Saudi visa
 

We've just had our visas refused on the grounds that we want to go through Saudi on motorbikes! We are both resident in Qatar. We applied for a visa last month and got it, applied again yesterday, refused!

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this? It's dammed annoying when 'they' change the 'rules' on a daily basis! Motorbikes are legal in Saudi, many bike clubs visit Qatar, the Saudis even sell insurance specifically for motorbikes at the borders, yet this time they say 'No!'

A major bummer, we're looking at land transporting the bikes to UAE and starting our trip from there, we will not be beaten!

where is your route to..which countries to you plan to visit..

Hi, our route is planned for;

Bandar Abbas - Shiraz - Esfahan - Qom - Tehran

Then due west to Turkey, skip across the top of Syria and down to the Mediterranean coast, all along the coast to Canakkale, across the Bosphorous, then up to Edrine, Bulgaria, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, home.

We want to go through Side, our wives are coming out to meet us there, and there is some good diving to be done, and we want to visit the battle fields at Gallipoli as well, so we will miss the middle of Turkey and Istanbul, which is a shame, but you cant visit everything.

Our schedule is shown on our website www.QatarRider.Weebly.com it would be good to meet up with some local bikers if you are close to our route, all the best, Rob

Hi,

I had the same problem from the Saudi embassy in Q8.
Then the consul suggested i just submit my passport requesting a tramsit visa WITHOUT mentioning the motorbike. So that is what i did.
It does not mention on the transit visa which type of vehicle you are taking.
It seems that the apprehension lies with the embassy staff, noy the border guards as they welcome through enough bikers.
I will be in istanbul this evening. Per haps may get chance to catch up with some local bikets. I ll be staying at the villa pasha hotel, close to the Blue mosque.

I will be re turning to kuwait from jordan, via saudi in about 4/5
Days. Will let you know how my transit went.

Hope this helps
H A

Our club in İstanbul is the meeting point for international bikers and civilizations, where you can get maps,information,route planning to save time and get tips while having welcome drinks.
On our facebook page you can see our activities and who has been here.
When you are in İstanbul and want to visit the club,give us a call so a friend will come near you to show you the way to the club or your gps.will get you here.

Best Wishes
zeki.
istanbul bisiklet motosiklet ihtisas klübü | Facebook

+1 on this trick. Although i have no experience, i have read many travellers doing this and getting their saudi transit visas. Lucky for me i don't need to do that, saudi residence permits have their pluses too i guess.. bier

We got our visas after 10 days of trying! I think the following helps, make sure they know there are more than one of you, it seems thst groups of bikers are allowed, make sure they know it is a big trip, not just a weekend, seems that they understand that people must be able to travel through Saudi as most gulf states are land locked by Saudi, dont use negociators, represent yourself in person at the embassy, tat way you can argue your own case, and try to make sure the application says 'vehicle' not 'motorbike', but it's all in Arabic and I honestly done know what our applicaiton said. Anyway, we're though Saudi now, off to Iran in 7 days, then the tour really starts!

Re :
 

Hi,

I always take the help of visa agent.Because they are well aware of how to get visa using proper way.