Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. Although no law specifically requires Saudi citizens or passport holders to be Muslim, public observance and proselytism of religions other than Islam are forbidden.

There are no official churches in Saudi Arabia of any kind. However, some Fillipino workers report the presence of churches inside some gated communities. The small number of Saudi Arabian Christians meet in Internet chat rooms, and foreign Christians may meet at church meetings held at one of several embassies after registering and showing their passport, to prove foreign nationality, or by private assemblies in school gyms located in gated communities on Aramco grounds. They can also hold services in each others houses.

 

Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. Although no law specifically requires Saudi citizens or passport holders to be Muslim, public observance and proselytism of religions other than Islam are forbidden.

There are no official churches in Saudi Arabia of any kind. However, some Fillipino workers report the presence of churches inside some gated communities. The small number of Saudi Arabian Christians meet in Internet chat rooms, and foreign Christians may meet at church meetings held at one of several embassies after registering and showing their passport, to prove foreign nationality, or by private assemblies in school gyms located in gated communities on Aramco grounds. They can also hold services in each others houses.

 

The Saudis do not celebrate Christian holidays like Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day or Halloween. Public holidays are granted only for Eid ul-Fitr, the feast at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, Eid al-Adha, commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, some 70 days after Ramadan.

There is also one secular holiday: Unification of the Kingdom Day, on September 23rd. Strictly speaking, it's not a public holiday or a festival, but it's treated rather like one anyway.

During Ramadan itself, visitors are required to abide by the restrictions of the fasting month, at least in public: no eating, drinking or smoking during the daylight hours. Some better hotels will be able to quietly supply room service during the day, but otherwise you'll have to do your preparations. Offices and restaurants stay open with limited hours, but the pace of business slows down to a torpor. After evening prayer, though, all the restaurants in the bazaar open up and do a roaring trade until the small hours of the morning. Most of the shops are open as well, and the cool of the evening makes it a pleasant time to shop. A visitor can have a fine time joining in on these evenings, though having a stash in your hotel room for a quiet breakfast around ten will suit most visitor better than rising at four for a big pre-dawn Saudi breakfast.

On 29 June 2013, Saudi Arabia changed their official weekend from Thursday and Friday to Friday and Saturday.

 

Saudi Arabia has some of the most restrictive travel policies in the world, and advance visas are required for all foreigners desiring to enter. The only significant exception is citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council nations. Also exempt from visa requirements are foreigners transiting through airports for less than eighteen hours, but many other entry requirements, such as the dress code and restrictions on unaccompanied females, still apply. Nationals of Israel and those with evidence of visiting Israel will be denied visas, although merely being Jewish in and of itself is not a disqualifying factor. (There are, however, anecdotal reports of would-be visitors who tick the "Jewish" or "Atheist" boxes on their visa application having trouble.) Saudis prefer not to grant visas to unaccompanied women, but work permits are common in some fields — esp. nurses, teachers, maids — and possible for anyone if your sponsor has enough connections.

Tourist visas, previously available for groups of at least four on guided tours, were "suspended" in late 2010 permanently. Transit visas are limited to some long-distance truck drivers and for plane trips, but are generally issued free of charge. However, it is relatively easy to obtain a transit visa to drive through Saudi if you are legally physically present in an adjacent country and demonstrate the need to drive through Saudi to another adjacent country. Hajj (pilgrimage) visas are issued by the Saudi government through Saudi embassies around the world in cooperation with local mosques. Pilgrims and those on transit visas are prohibited from travelling freely throughout the kingdom, and during Hajj season getting a visa of any kind tends to be more difficult. Most short-term Western visitors to Saudi arrive on business visas, which require an invitation from a local sponsor which has been approved by the Saudi Chamber of Commerce. Once this invitation is secured and certified, the actual process of issuing the visa is relatively fast and painless, taking anything from one day to three months. Word has it that the "new visas" (electronically generated) are only available through agencies within your country of residence. Getting a work visa is considerably more complex, but usually your employer will handle most of the paperwork.

The fun doesn't end when you get the visa, since visas do not state their exact expiry date. While the validity is noted in months, these are not Western months but lunar months, and you need to use the Islamic calendar to figure out the length: a three-month visa issued on "29/02/22" (22 Safar 1429, 1 March 2008) is valid until 29/05/22 (22 Jumada al-Awwal 1429, 28 May 2008), not until 1 June 2008! Depending on visa type, the validity can start from the date of issue or the date of first entry, and multiple-entry visas may also have restrictions regarding how many days at a time are allowed (usually 28 days per visit) and/or how many days total are allowed during the validity period. This all results in fantastic confusion, and it's not uncommon to get different answers from an embassy, from your employer and from Immigration! as a result it is common for arrivals to be detained several hours in airports while entering and exiting.

If you have a work or student visa, exit visas are required to leave the country. (Business, tourism, transit, or Hajj visas do not require exit permits.) You cannot get an exit visa without a signature from your employer/sponsor, and there have been cases of people unable to leave because of controversy with employers or even customers. For example, if a foreign company is sued in Saudi for non-payment of debts and you are considered its representative, an exit visa may be denied until the court case is sorted out. Be very careful of such cases as the paperwork regarding such issues would take months to resolve.

Saudi Arabia has very strict rules for what may be imported: alcoholic beverages, pork, non- Sunni Islamic religious materials and pornography (very widely defined) are all prohibited. Computers, VCR tapes and DVDs have all been seized from time to time for inspection by the authorities. If you are unsure if the movie you watch or the video game you play is deemed un-Islamic, it would probably be best not to bring them with you to the kingdom. In general, though, inspections aren't quite as thorough as they used to be and while bags are still x-rayed, minute searches are the exception rather than the rule. Note that western families driving through on a valid transit visa are generally waved through the customs inspection.

Be very careful with carrying any narcotics, Drug possession is punishable by death. There are many banned materials by the Saudi government including poppy seeds and nutmeg, consult the embassy before travelling, and a general rule of thumb is to not carry any products that could get you in trouble!

 

Entertainment in Saudi Arabia is only women and family-oriented. There are no activities for single males, as single men are not allowed in family areas (malls, restaurants, ect...). By law in Riyadh and other places in Saudi, women must be accompanied by a male relative guardians in public, whether foreign or local, failing to do so may result in harassment by locals and/or arrest by the Islamic Police. This rule does not apply to the city of Jeddah, and many women are seen alone, or in groups of ladies, in public without any problems from locals or officials.

Desert excursions are particularly popular with the locals, but are extremely dangerous for foreigners, and especially women, due to the ultra conservative culture of armed Bedouins.

Scuba diving is popular on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast. Jeddah has a number of dive operators. But extreme caution needs to be applies since very few hospitals are equipped to deal with Scuba diving related injuries and decompression sickness. Hospitals are not accessible to foreigners even during emergency situations and possession of health insurance. Beaches in Jeddah are well known for their diving related death incidences. The Red Sea, as beautiful as it is, is full of poisonous fish and corals, thorough study of the local marine life is strongly encouraged, and the basic rule of thumb "touch nothing" is strongly advisable. Diving outside city limits is prohibited by law and can risk imprisonment in charges related to drug trafficking, which can lead to lengthy imprisonment until the paperwork is completed.

 

One of the biggest dangers a visitor to Saudi Arabia faces is the lethal driving (see above, Getting Around - By Car) — drive or pick your drivers carefully and buckle up your seatbelt.

A low-level insurgency which targets foreigners in general and Westerners in particular continues to exist. The wave of violence in 2003-2004 has been squashed by a brutal crackdown by Saudi security forces and there have been no major attacks in the cities for several years, security remains tight yet it is prudent not to draw too much attention to yourself. Foreigners should register their presence with their embassy or consulate. Emergency alert systems using e-mail and cell phone messages are maintained by many governments for their guest workers.

Four French tourists, part of a larger group that had been camping in the desert, were shot and killed by terrorists near Madain Saleh in early 2007. Due to this, optional police escorts — which can be an interesting experience, are sometimes provided for western tourists traveling outside major cities, in areas like Abha, Najran and Madain Saleh. These can be easily arranged through local tourist agents and are not very expensive. Police escorts are trained to be very polite with foreigners, but usually do not speak English.

While Saudi Arabia actually has one of the lowest crime rates in the world due to regular police presence in public, a certain very small background level of non-violent opportunistic theft like pick-pocketing and purse snatching does exist like any other part of the world.

Police in Saudi Arabia are divided into three authorities: Traffic Police (coloured green), General Police (coloured blue), and Special Safety Police (coloured brown). General Police and Special Safety Police are not corrupt and are trained to be friendly and respectful with everyone, they are also very strict in enforcing laws. Traffic Police are generally considered corrupt and lazy. As a result, within the police culture they are considered the lowest level.

Saudi society endeavours to keep men and women separate, yet sexual harassment — leers, jeers and even being followed — is depressingly very common. Unaccompanied women are at a very high risk of kidnapping and sexual harassment by locals and officials.

 

LGBT activities are illegal in Saudi Arabia and it is one of the least homosexual friendly countries in the world. First offences attract prison sentences of several months to life, fines with whipping/flogging, castration, torture, vigilante killings and public execution. A second conviction invariably results in execution.

 

Sharia law can bring a visitor into contact with the local police and justice systems. The Saudi justice system (sharia) is notoriously very harsh, and gives no leeway to non-Saudis, and embassies can provide only limited help in these situations. See Respect for how to stay out of trouble.

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy and is headed by the al-Saud dynasty, which is largely respected. Voicing any criticism of the ruling monarchy is frowned upon in Saudi society and may warrant imprisonment. Also, due to the ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict it would be unwise to say anything which could be deemed to be provocative as this is a very sensitive issue.

Although prostitution is illegal in Saudi Arabia, as it follows the Islamic law, it is common but very discreet as punishments are very severe.

 

Visitors to Saudi Arabia are required to respect local conventions, in particular regarding culture. While first-timers in Saudi Arabia are often regaled with tales of beheadings, amputations and whippings, the full harshness of Saudi law is reserved for true criminals like drug smugglers. With a modicum of common sense you'll be just fine, and should a visitor accidentally cause some minor offense, the reaction will generally be amusement rather than anger. But still be reserved.

 

The really important rules to beware of are enshrined in written Saudi law, with criminals subject to the full strength of the infamous Saudi penal system. In addition to obvious crimes like murder (punishable by beheading) and theft (amputation of the hand for repeat offenders), acts considered serious crimes include mixing of unrelated people of the opposite sex, adultery, homosexual activity, and possession of alcohol or drugs.

In practice, though, most visitors will be primarily concerned with the code of morality, involving things like women not covering up properly, and not accompanied by a male guardian, not observing prayer or (during Ramadan) fasting times, etc. These rules are enforced by the infamous muttawa (pl. mutawain), the zealous volunteers of the religious police known as the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Confusingly, the exact rules and their enforcement vary greatly both with time and from region to region, with the Nejd region around Riyadh being the most strict, the Eastern Province being moderate, and the Hejaz around Jeddah being the least strict. Some of the time, encounters with the muttawa (especially for non-Muslims) simply results in harsh verbal warnings, but occasionally they may undertake public whipping. The muttawa do have the power to detain those suspected of un-Islamic conduct, but — in theory — must hand them over to the police before interrogation, a law that is sometimes not followed. Reports of human rights abuses and even deaths in muttawa custody are still common.

 

Most areas of life in Saudi Arabia are segregated by sex to ensure that unrelated men and women have no possibility of "mingling" (khulwa, a punishable crime). Under the rules of segregation, all people are divided into three groups:

• Families. The basic unit of Saudi life, families consist of women accompanied by their mahrams (legal male guardians) — father, brother, husband, uncle, nephew — and children.

• Single men (bachelors). Men not accompanied by their families. Despite common use of the word "bachelor", it is irrelevant whether the man is married or not; a husband will dine in the bachelor section at lunch when alone and in the family section at dinner when with his wife. It is against the law to be accompanied anywhere by a woman who is not your wife or a registered family member, and religious police pay particular attention to interracial couples.

• Single women. Women not accompanied by their male guardian. Most of the facilities for families in Jeddah (but not in Riyadh nor the rest of Saudi Arabia) will admit single women. It is against the law to be accompanied anywhere by a man who is not your registered male guardian. The punishment will be worse for the man than for the woman. While the man is forced to sign a written oath not to repeat the offence and may be subject to lashing or imprisonment, women are generally "returned" to their families, with her male guardian having to go through the offence on her behalf.

Typical examples of segregation include:

Government EstablishmentsUsually there is a women's section.

BanksSeparate branches for men and women.

CoffeeshopsMostly men only (in Riyadh), nearly all coffee shops in Jeddah have family sections.

RestaurantsSeparate sections for families and men. The vast majority will allow single women into the family section (especially in Jeddah).

 

 

Men:

Locals almost universally wear a thobe (white robe with sleeves) with a ghutra (headdress), but the standard dress code for foreign men in Saudi Arabia is long trousers and a long-sleeved shirt although T-shirts are increasingly common. Shorts are an uncommon sight outside the gym or beach but in most cases it won't get you in trouble nowadays.

Contrary to rumours, men with long hair do not need to cut it before entering the kingdom. Shoulder-length locks are common and many men have long hair in Saudi Arabia. Beduins, which constitute the majority of the population, are well known culturally not to cut their hair, which is usually hidden under the headdress. But some men might get verbal advice from the muttaween if the man's hair is tied, and will usually ask him to untie it, as it is considered feminine to tie hair.

Women:

Women, be they local or foreign, are all required to wear an abaya, a long and loose black robe. While a headscarf is optional for non-Saudi females (particularly in Jeddah), one should at least be brought along in order to avoid possible harassment from locals and the religious police or to be used as a means of deflecting attention from potentially aggravating men.

Saudi law prohibits women from mingling with unrelated men. Some family restaurants will go further and will not allow a married couple to dine together with a single man. Women may not drive cars. Women may not even be driven by unrelated men (e.g. taxi drivers).

A woman may not travel alone. They may not stay alone in hotels, hotels will require the presence of a male guardian.

While all this legally applies to foreign women as well, in practice foreign women are not restrained by their families in the way that Saudi women are, and can have considerable leeway if they choose to take it. For example, a foreign woman and her boyfriend (or even male coworker) can simply claim to be husband and wife, and thus mingle freely — although, if caught doing so, they will be subject to a stay in jail.

A single woman accosted by the police or the muttawa and requested to come with them does not have to (and, for their own safety, should not) go with them alone: you have the right to call your male guardian and have him arrive. However, you may be required to surrender your ID, and you may not leave until the police/muttawa allows you to.

 

Photography is probably the easiest way for a visitor to inadvertently get into trouble. Do NOT take pictures of any government-related building (ministries, airports, military facilities etc) or any building that could possibly be one, or you risk being hauled off to jail for espionage, or accused of terrorist plotting. Do not photograph any Saudi men without permission and do NOT even point your camera in the general direction of women, period. Even government publications avoid pictures of people and often resort to mosaicing out faces if there have to use one!

Playing music in public is also prohibited. However, personal music players and listening to music in private is fine, and there are plenty of music shops in the country's shopping malls if you don't mind permanent marker over Britney's hemline on the cover. It is not uncommon to hear young Saudis blasting the latest hip-hop music in their vehicles, at least when the muttawa are not around.

Religious items for religions other than Islam, including Bibles, crucifixes and any religious literature, are forbidden. Anything that hints of proselytism is treated very harshly, and the muttawa often bust illicit church assemblies and the like. Public observance of religions other than Islam is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

The flag of Saudi Arabia bears the Islamic declaration of faith, and desecration or any other inappropriate use of the flag is considered a crime. Any criticism of the King, the royal family or Saudi Arabia's government in general is not tolerated and risks indefinite imprisonment.