A Saudi plane on the tarmac at an airport. (Credit: Getty/AFP)
BEIRUT — Starting Aug. 9, Saudi visas issued to Lebanese passport holders will be digitized in the form of a QR code, which can be presented on a mobile phone or on a printed document separate from the travel document.
The announcement came this week via a circular issued by the Saudi General Civil Aviation Authority (AGAC). The change aims to do away with the sticker visas currently issued by the Saudi authorities and attached to passports. The measure concerns work, visit and residence visas issued "by some Saudi embassies and diplomatic missions." Visas issued before Aug. 9 will be valid until their expiry date, and will not need to be exchanged. AGAC requires that the e-visa with its QR code be printed on A4 paper.
Twelve countries
According to the decision, which L'Orient-Le Jour was able to consult, the transition, which at this time is being implemented for 12 new countries, took place this week for Pakistan and Yemen, with Sudan (Aug. 2), Uganda (Aug. 7), Lebanon (Aug. 9), Nepal (Aug. 14), Turkey (Sept. 16), Sri Lanka (Sept. 21), Kenya (Sept. 23), Morocco (Sept. 28), Thailand (Sept. 30) and Vietnam (Sept. 4) to follow. Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates switched to the new system last spring.
According to a tour operator wishing to remain anonymous for professional reasons, this transition will lighten the administrative procedure in place to obtain a visa to enter Saudi territory for each of the countries concerned, but without changing the conditions for obtaining one. "The application will be made online, and in principle, it will no longer be necessary to leave one's passport in order for the relevant diplomatic service to affix a visa sticker," he explained.
Last October, Saudi Arabia drastically simplified visa procedures for Lebanese nationals meeting certain criteria. This decision reflects an easing of relations between Beirut and Riyadh, after several years of diplomatic friction against a backdrop of regional tensions between Iran, which supports the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Saudi kingdom.
The gradual digitization of visa procedures by the Saudi authorities is part of the initiatives launched in the wake of the Vision 2030 project announced in 2016 and aimed at diversifying the country's economy so as to make it less dependent on hydrocarbon exports. In particular, the kingdom is counting on tourism revenues and hopes to be able to attract 30 million foreign tourists a year by 2030. In 2022, they numbered 16.6 million, according to the World Tourism Organization.
