Saudi Arabia is known as land of opportunities for migrants. The well developed economy of Saudi Arabia is largest among Arab countries. Saudi has second largest petroleum reserves in the world which makes it one of the largest producer and exporter of petroleum. Apart from economy, the main religion of Saudi is Islam but other religions are also followed here by expats. The healthcare facilities, educational facilities and job opportunities in Saudi are world class. Saudi Arabia has been favorable for Indian expatriates due to its friendly bond with India and that’s why a major portion of expats living in Saudi Arabia constitutes of Indians. The holy place of muslims, Mecca is also situated in Saudi Arabia which attracts most of the muslim expatriates. Now before you made your mind for living in Saudi Arabia, familiarize yourself with Saudi visa process.
For getting a visa for Saudi Arabia first of all you will have to attest all your required documents from the Government of India. Documents attestation for Saudi Arabia is very crucial and transparent process. For authentication of educational degree certificates, one will have to go to the Human Resource Department (HRD) of particular state which issued the degree. For example if one completed his education in Dehradun then documents will be authenticated by the HRD department of Uttrakhand.
The personal documents like marriage certificate, birth certificate, and death certificate will be validated by the State Home department, and commercial documents will be legalized by the Chamber of Commerce. After the verification, second step includes attestation from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Now attestation from MEA is very important and without it the documents will not be attested by the further body. After MEA attestation, third step includes attestation of educational documents by the cultural division of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Attestation from cultural division is only required for educational documents. At last the documents will be attested by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.
The other type of document legalization process is apostille authentication. Apostille authentication includes pasting of a computer generated stamp on the back side of documents. Apostille authentication is only valid on Hague convention countries and Saudi Arabia is not a part of Hague convention that is why one will have to follow the Saudi embassy attestation process. Apostille authentication can be done on all types of documents. The time taken for processing visa depends upon the nature of visa.
The Saudi embassy attestation makes the further visa process much more easier. Although if someone miss attestation from Saudi embassy then their visa request will be rejected. The Saudi Embassy has different rules for educational documents attestation. The educational documents will be validated by the Saudi Culture Attache department of Saudi Embassy first. Only regular degree certificates will be legalized by the department and apart from that no distance/ correspondence/ open university/ private learning certificates will be accepted. Another thing which one should keep in mind during Saudi embassy attestation is that the embassy does not take any application directly from the applicant, instead one will have to submit their documents to an authorized agency and then their documents will be processed for attestation by Saudi embassy.
After document attestation from Saudi embassy the rest of visa process depends on the nature of your visit. For example if you are applying for work visa then your work visa will be obtained by your future employer with the permission of Ministry of Labor and Ministry of External Affairs. The other documents required for Saudi visa process includes offer letter attested by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Saudi Chamber of Commerce, visa copy, passport copy, PAN card copy, affidavit, and color Iqama. After submitting all these documents one will receive his/her visa.
The Saudi Arabia attestation can be needed for many purposes such as:
Applying for resident visa, work visa, family visa, and changing visa status in Saudi Arabia.
Applying for admission in school and universities in Saudi Arabia.
Registering marriage or birth in Saudi Arabia.
Transferring to a job in Saudi Arabia.
Adding the name of spouse in passport or changing the designation of family status.