UAE and Saudi visa, driving license and Car's base nationality

@XTang

i have seen several posts from you. you are driving on a bahrain car. so does the immigration stop you for this? Please let me know

Why would they stop me?   I enter from Bahrain to Saudi every week. 

And I don't even have a Saudi license.   You are allowed to drive a foreign number plate car in Saudi.  The only caveat is that you have to exit it every 3 months to avoid getting fined.

But you have an iqama as well, correct?

Exiting every 3 months is not an issue. i am worried about situations whereby I have an iqama and saudi driving license but drive a dubai registered car (albeit in my name with all registration and insurance as well).

Thanks for the response

Yes I have an iqama for Saudi and Bahrain residence.

@XTang

Hope all well. For this purpose- I drove out to Bahrain yesterday(as I have a UAE visa+ drive a Dubai car in KSA). I was quite a bit over 3 months(maybe by a month).

However - At the exit on the Bahrain border, I was asked not to pay any fines; not even a recent speeding fine I got a day back.

All I paid was - The road toll, and the visa fees.

My main purpose was to do an exit, and curtail the fines, and pay off whatever is due. However, jawazat did not mention any due fines. Would you know why?

Is the fine only to be paid when you exit to country of origin? I am trying to do the research on this, as I have-not returned to Dubai since.

As I have commented on other posts, Saudi muroor has done a number of announcements over the last year about the 3 month rule. However, the enforcement of this has been a bit patchy.  Some of my friends have had to pay while others haven't needed to.

Also you will not get traffic fines on non Saudi plates except on the new cameras or if you enter and exit Saudi via land to a third country - as you did now.  So if you get a fine now, this is why 😂.

Thanks @Xtang. This is my second fine on this Dammam  road("using handheld device whilst driving").

I did not know that I cannot get fines on non-KSA plates; thanks for the information, however I shall still drive utmost safely, considering the level of driving within KSA :-D.

I will need to go renew my car registration in Dubai before may 2024(I heard some mavericks get their Dubai cars tested here and do an online renewal with UAE RTA, but I have no clues how).

Then I shall be researching methods to permanently transfer my car here(its older than 5 years, so the normal method of transfer isn't feasible).

I shall ask and post here about my experiences with the above.

How do you know you got a fine to begin with?

If you are asked at a land border to go into customs office with car papers and your iqama...... Usually when you are exiting to a third country ie other than the one you are entering from, that's when the fines can be seen.  My friend who goes to Riyadh from Bahrain, had this happen to him after years when he went to Jordan.

I have been driving that road since 2017 and have had tons of camera flashes. No fines. And have even sold and replaced cars.

Hi Xtang.

For the 2 fines I have got(on the same road) is notification through SMS, as the car is registered on my Iqama when I entered for the first time from UAE into KSA.

The first time I got camera fine(using handheld) was the day I entered the first time with this car(4 months back), whilst driving from UAE border to Riyadh. Iam sure they linked my Dubai car to my KSA Iqama then and there.

The second time was 2 days back, on my way from Riyadh to Bahrain border(for the exit exercise I mentioned). So-  basically- MOI-Muroor SMSed me, and even have a link to Efaa.sa on the SMS.

Also- I cannot pay for an exit/Entry until I clear this traffic fine; however, interestingly, I was told on Bahrain border that I don't have to pay the fine or for even Exit/entry due to my designation, and I passed through.

Oh ok. Makes sense now as your car has been linked to Iqama.  I don't get any sms as mine hasn't been linked.  So you will get fines and you will have to pay them eventually.

And you probably already have an exit re-entry.  You cannot exit Saudi immigration without an ERE unless you are a premium residency holder - has nothing to do with designation (that is only for visa on arrival in Bahrain).

Yes. I had applied for the exit/re-entry. However, I didn't pay for it. Some of my colleagues are saying that possibly my company paid for it, as we have some quota allowance on that; however, I shall recheck with them.

For sure your company paid for it.  You cannot exit Saudi without ERE.