Saudi Visa for Indian Citizens: Your Four Real Routes

7 min read  |  By the Visit Saudi team  |  Checked against the official Saudi visa rules

India is not on the eVisa list - but Indian travellers reach Saudi Arabia every day. The routes that actually work, including the one most UAE-based Indians qualify for.

Start with the honest fact

An Indian passport on its own is not eligible for the Saudi tourist eVisa, and any website that offers to sell you one against the passport alone is selling you a refusal. That is not the end of the story, though: Indian citizens have four well-established routes into the Kingdom, and one of them fits a large share of the Indian community in the Gulf. Work through them in order.

Route 1: you live in the GCC

If you hold a residence permit for the UAE or another GCC state, you can apply for the Saudi eVisa as a GCC resident - this is how most Dubai and Abu Dhabi based Indians travel. Your passport needs six months or more of validity and your residency at least three months remaining. The eVisa that results is the same one-year, multiple-entry tourist visa, Umrah included outside Hajj. If you are reading this from the Emirates, this is almost certainly your route.

Route 2: you hold a US, UK or Schengen visa

Indian citizens who hold a valid US, UK or Schengen visa - which must have been used at least once to enter the issuing country - qualify for a Saudi visa on arrival, and in practice for the eVisa assessment as well. The visa in your passport is doing the heavy lifting: it must be a visit or business visa in good standing, and you should carry the passport that contains it. Families should check each traveller separately; the route belongs to the visa holder.

Route 3: a sponsor invites you

Family and personal visit visas run on sponsorship: a Saudi citizen or resident invites you through the official system, an invitation is issued, and the visit visa follows it. This is the standard route for visiting parents and relatives in the Kingdom, and it can be extended from inside Saudi Arabia by the host, unlike the tourist eVisa. We handle these applications end to end, including checking the invitation details against your documents before anything is submitted.

Route 4: the embassy, for work and long stays

Employment, residence and other long-term visas are embassy matters, arranged through your employer and the Saudi mission, usually via the authorised visa centres in India. That route sits outside what this site sells, and we will say so plainly if you ask us about a work visa - but for visits, Umrah and family trips, routes one to three cover nearly every Indian traveller who contacts us.

Common questions

Written and checked by the Visit Saudi teamSaudi visa specialists based in Dubai. Every guide is checked against the official KSA Visa platform rules before it is published, and updated when the rules change. Last updated November 2026.