family visit visa

[UmmRiyam]

My mom and brother are planning to come for a visit. Will we be able to drive to Bahrain for a day trip? They will fly into Saudi Arabia, so their port of entry will be 'airport'. I've heard that some people have trouble traveling with their visitors by car out of KSA if they entered by air. Is this true? Is there anything we need to do before trying to leave KSA to Bahrain?

I'm on an iqama, but my husband is Saudi, so will that make any difference because he's the one who's actually sponsoring them since he's my sponsor and I don't work?

[stmayo11]

If they're coming in on the new 5-year multiple entry/exit visas, i see no reason why there'd be a problem with them flying into Dammam, and crossing the causeway for a trip to Bahrain?? Unless I'm just missing something...My Mom visited under similar circumstances. Flew into DMM, then a week or so later, we drove over the causeway for an afternoon of shopping. No problems that I can recall going over or coming back? We may have had to pay a visa fee for her being a visitor, but that was about it. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

[vpainter]

Just be sure your family have multiple - entry/exit visas. Employee's family members routinely get multiple entry/exit visas. Spouse's family routinely get single entry/exit visas. Then you cannot take them to Bahrain.

I know they have been giving 5 year Multiple entry/exit visitor visas but they're possibly rethinking this, so just check their visas when they get them.

[UmmRiyam]

Thanks for the replies. What we found out is that Aramco can only help us get the single entry/exit visa. They said we can go to the Ministry of Exterior and try to do it ourselves, but I think we'll just do the single one this time because we have to make sure we can get the visa on time because my mom has already planned when she's taking time off work. Next time we might try to do it ourselves though.

[vpainter]

You can fly them in and out of Bahrain and just plan to spend the day there on one or both ends of the visit. That's what we've done with family coming on a single entry/exit visa.

[Sandi]

My relative was issued with a single entry/exit visa so I met her on her arrival at Bahrain airport on Wednesday evening. We had an enjoyable Thursday and part of Friday in Bahrain and then came over the Bahrain-Saudi causeway Friday evening. She left Saudi via Dammam airport.

[UmmRiyam]

This time I don't think them flying into Bahrain is a good idea. My due date is too close to when they're coming, and you can never predict when the baby will come!

[vpainter]

You may consider flying them into Dammam and out of Bahrain so you can spend time on the end of the visit. God bless you and your delivery with a healthy baby.