Saudi Family Visit Visa: How It Works, What It Costs and How to Apply

If you're a resident in Saudi Arabia and want to bring your spouse, parents or children to visit, you need a saudi family visit visa - not the tourist eVisa. This guide walks through who can sponsor a visit, the documents both sides need, the fee, the mandatory medical insurance, and how to extend or track the visa once it's issued.

Family visit visa vs tourist eVisa: which you need

The two are easy to confuse because both let relatives fly into Saudi Arabia, but they're issued through different systems and suit different situations. If your family wants to book their own trip without a resident sponsor, see our guide to bringing family on the tourist eVisa instead.

Who can sponsor a family visit

Only a Saudi resident holding a valid work iqama can file the invitation - dependent and student iqamas are not eligible to sponsor. The sponsor generally needs at least three to four months of validity left on their residency, an active Nafath digital-identity account to authenticate the request, and (for company employees) Chamber of Commerce authentication of their employer. Government employees file directly through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) portal.

Eligible relatives usually include a spouse, children, and parents or parents-in-law as a first tier, with siblings, grandparents, grandchildren and other in-laws often accepted as extended family once the primary relationship documents are in order. The sponsor must be able to prove the relationship - a marriage certificate for a spouse, a birth certificate for a child or parent - and if a parent is travelling alone with a minor, a notarized permission letter from the other parent is normally required.

Step by step: the sponsor's request, then the visitor's application

1. Sponsor logs in to the MOFA visa platform using Nafath and selects the family visit visa service for residents.
2. Sponsor enters the visitor's details - passport information, relationship, and the type of visa (single or multiple entry) - and submits the invitation for approval.
3. Sponsor shares the approved invitation number with the visitor once it clears.
4. Visitor completes the online application using that invitation number, uploads their documents, and pays the visa and insurance fees.
5. Visitor receives the issued visa electronically and travels with a printed or digital copy alongside their passport.

Documents for the visitor and the sponsor

The sponsor typically needs:

• A valid work iqama with sufficient remaining validity
• An active Nafath account
• Chamber of Commerce authentication (private-sector employees)
• Proof of relationship to the visitor (marriage or birth certificate)

The visitor typically needs:

• A passport valid for at least six months beyond the planned stay
• A recent passport-style photo
• The sponsor's approved invitation number
• Proof of the family relationship to the sponsor
• Confirmation of medical insurance for the trip
• A notarized travel-permission letter, if a minor is travelling with only one parent

Fee and processing time

Government fees for the family visit visa are set by MOFA and are separate from any service fee charged by the platform you use to file. Owner to confirm: the current Saudi E Visa Online service fee, and whether the platform files the sponsor's invitation, the visitor's application, or both.

Once the sponsor's invitation is approved, the visitor's own application is usually processed within a few business days, though timing can extend around peak seasons such as Ramadan, Hajj and school holidays - it's worth applying several weeks ahead of the planned travel date.

Medical insurance for a Saudi visit visa: what it is and how to buy or renew it

Medical insurance is a required part of every saudi visit visa insurance application, not an optional add-on. It's bought online during the visitor's application step, covers emergency medical treatment for the length of the trip, and its cost scales with the visitor's age and the number of days requested. If your relative's visit is extended, the insurance normally needs to be renewed to match the new dates - it doesn't extend itself automatically.

For a closer look at coverage levels and how insurance works for the tourist eVisa specifically, see our Saudi eVisa insurance guide.

Extending a family visit visa (Absher)

A saudi visit visa extension is normally handled by the sponsor, not the visitor, through their Absher account before the current visa expires. Whether an extension is available depends on the visa type issued and how much validity remains on the sponsor's own iqama, so it's worth checking eligibility in Absher a couple of weeks before the visa's expiry date rather than waiting until the last few days.

Applying from the USA, Germany or Italy

Saudi visit visa from USA

Relatives applying for a saudi visit visa from usa follow the same visitor-side steps once the sponsor's invitation is approved, though document notarization (such as a US-issued birth or marriage certificate) may need an apostille. See our full guide to applying from the United States.

Saudi visit visa from Germany

For a saudi visit visa from germany, the visitor's application and insurance purchase are completed online the same way; German civil documents used to prove the family relationship typically need certified translation. Details are in our guide to applying from Germany.

Saudi visit visa from Italy

Applicants filing a saudi visit visa from italy should check that any Italian-issued relationship documents are translated and, where required, legalized before upload. See our guide to applying from Italy for the full checklist.

Tracking a family visit visa

Once the visitor's application has been submitted, both the sponsor and the visitor can check its progress using the passport and application details on the MOFA portal. For the full walkthrough of status codes and what each one means, see the MOFA section of our visa status and tracking guide.