Sorry Aircal, I did get a Saudi visa for my daughter many years ago, but they insisted she couldn't have a visit visa as she was 21. So they gave her a resident's permit instead
(the result of that was that she "dropped her anchor" and it took me 6 years to get rid of her!!)
If you work in Saudi, your only real option is to have your friends meet you at a more "visitor friendly" location such as Bahrain, UAE, Cyprus . . . . .
There is talk of the Saudi Government getting more relaxed regarding tourism, but not too much action visible on that front so far.