History was made in 2018, when women in Saudi Arabia were permitted to drive for the first time since 1957.

As the world watched female motorists across the Kingdom celebrate, a less visible set of women also quietly stepped out of the shadows and revved up their engines. “Women were interested in motorbikes, but they couldn’tride openly in Saudi Arabia,”said Zahra AbuAli, founder of social media group Saudi Women Riders and co-founder of The Litas Khobar, a Saudi chapter of the international all-female motorcycle group The Litas.

The Litas Dubai currently features 10 women from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine, Morocco, Russia and the UAE. The group includes police officers, doctors, artists, engineers, management professionals and mothers.

The Women Riders World Relay (WRWR) is one of the largest global motorcycle events for female riders.Set to take place in Dubai in 2020, the WRWR is one of the largest global motorcycle events for female riders, created to raise awareness of women across all spheres of motorcycling. The UAE and Oman are the only Middle Eastern states included in the tour of 80 countries, with Dubai marked as the final destination.

“This event is for women’s empowerment because models who pose on bikes are not actual lady bikers”.

Note: Above excerpts have been taken from an article published in https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/a-middle-east-bikers-club-hits-the-road-for-womens-empowerment/ar-AAHgx8X

JEDDAH — The Council of Ministers has recently approved restructuring of visa system for Haj and Umrah pilgrims as well as for visitors and transit passengers. This is through unifying the visa fee for issuing visa for each person at a rate of SR300. The Cabinet also canceled fee for repeating Umrah pilgrimage.

This revoked the earlier rule to the effect that an Umrah pilgrim had to pay SR2,000 in case of repeating the pilgrimage during a period of three years. AlArabiya.net published a list of the types and duration of visas included in the recent Cabinet’s decision in this regard.

According to sources working in the visa services, there are some new regulations for Haj and Umrah pilgrims, including selection of travel with an organized trip by licensed companies, as well as complying with health insurance regulations, and insurance of vehicles for visitors and transit passengers.

“This also shows Kingdom’s readiness to receive the increasing number of Haj and Umrah pilgrims through huge infrastructure projects and improving the system of services in Makkah, Madinah and the holy sites.

“The decision boosts efforts to achieve one of the most important goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to receive 30 million pilgrims by 2030, through a system of great services provided by the Kingdom to the Guests of God.”

Note: Above excerpts have been taken from an article published in Saudi Gazette, an English Daily Saudi Newspaper, dated 17 Sept 2019.

saudigazette.com.sa/article/577054/SAUDI-ARABIA/SR300-for-multiple-visa-with-one-year-validity