year, multiple entry visa that allows tourists to spend up to 90 days in the country, according to the eVisa website. The tourist visa allows them to take part in tourism-related activities such as, events, family and relatives visits, leisure, and Umrah, excluding Hajj and other activities such as studying.

For Bangladesh, eVisas were available for Umrah only.

The Saudi envoy said the introduction of an error-free eVisa for Bangladeshis, using both Arabic and English languages, will reduce the hassle, cost and time of getting Saudi visas, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported.

Essa said that his government spends a huge amount of money to issue sticker visas while printing such stickers is a difficult task. 

The ambassador described the recent development as a win-win situation for intending Bangladeshi workers and stakeholders, including recruitment agencies. 

He also expressed his country's eagerness to collaborate with Bangladesh to enhance the conditions and opportunities for expatriate Bangladeshi workers.

The ambassador said the introduction of eVisa for work, visit and residency will help the embassy manage a huge number of visa applications. The Saudi embassy issues 7,000 to 8,000 visas daily, according to him. 

The Saudi government has plans to expand similar eVisa services for other countries.

Saudi Arabia is the favourite destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, with nearly 100,000 Bangladeshis migrating to the Gul kingdom in the last quarter of 2022 alone, according to a recent report from the Bangladesh Bank. 

The oil-rich kingdom hosts more than two million Bangladeshi expatriate workers. It was the second-biggest source of remittances to Bangladesh in the fourth quarter in 2022, just behind the US. The Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia sent about $910 million during that period, the central bank reported.