If you are working in Saudi Arabia and your Iqama profession lies within the list of professions which are eligible to bring their families in the kingdom, you have option either to bring your family members as dependents on permanent visa or else you can bring them for short term visits on Family Visit Visa. We have already explained steps for brining your family on permanent visa on another post on this site. In this post, we will explain step by step process to apply online for family visit visa and the process to get visa stamped from your home country.
Step 1: Apply for Visit Visa Online on MOFA site
Thanks to the advancements in IT, you don’t need to wait in long queues and submit applications manually for a family visit visa in Saudi Arabia. To initiate the process of inviting your family members on a visit visa to the kingdom, open the following link:
If you are not able to understand the site in Arabic like majority of expats, click on English on top left so that the site is rendered in English for you.
Now click on “Citizens and Residents” section as having an Iqama, you are a resident in the kingdom. Now from the available options choose “Resident” and click on it. You will see many options available including the one of your interest; i.e. “Family Visit Visa Application for Residents”. By clicking on this option, you will be taken to the page containing undertaking. This undertaking will be in Arabic and you can use chrome translator plugin or any other translation tool to translate it into English. Thoroughly go through the details as it consists of various terms and conditions that you must agree upon. Click on the Agree button if you understand and agree to the conditions specified.
Then you will be moved to the next page where you will have to enter your personal data including your iqama number, your iqama expiry date and your entry border number (can be seen on your passport’s visa page).
After inserting all required personal information and pressing next button, you will land on another page where all your personal details will be fetched and displayed including your employer/sponsor details and your own information like iqama profession etc. You will be required to fill the mandatory fields like your Mobile number and your address.
In the next page, you will be asked to enter visitor details. Fill this form very carefully to avoid any rejections or visa stamping problems. You will have the choice to choose between single entry visa of 90 days or multiple entry visa for a larger duration.
Then you need to click on the Addition button. A popup form will be opened where you will be asked to add all relevant details for each family member you want to invite on a visit visa. Make sure that the information you enter is accurate and matches exactly with the passport details.
After adding all details for one family member, you can follow the same addition step to add records for any additional family members for which you want to apply for visa in same request.
After this step, you can just review the application form and submit it if everything is fine. Get a print out of this application form and you are done with this first step of online application.
Step 2: Get application form attested from your sponsor/employer and from Chamber of Commerce
The printed copy of the visit visa application needs to be first signed & stamped by your employer. After it has been signed by your employer, just visit any nearest office of Chamber of Commerce (in the same city where your employer is located). Chamber of commerce officer will charge 25 SAR for attestation and he will get your application attested after which it will be activated in the system.
After attestation, chamber of commerce officer will hand over to you the original paper having the stamp on it. You are done from your side as after this step, application process from your side has been completed in the kingdom and its now in the hands of MOFA to process it further.
Step 3: Check Visa Status online
After CoC is done for family visa application, you need to regularly check for the status on MOFA website on the below link:
You will need to enter application number (can be found on the application form) and your iqama number for this query form:
Depending on the status of your application, you might get different statuses. In general, you will see the status as application in progress before visa approval/rejection. Once visa application is approved, you will see visa details as the query result. Congratulations! This is what you were aiming for. Just get a photo of it and send it over to someone in your home country to proceed for the next and major step—Visa stamping from the embassy.
Step 4: Get Visit Visa stamped from Saudi Embassy/Consulate
The final step towards bringing your family members on a visit visa is to approach Saudi Embassy/Consulate through a proper channel to get visa stamped on the passport. In Pakistan, you need to visit Etimad Office which is an authorized entity to deal with all kinds of visa stampings in Saudi Embassy/consulate.
Visit Etimad office with following set of documents:
- Copy of the visa issued from MOFA
- Original passport of the applicant
- Copy of your iqama
- Copy of your passport front page
Rest of the things including pictures, biometric verification, fees collection, insurance etc. will be taken care of in the Etimad office by their staff.
Once your application submission has been completed in Etimad office, you will be able to track the application status on Etimad website using Application reference number or Enjaz no and date of birth of the applicant. Etimad center also provides facility of SMS alerts and courier delivery services for the passports after received back from the embassy.
It may take from a couple of days to a few weeks for the visa stamping in the embassy depending on circumstances in the embassy.
After receiving back stamped passport, your family member is good to go with the flight booking and packing for a trip to the land of holy places—Saudi Arabia.