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I plan to leave Guangzhou for Istanbul at the end of July. The departure will be transferred at RUH Airport in Riyadh (stay about 3 hours), and the return will be transferred at JED Airport in Jeddah (stay about 8 hours). I know that if I stay at the above two airports for no more than 12 hours, I do not need to apply for a transit visa, but my ticket is not a onward ticket.(SV885 from Guangzhou to Riyadh and SV277 from Riyadh to Istanbul) In addition, I do not know whether I need to leave the international transit area (Departures and arrivals are from the same terminal）

Do I really need to apply for a transit visa? This is my first international travel, any detailed answer will be appreciated.

Related:Do I need a transit visa for Saudi Arabia?

origamist
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No, you likely won't need it

TIMATIC for Saudi Arabia states :

TWOV (Transit Without Visa)

Passengers transiting through Dammam (DMM), Jeddah (JED) or Riyadh (RUH) with a confirmed onward ticket for a flight to a third country within 12 hours. They must stay in the international transit area of the airport and have documents required for the next destination.

Only one transit stop-over in Saudi Arabia is permitted.

On the outbound leg, you are doing CAN-RDH-IST, which means you have a flight to outside Saudi Arabia. The same is also applying for the inbound leg IST-JED-CAN, and therefore you fulfil the TWOV provided this is a single ticket from Saudia

You can check that :

  • If you are booking directly through the airline (VERY RECOMMENDED, Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) are not worth the pain), it is assured that you aren't leaving the transit lounge
  • If the OTA itinerary doesn't mention self-connection/you have to re-check your baggage

If you have already booked, check your reservation for a 6 character code, if it is the same across all legs of the trip then you are fine.

Only one transit stop-over in Saudi Arabia is permitted.

The above phrase restricts you from doing an itinerary like this one

CAN-JED-RDH-IST

Because you'd have two stops in Saudi Arabia

Nicolas Formichella
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