Getting Driving License in Saudi Arabia
Getting driving license in Saudi Arabia has been made one of the easiest task as compared to past. It is a straight forward process which is as simple as you can expect. It doesn’t require too much money or illegal ways. It is straight forward and direct. I categories people which are willing to get driving license in to 3 categories. Category #1 can be further divided in to 2 sub-categories.
- You are well familiar with driving, cars and road signals and has good experience on the road.
- Also You have an official driving license of another country.
- But You don’t have an official driving license of any country
- You are a little familiar with driving, you drove car for a few times but you don’t have experience with road and don’t have a good confidence on road.
- You don’t know anything about cars, driving, road signals etc
For people in category # 1 it is a fast process to obtain Saudi driving license. I describe it below. 1.A. Get your original non-Saudi driving license, and visit any of driving schools you are comfortable with. There are Arabic or Asian based guys wondering outside or just beside the school gate. If they are not there, check for any General Service shop. These agency shops are common and must exist beside every driving school. The most authenticated will be the one that is inside the school boundary. Visit them and ask them to fill out your form for driving license. They will request you for 6 personal photographs and your original Iqama (Saudi Arabian ID/work permit/residence card etc). Provide them both thing, They will ask a few more details like Blood group, mobile number, work-place, designation, sponsor name etc. In the past blood group must be checked at the spot but now more relaxation in the rules have been made. But now they only ask it from you and put the information on your behalf. After filling out the form they might ask you if you want to pay the driving license fee. I suggest not to do this because these agencies charge up to 50 SR more than actual amount. Furthermore it is not a compulsory step done at spot. It can be done later via any bank account. If you feel comfortable paying extra money just submit the fee. These guys will charge you from 10 to 15 Saudi Riyals. These days Driving License Fee is categories ed into 3 levels.
- 2 Years Driving License = 80 SR
- 5 Years Driving License = 130 SR
- 10 Years Driving License = 400 SR
After that you go inside the Driving License Office and submit your form to related window. Once submitted they will guide you for further steps. Later on you will be asked for a blood test and an eyesight test. If you succeed in those Medical tests you are ready for Evaluation test, in which an authorized representative from Driving School will check your driving skills. He might be in a uniform like police man but don’t be afraid of him. He is there just to monitor you, not to arrest you or beat you 🙂 Upon your turn for evaluation test, be calm, enter in car, close the door, fasten your seat belt, check gasoline indicator in dashboard, clear hand brake and wait for instructions. The instructions normally come in Arabic Language, however if you don’t understand they monitoring person will repeat in English with the words (Start, Go, etc). Follow the instruction, don’t push the accelerator pedal too much, keep it between 1500 rpm to 2500 rpm, be alert, they monitoring person may any time ask for apply brake or take a sharp turn. Finally he will complete your evaluation test and hand over your papers (file) back to you, that he already received from you upon entering the car. He might categorize your driving skills from A, B, C. In Arabic (ا، ب، ج). Take your file to the office where you submitted earlier, you will be guided to move to a specific window where you will be informed…
- Number of Days You got to attend driving school.
- The Date when your driving classes will start.
Also you have to pay the school fee that is (435 SR) currently. Then you have to join a training program of 5 or 15 days as per your grade which is based on Field Training at Vehicle and Class Room Training. Finally after completing training you will be given a Final Driving Test Date. Also you will be given a big printed paper that has all the road symbols, traffic signals, road signs etc. That is for your computer signals test. Remember all of them in your brain. Now join the driving classes on specified date, participate in field training at car, ask questions from your instructor whatever you don’t understand. There is a class room training everyday in which you will be given knowledge of road signs and signals. Take a look at the video of Driving Training in Jeddah Driving School.
After successful completion of Driving classes, you will be given a final driving test date which is based on driving the car inside the school and a computer test.
Final Driving Test
Final test consist of 3 basic skills.
- Handling the car on the steep Bridge (In which you should not let the car move back)
- Driving the Car in “8” shaped area with sharp turns.
- Reverse Parking in a Plus (+) shaped area.
If you learned all these things well during your driving classes, you will successfully convince the monitoring person to Pass you. If you pass it, you will be redirected to Computer Test Room, where you have to answer 17 Correct options out of 20 questions. If you pass it straight forward your file is stamped with “Passed”, in Arabic (ناجح) and you will be asked to collect your Saudi Driving License within next 2 days. Make sure to submit Driving License Fee before this test, I mentioned this fee at the beginning.
