🇸🇦 Travel Insurance for Saudi Arabia

Quick Facts: Insurance is compulsory and bundled into the visa • You cannot opt out or buy it elsewhere • It caps at SAR 100,000 (~US$27,000)

You Already Have Insurance — and That Is the Problem

Saudi Arabia is unusual. In most countries where insurance is compulsory you buy a policy and show it at the border. Here you do not buy anything and you are never asked: a health policy is issued automatically with your visa and the premium is inside the visa fee. It has worked this way since the tourist visa launched in 2019, and the requirement is administered by the Council of Health Insurance.

The fee structure makes the bundling visible. A tourist eVisa costs about SAR 535 (roughly US$142) all in. A visa on arrival is about SAR 480 — SAR 300 for the visa itself and SAR 180 for the insurance, issued by an approved Saudi insurer such as Tawuniya or Bupa Arabia. For Umrah the visa fee is around SAR 300 with roughly SAR 100–180 of insurance on top.

Because it arrives silently, most visitors never look at what it covers. The number that matters is the ceiling: SAR 100,000, about US$27,000. That is a domestic Saudi medical policy, and against private hospital costs in Riyadh or Jeddah it is a floor rather than a safety net. A serious cardiac event, a bad road accident or an intensive-care stay can exhaust it.

What the Bundled Policy Is Not For

It is a medical policy issued inside Saudi Arabia by a Saudi insurer. It is designed to make sure a hospital in the Kingdom gets paid — not to get you home, and not to protect your trip.

Repatriation. Getting you back to your own country by medical flight, and repatriation of remains, are not what this policy exists to do. For an elderly pilgrim travelling alone this is the single most important gap.
Cancellation, delay and baggage. Not part of the mandatory cover at all. If a package falls through you carry the loss.
Pre-existing conditions. Do not assume a state-mandated policy treats a chronic condition the way a policy you bought and declared on would. If you take regular medication, insure separately and disclose it.
Cover before you arrive. The Umrah policy activates on entry into the Kingdom. Anything that happens on the journey there is outside it.

Treat the bundled policy as the first SAR 100,000 of a bill, and buy a normal travel policy on top for everything it was never meant to do.

Pilgrimage: the Risk Profile Is Different

Hajj and Umrah are not ordinary tourism. The crowds are enormous, the participants skew older, and the dominant medical problem is heat. In the June 2024 Hajj more than 1,300 people died, with heat the principal cause. Pilgrims walk long distances outdoors, often in their seventies and eighties, often with conditions they have not mentioned to anyone.

Three practical points follow:

Since January 2025 mandatory Umrah insurance is linked to the visa and provided through Tawuniya in partnership with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, up to the same SAR 100,000, activating automatically on entry.
Since the 2025 season an Umrah visa must be tied to a verified booking through the Nusuk platform. You can pick a cheap package, but you cannot skip the package step.
The tourist eVisa lets you perform Umrah but not Hajj. Hajj requires its own visa, with its own insurance arranged through the Council of Health Insurance as part of the package.

Healthcare and Costs

Saudi Arabia has excellent, modern private hospitals concentrated in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and — importantly for pilgrims — Mecca and Medina, which are heavily resourced during the seasons. Public facilities will treat a genuine emergency, but foreigners are directed to private care for most things and private care is expensive. The bundled policy pays first; you or your second insurer pay the rest.

Outside the cities the picture changes completely. The Empty Quarter, the Farasan Islands and the AlUla desert are remote, and evacuation distances are long.

Risks Worth Insuring Separately

Heat. Summer routinely passes 45°C and the Red Sea coast adds humidity. Heat illness is the most likely reason you will need a doctor.
Road accidents remain a leading cause of serious injury to visitors.
Diving on the Red Sea needs a diving extension and, ideally, cover that names hyperbaric treatment.
Desert activities — dune driving, AlUla trekking — are adventure activities in most wordings.
Medication rules are strict. Some drugs legal at home are controlled here. Carry prescriptions, keep medicines in original packaging, and remember that no travel policy helps with a criminal matter.

What Cover to Look For

A supplementary policy with medical cover from $100,000 that names Saudi Arabia, repatriation and repatriation of remains stated as separate lines, pre-existing conditions declared and accepted in writing, and cancellation cover if you have paid for a package in advance. Diving or desert activities added if relevant. Emergency numbers in Saudi Arabia are 997 for an ambulance, 999 for police and 998 for fire.

Recommended Providers for Saudi Arabia

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, and you do not buy it separately. A health policy is issued automatically with your visa and the premium is included in the visa fee — about SAR 535 for a tourist eVisa, or SAR 480 on arrival, of which SAR 180 is the insurance. The requirement has applied since the tourist visa launched in 2019.

Up to SAR 100,000, roughly US$27,000. Against private hospital costs in Riyadh or Jeddah that is a floor rather than full protection, and a serious accident or an intensive-care stay can exhaust it.

It is not designed to. The bundled policy is a Saudi domestic medical policy meant to ensure hospitals in the Kingdom are paid. Medical repatriation and repatriation of remains need a separate travel policy, which matters most for elderly pilgrims travelling alone.

Yes, for everything the mandatory policy does not do: repatriation, trip cancellation, delays, baggage and properly declared pre-existing conditions. Treat the bundled cover as the first SAR 100,000 of a bill, not as your whole policy.

Yes. Since January 2025 mandatory insurance is linked to the Umrah visa, provided through Tawuniya in partnership with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, with the same SAR 100,000 ceiling. It activates automatically on entry, so the journey to Saudi Arabia is not covered by it.

No. The tourist eVisa permits Umrah but not Hajj. Hajj requires its own visa, with insurance arranged through the Council of Health Insurance as part of the visa and package process.

Heat. Pilgrims walk long distances outdoors in extreme temperatures and skew elderly; more than 1,300 people died during the June 2024 Hajj, principally from heat. Declare chronic conditions on any policy you buy and plan for heat rather than treating it as background.