Saudi Arabia approves travel penalties including fines and bans for visiting restricted countries

Saudi Arabia has introduced stricter travel document regulations that impose heavy penalties on citizens who travel to countries officially prohibited by the government, including fines, travel bans, and stronger passport related enforcement.

The new executive regulations were approved by Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif Al Saud under the national Travel Documents Law.

Under the updated rules, any Saudi citizen who travels to a country listed as prohibited by the Interior Ministry may face a fine of up to 30,000 Saudi riyals and a travel ban of up to two years.

If the violation is repeated, the financial penalty may double and the travel ban can extend to five years.

Officials say penalties may become even stricter when travel involves conflict zones, dangerous regions, or countries under emergency restrictions.

At the same time, some circumstances may allow reduced penalties.

These include cases where the traveler has first degree family ties in the destination country, where transit lasts less than forty eight hours during indirect travel, or when the traveler is sixty years of age or older.

The regulations also target misuse of travel documents.

Anyone providing false information while applying for a passport or travel document may face fines of up to 5,000 Saudi riyals, with repeat cases leading to doubled penalties and temporary travel restrictions.

Authorities say more serious violations involving passport alteration or falsification will be referred directly to prosecutors.

That includes unauthorized changes to passport details, replacing photographs, damaging official pages, or modifying document information.

Severe penalties also apply when someone allows another person to use their passport unlawfully.

Selling, pawning, or intentionally handing over a travel document for illegal use can result in fines reaching 100,000 Saudi riyals and travel bans of up to five years.

The same punishment applies to anyone using or attempting to use another person’s passport.

Repeat offences again trigger doubled fines.

Another major violation involves entering or leaving the country through unofficial border crossings.

The regulations allow fines of up to 100,000 Saudi riyals and travel restrictions of up to five years for anyone crossing outside official ports without acceptable justification.

Officials also stress that passports inside the Kingdom should be stored securely rather than carried daily, since the national identity card remains the official identification document within the country.

Saudi citizens living abroad with permanent or semi permanent residency must also register passports with Saudi diplomatic missions in their host countries.

The rules further confirm that passports reported lost electronically cannot be reused even if later recovered unless they are presented to passport authorities for formal cancellation.

Saudi embassies and consulates abroad will continue issuing temporary travel documents for citizens whose passports are lost or damaged so they can return home, while full replacement procedures remain subject to official review.

Courtesy: saudigazette