RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has launched the second phase of electronic business visit visas, demonstrating its commitment to attracting foreign investments and providing more opportunities to those seeking investment avenues.
This phase expands the coverage to include countries not included in the previous list and Muhammad Aba Hussein, the Undersecretary of the Saudi Ministry of Investment, stated that foreign investors and employees of foreign establishments can now apply for these visas through the “Invest in Saudi Arabia” platform.
The digitally issued visa, accessible through the unified national visa platform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, allows for multiple entries over a period of up to one year.
The Saudi government stated that the visas would assist foreign investors in learning about the size of the investment market of the country.
‘With the introduction of the Business Visit Visa “Visiting Investor” you now have the opportunity to explore the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This includes exploring various promising sectors, gaining insights about its natural resources, and experiencing its geographical and cultural location connecting three continents,’ a statement by Saudi Arabia’s national investment promotion platform said.
The statement added that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranks among the world’s twenty largest economies, actively participates in the G20, and significantly influences the global economy and oil markets.
Saudi Arabia is fast transforming its visa regulations in a bid to attract tourists as part of its Vision 2030 which entails increasing the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP and creating a million job opportunities.
The figures also portray a favorable picture as in 2022, the holy Kingdom recorded 94 million visits, a remarkable 93 percent surge from the previous year, resulting in a tourism expenditure of SR185 billion ($49 billion).
The authorities in Saudi Arabia expect 100 million visits by 2030 and raise the tourism sector’s GDP contribution to 10 percent. For this year, the kingdom also managed to receive over 2 million Hajj pilgrims which was the first time after the Covid-19 that the country welcomed pilgrims in such large numbers.
It bears mentioning that the holy kingdom is now opening up to the outside world providing opportunities to the investors and entrepreneurs to invest in the country and to help achieve the goal of the kingdom to diversify its revenue streams and to move away from the oil sector.
