Visa requirements for Saudi citizens

Saudi citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Saudi Arabia and 32 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

42 countries ask holders of the Saudi passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Saudi Arabia without one: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium and 37 others.

The reverse holds for 54 countries: holders of the Saudi passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Saudi Arabia (Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana and 49 others).

76 countries ask holders of the Saudi passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 36 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Saudi Arabia.

40 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Saudi Arabia, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Saudi Arabia, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Qatar (3), Israel (2), the United Arab Emirates (2) and Ethiopia (2).

The United States refused 6% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Saudi Arabia in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 13 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 183 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Saudi Arabia refused 5.2% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 66th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Saudi passport

By continent, the Saudi passport is visa-free in 25 countries in Asia, 10 countries in Africa, 10 countries in the Americas, 5 countries in Europe and 3 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Saudi citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), Armenia (180 days), Egypt (180 days), Lebanon (180 days), El Salvador (180 days) and Vanuatu (120 days).

Visa on arrival

Saudi citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros and 21 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Saudi citizens enter Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso and 29 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and the United Kingdom ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Saudi Arabia’s neighbours

Qatar, Oman, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait admit Saudi citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Iraq (visa on arrival for up to 30 days) and Yemen (visa on arrival for up to 90 days).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Emirati passport ranks 1st (170 destinations), the Qatari passport ranks 93rd (106 destinations), the Kuwaiti passport ranks 96th (97 destinations), the Omani passport ranks 105th (83 destinations) and the Jordanian passport ranks 165th (50 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 5 can enter visa-free, 69 get a visa on arrival, 106 need an e-Visa, 17 need a visa from an embassy or consulate and 1 is not admitted for Saudi Arabia.