KSA launches e-visa for Bangladeshi nationals

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has introduced Electronic Visa (e-visa) for Bangladeshi nationals. As a result, there will be no need to take sticker visa to go to that country from now on.    

The e-visa was officially launched at the Saudi Embassy in Dhaka this noon.

Saudi Ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yussef Essa Al Dulaihan spoke on the occasion. Director General of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Shahidul Alam and Director General of the West Asia wing) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Md. Shafiqur Rahman were present on the occasion as guests, among others.

"We choose Bangladesh as the first country to implement the new technology," the Saudi Ambassador said.

From today, Bangladeshi nationals don't need to get sticker visa of any category including work visa for travelling the oil-rich Kingdom that hosts more than two million Bangladeshis expatriate workers.

The Saudi envoy said introduction of error-free e-visa, using both Arabic and English language, will reduce hassle, cost and time to get Saudi visas.

He said the Saudi government spends huge amount of money to issue sticker visas while printing of such sticker is a difficult task.

 "It will be a win-win situation for the intending Bangladeshi workers and other stakeholders including the recruiting agencies," the ambassador said and adding that his country is keen work with Bangladesh for betterment of the expatiate Bangladeshi workers.

Earlier, the Saudi Arabia had introduced the e-visa facilities only for Umrah visa.

The ambassador said the introduction of e-visa will help the embassy here to manage huge number of visa applications as currently the Saudi mission here issues 7000 to 8000 visa daily.

The Saudi government has plans to introduce a similar e-visa system in other countries eventually.

BMET Director General Shahidul Alam also spoke on the occasion.

Saudi Arabia continues to be the favourite destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers while Nearly 100,000 Bangladeshis migrated to the Arab nation in the last quarter of 2022 alone, according to a recent report of Bangladesh Bank.

Saudi Arabia was the second-biggest source of remittances to Bangladesh in the fourth quarter last year, just behind the US, as workers brought in about $910 million from the Kingdom during the period, the central bank report showed.