Had a wonderful flight coming into Riyadh from London and braced ourselves for a less than satisfying experience at customs. Was amazed that to get a tourist e-visa took only about an hour online from start to visa issuance. There was a mad rush to get to passport control with lots of documents (visa, PCR test, PCR test registration, vaccination registration, Covid insurance, etc) and several options to choose from, so we naturally chose first time entry. Waited in a very short line only to find out this line was first time entry for business visa holders, so I had to go back upstairs and I didn't get to give Chris his documents, so I had all documents and was concerned that he would not be let in. Anyway, I find the place upstairs and there are about 6 people ahead of me, all seated, and no one had been cleared yet. There was one Saudi woman trying to process the first person's paperwork. This went on for over 5 minutes as other visa holders wandered in.
Then about 4 other Saudi ladies came over with their iced coffees and they were also supposed to be processing tourist visa holders. they had a nice time chatting all together at the other processing desk. Meanwhile, the first person was finally processed. They then started on the second person and that person only took about 5 minutes. Then roadblock with the third person. The camera wouldn't work anymore.
Finally they take us downstairs to where all the other people had been processed (where I first went) and they started processing again very slowly, as though they didn't know how to do this, or were not very experienced at passport control. They finally split the line in two and now I am last in line somehow. They are getting faster as they get through the first few visas. Finally after about 20 minutes we are all processed. The weather is down to about 80 degrees and it is actually comfortable as we get in a nice car to the Ritz Carlton.
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