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Türkiye and Saudi Arabia have approved a reciprocal visa exemption agreement covering diplomatic and special passport holders, allowing eligible travelers to enter either country without a visa.
Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet approved the agreement at a meeting in Riyadh chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Türkiye had approved the agreement in June, with the presidential decision published in the Official Gazette on June 13.
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia signed the deal on May 6 following a meeting of the Türkiye-Saudi Arabia Coordination Council in Ankara, with Foreign Ministers Hakan Fidan and Prince Faisal bin Farhan signing the document.
The agreement forms part of a broader effort to facilitate movement between the two countries, while the exemption remains limited to specific passport categories rather than ordinary passports.
Under the agreement, diplomatic and special passport holders are exempt from visa requirements when entering, transiting through, leaving or temporarily staying in the other country.
The exemption allows stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period.
Türkiye’s embassy in Riyadh previously noted that ordinary and official passport holders remained subject to visa requirements for travel to Saudi Arabia, while the new exemption specifically covered diplomatic and special passports.
The embassy also said the agreement’s entry date would be announced separately at the time of its May guidance.
The visa agreement comes as Ankara and Riyadh expand cooperation across diplomatic, economic and security areas.
The Coordination Council, established in 2016, serves as a mechanism for cooperation and consultations between the two governments. The third council meeting took place in Ankara alongside the May signing ceremony.
The two sides have increased economic ties in recent years, with bilateral trade reaching $8.5 billion by the end of 2025.
The countries also deepened their security ties when Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a Joint Defense Agreement in Mecca on Aug. 7.
The agreement aims to strengthen collective deterrence against aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three countries is regarded as an attack against all three. It also calls for broader defense cooperation among the three countries.
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