The Short Answer
An Irish passport holder needs a visa to enter Saudi Arabia, and there are two ways to get one. You can apply online for a tourist eVisa before you fly, or you can buy a tourist visa on arrival at any Saudi international airport. Both give the same thing: a multiple-entry visa valid for 360 days from the date it is issued, allowing a maximum of 90 days in the Kingdom in total. The Department of Foreign Affairs lists SAR 395 for either route and recommends applying online before departure rather than queuing at the airport. Muslim travellers can perform Umrah on this visa; Hajj needs a separate visa applied for through the Nusuk platform.
The 90 Days Are a Total, Not a Per-Visit Allowance
This is where most people get the Saudi tourist visa wrong. The visa lasts 360 days and you can come and go as often as you like inside that window, so it reads like a 90-days-per-entry permission. It is not. The Department of Foreign Affairs states plainly that Irish citizens can stay up to a maximum of 90 days in total per visa, and its guidance table repeats the point: multiple entry, valid for one year, permitting a total stay of 90 days, non-renewable. Two other governments document the same visa the same way. Canada's travel advice says the tourist visa "allows for multiple entries and is valid for one year" and that "you can stay up to a maximum of 90 days in total per year". The UK Foreign Office says the eVisa is valid for 365 days from issue and "valid for multiple entries, but only for 90 days in total across the 365 day period". Three separate month-long trips inside the same year use the allowance up. There is no extension, and overstaying attracts a daily fine. The Embassy of Ireland in Riyadh adds that breaches of the permitted stay can bring a future travel ban as well as the fine, which matters if you expect to return for work. If your year is going to involve repeated visits, count the days across all of them before you book the last one.
Apply Online, or Buy It in the Terminal
Both channels are open to Irish nationals. The online tourist eVisa is applied for at visa.visitsaudi.com, the Saudi government portal, and issued before you travel. The visa on arrival is bought at the passport desk or a self-service machine after landing, and is payable only by credit card or MADA, Saudi Arabia's domestic card network, so cash and most debit cards are no use to you at that counter. The Department of Foreign Affairs recommends the eVisa over the airport option, and the practical reason is what happens before you board rather than after you land: check-in staff verify that your nationality appears on the eligible list published on the electronic platform, and they do that at the departure gate in Dublin or wherever you connect. Turning up with an issued eVisa removes that conversation. Transit is a separate and much narrower case: a Saudi transit visa can only be applied for by passengers flying on Saudia or Flynas.
What It Costs, and Why You Will See Different Numbers
The Irish government's guidance table gives SAR 395, roughly EUR 90 at today's rate, for both the eVisa and the visa on arrival, described as a multiple-entry visa valid for one year permitting a total stay of 90 days. Checkout totals quoted elsewhere run higher, commonly around SAR 535, and the reason is bundling rather than a price rise: the UK Foreign Office notes that the eVisa includes health insurance for the trip covering up to SAR 100,000, so the mandatory medical cover is charged inside the same transaction as the visa itself. Commercial listings tend to break the total into a base visa fee near SAR 300 plus that insurance and a platform charge. We could not settle the exact figure against the Saudi portal, which returns an access-denied page to requests from outside the Kingdom's network. So treat SAR 395 as the official Irish figure, expect the insurance to be added on top, and take the binding number from the checkout screen at visa.visitsaudi.com. Use only that address. Every other site offering a Saudi visa application form is an agency adding a service fee to the same submission.
The UK Got an Electronic Travel Authorization in July 2026. Ireland Did Not.
On 25 June 2026 the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced an Electronic Travel Authorization for British citizens, effective 1 July 2026. It is a better deal than the eVisa. The UK Foreign Office now documents it as valid for 730 days from issue, good for multiple entries, and permitting 180 days in total across that period, covering tourism, business, study, medical treatment and Umrah outside the Hajj season. It is open to holders of all types of UK passport, and it exists because the UK extended its own ETA to Saudi citizens, so the Saudi announcement describes it as reciprocal. It does not cover work, residence or Hajj, which still need the relevant visa. None of it applies to an Irish passport. The announcement names the United Kingdom and no other country, no equivalent arrangement for Ireland has been announced since, and the Irish tourist route remains the 90-day eVisa described above. If you hold both Irish and British citizenship this distinction is worth reading twice, and then reading the note below about second passports before you decide to travel on the British one.
What Has to Be Right Before You Fly
- A passport valid for at least six months from the date you enter Saudi Arabia
- The passport book itself: Irish passport cards cannot be used for travel to Saudi Arabia
- One passport only: Saudi Arabia does not recognise dual nationality, it is illegal to hold two passports in the country, and a second passport, including a second Irish one, can be confiscated or ordered destroyed if found
- Medical insurance covering COVID-19 treatment, which every visitor other than a resident is required to hold, and which the eVisa bundles in up to SAR 100,000
- Confirmation of which ports your visa admits you through: Saudi visas may only allow entry by air and can refuse you at a land border, including the causeway from Bahrain
- Nothing in your luggage that Saudi customs forbids: alcohol, pork products and pornographic material are all prohibited, and phones, tablets and laptops may be checked by officials
Umrah on the Tourist Visa, and the Meningitis Certificate
Muslim visitors can perform Umrah on the ordinary tourist visa, so there is no separate application for it. Hajj is different: it needs its own visa, applied for through the Nusuk platform, and registering there does not mean you will be allocated a place. One health requirement catches people out because it is tied to where you go rather than which visa you hold. Since 1 February 2025, any traveller intending to perform Umrah or Hajj, visit the Grand Mosque, or transit through the Umrah zones must present a certificate of vaccination against meningitis, and the Department of Foreign Affairs is specific about which one: tetravalent meningococcal (ACYW135), administered at least 10 days before departure. The requirement applies regardless of the visa you are travelling on. Book that appointment with your GP well before you book flights, because there is no way to fix a 10-day lead time at the airport.
The Irish Travel Advice Currently Says Avoid Non-Essential Travel
As of September 2026 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade strongly advises Irish citizens against all but essential travel to Saudi Arabia until further notice, citing the security situation in the Middle East and Gulf region. It also advises against all travel within 10 km of the Yemeni border and against non-essential travel within 80 km of it, and notes that Saudi airspace may close for limited periods at short notice, so check with your airline before leaving for the airport. This is not a visa restriction and it does not stop the eVisa being issued. It does affect your insurance: most Irish travel policies exclude cover for trips taken against a standing government advisory, which is worth confirming in writing with your insurer rather than assuming, given the Kingdom also requires you to hold medical cover to enter. Separately, if you are moving to Saudi Arabia to work rather than visiting, the sponsorship system applies: your employer holds your work and residence permits and must give permission before you can leave the country.
Key Takeaway
Irish citizens need a Saudi visa and can get it either online at visa.visitsaudi.com or on arrival at a Saudi airport, with the Department of Foreign Affairs recommending the online route and listing SAR 395 for both. The number to plan around is 90 days in total across the visa's 360-day life, not 90 days per entry, with no extension and a daily fine for overstaying. Irish passports are not covered by the Electronic Travel Authorization that British citizens received on 1 July 2026, so bring the passport book, leave any second passport at home, and check your insurer's position on the standing avoid-non-essential-travel advisory before you pay for anything.
