True Experience: How I got Visit Visa from Istiqdam after getting Rejected 3 times Online

As we are aware, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Saudi Arabia, has stopped issuing new visit visa till the Hajj season.

One of our readers has shared their experience of getting Visit Visa for family so that other members can benefit from it.

How I got Visit Visa from Istiqdam after getting Rejected 3 times Online

By Abu Maryam

I want to share how I was successfully able to get Visit Visa for parents after getting rejected 3 times.

I had been applying for visit visa for my parents for past one and half month.

My profession is Engineer, so I was expecting the visa request to get approved in the first attempted.
However, I was surprised when the visit visa application request got rejected not once but twice without any valid reason.

Then I asked my brother to apply (his profession is marketing specialist). He applied on 12th May, 2015 and on 17th May, MOFA updated the status of visa application as rejected and asked apply after Pilgrimage season.( There was still one month for Ramadan to start)

I thought giving it one more attempt, this time through Istiqdam. So on 19th May, I applied for appointment for Istiqdam for Visit Visa. Kindly note that this appointment is different from permanent visa appointment. I got my appointment date for 28th May. On 28th May, I went to Istiqdam, Riyadh with the following documents :

1. Appointment print out
2. Iqama – Original
3. Iqama – copy
4. Copy of my parents passport
5. Introduction letter from my company with CoC (Chamber of Commerce Stamp)
6. Visit visa Form signed and stamped by company and by CoC stamp. ( See Visit Visa Form – Istiqdam)

Although my appointment was at 11:00 am, I went at around 9:00 am. The receptionist asked if I have appointment sheet. He took the appointment sheet and told me to wait. At 10 am the officer in charge for visit visa came. He checked my documents and then printed “Visa permit” (Tasreeh ziyarah) which consists of two printed papers – a white sheet and a green sheet which was copy of the white sheet. He told me to check the names of parents on the printout. Make sure the names of your parents/family are as per the passport or else the visa will get rejected in your home country. Once I confirmed, he told me to goto MOFA (Ministry Of Foreign Affairs).

I immediately went to MOFA. Upon reaching MOFA, after security check, I got a token from the receptionist for visa section. My turn came almost immediately. The officer at the counter checked the date of green paper and told me after one week with the following:
1. Green paper printout got from Istiqdam
2. Original Iqama
3. Copy of Iqama
4. Online application for Visit Visa print out from MOFA website. You have to do the online visit visa application process. Once, you complete the process, you do NOT have to get it stamped by CoC. Make two copies of this paper, one for your records and another to submit to MOFA.

When I went after a week with the above documents, he check my original iqama and took the papers. He told me note the visa application number on the MOFA print out and check the status online.

By next day evening, the status of the visa changed to approved on the MOFA website, Alhamdulillah.

I hope this information will be help to your readers who are applying for visit visa for their families and getting rejected online.