Saudi Arabia Launches Fast-Track Visa Program

Saudi Arabian Government launches E-Visa program for Esports World Cup

The Saudi Arabian government has launched an “E-Visa,” or an electronic visa program, to enable people with a streamlined method for gaining a visa to attend the Esports World Cup beginning next month, according to a report in Alwast.net.

The 90-day visa program is aimed at boosting tourism and making it easier to enter the country, as it hopes to attract international esports fans to attend the eight-week competition. The new visa program is being facilitated through a collaboration between the Esports World Cup Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Tourism.

More details on the new program are available on this official government website. It is likely that the government in cooperation with the Esports World Cup Foundation is helping to fast-track visa requests from teams, brands, partners, and players that will be taking part in the event during July and August.

The Esports World Cup is a multi-week, multi-discipline esports competition running from July 3 – Aug. 25, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, funded by a grant from the Saudi Arabian government, while competitions are being facilitated by ESL FACEIT Group, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group. Savvy is owned by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund and its Chairman of the board is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler HRH Crown Prince MBS. EFG is home to tournament organizer ESL, Esports Engine, competition platform FACEIT, and esports and gaming festival company DreamHack.