VoxxArrive · Saudi Arabia onboarding topic

Jawazat, Absher and Saudi Arabia's Iqama (Residence Permit) System: An Employer's Guide

In Saudi Arabia, the General Directorate of Passports (GDP), known as Jawazat, sits under the Ministry of Interior and is the authority that legally issues and controls the iqama (residence permit) for foreign workers, administered digitally through the Ministry of Interior's Absher platform (branded "Absher Business" for employers; the informal label "Absher Aamal" appears in some third-party guides but was not found in MOI's own Absher Business guide page) and the linked Muqeem residency portal. Employers run the employment/visa side in parallel through Qiwa, the platform of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD), which governs work-permit quotas, employment contracts and Nitaqat (Saudization) compliance. An iqama typically converts from an entry/work visa after arrival, a medical exam and biometric enrollment, and third-party employer guides consistently place the base government iqama issuance/renewal fee at roughly SAR 650 per year, on top of visa, medical and Nitaqat-tiered levy costs. Employers should also note that multiple third-party guides - including one of this guide's own cited sources (TAS Outsourcing) - widely cite a 90-day deadline from the worker's arrival to complete iqama conversion, with fines or visa-cancellation risk if missed; this was not confirmed against an official Jawazat statute or tariff this session. Because no single official Jawazat/Absher fee schedule was retrieved this session, treat specific SAR figures and day-counts below as advisory-sourced rather than confirmed against a primary government tariff.

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Steps

Activate the labour file on Qiwa and confirm Nitaqat status - Before requesting a work-visa quota, the employer's establishment must have an active, GOSI-linked labour file on Qiwa (MHRSD) and a compliant Green/Platinum Nitaqat (Saudization) band, which gates how many foreign-worker visas it can obtain.
Request the work-visa authorization via Qiwa / MOFA - The employer requests a visa block (job titles and headcount) through Qiwa (MHRSD); the visa is then processed for consulate stamping abroad via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Enjaz platform. This guide's own cited sources disagree on exactly which system - Qiwa/MHRSD or MOFA - technically generates the final authorization number, so employers should confirm the current workflow directly with MHRSD/MOFA rather than treat this as settled.
Candidate obtains the visa at a Saudi consulate - The prospective employee applies at a Saudi embassy/consulate in their home country with the attested employment contract, and (for applicable nationalities) a pre-travel GAMCA-approved medical report.
Employee travels and completes arrival medical + biometrics - On arrival the worker undergoes a local medical screening and biometric (fingerprint/photo) enrollment, which feeds the Ministry of Interior's identity records used by Jawazat.
Jawazat issues the iqama, managed via Absher Business - within 90 days of arrival - The residence permit (iqama) is issued by Jawazat and appears in the employer's Absher Business account and the Muqeem portal, where the employer prints/manages it and keeps the worker's residency and employment records in sync with Qiwa. Multiple third-party guides, including this guide's own TAS Outsourcing source, cite a 90-day deadline from the worker's arrival to complete this conversion, warning of fines, possible visa cancellation, or a right for the worker to transfer sponsorship without employer consent if missed - the exact day-count and penalty amount were not confirmed against an official Jawazat/MOI source this session.
Renew the iqama and pay levies before expiry - Employers must renew the iqama (commonly annual) before it lapses via Absher/Qiwa and settle the Nitaqat-tiered expatriate work-permit levy (and any dependent levies) via SADAD; letting an iqama expire can block exit/re-entry visas and other Absher/Qiwa transactions for that worker.

Timeline

Employer guides consistently describe a multi-step, multi-week process rather than a fixed statutory number: cited end-to-end estimates range from roughly 2-6 weeks up to 6-14 weeks from visa-quota approval to iqama in hand, depending on nationality, embassy backlog, Hajj-season restrictions for certain nationalities, and how quickly medical/biometric steps are completed after arrival. Separately, and more consequentially for compliance, third-party guides - including this guide's own TAS Outsourcing citation - widely cite a hard 90-day deadline from the worker's arrival to complete iqama issuance, with fines and possible visa cancellation if missed. That 90-day figure is well-corroborated across independent sources but, like the general processing-time estimates, was not confirmed against an official Jawazat/Absher statute or schedule this session.

Cost & fees

Advisory sources converge on a base government iqama issuance/renewal fee of approximately SAR 650 per worker per year, on top of separate visa-authorization fees, a GAMCA/local medical exam (cited around SAR 300-1,200), and a Nitaqat-tiered expatriate work-permit levy most commonly cited at roughly SAR 700-800 per non-Saudi employee per month (about SAR 8,400-9,600/year for Green/Platinum-band employers). One source (Noble Core) cites a wider annual range up to SAR 14,400 for less-compliant Nitaqat bands; that upper figure does not cleanly reconcile with the monthly rates cited elsewhere and should be treated as a single-source figure pending confirmation, not a converged estimate. None of these figures were confirmed against an official Jawazat/Absher/Qiwa fee schedule this session.

Some figures on this page vary by jurisdiction, zone or nationality, or could not be independently confirmed from a public source at time of writing - confirm the current figure with the regulator before relying on it.

Sources

Frequently asked

Who actually issues the iqama, Absher or Jawazat?

Jawazat (the General Directorate of Passports, part of the Ministry of Interior) is the legal issuing authority for the iqama; Absher is the Ministry of Interior's digital platform employers and workers use to request, view, and manage that iqama, and the Muqeem portal mirrors residency status for sponsors.

Do employers need both Qiwa and Absher, or just one?

Both, and they serve different functions: Qiwa (run by MHRSD) governs the employment contract, visa quota and Nitaqat/Saudization compliance, while Absher (run by MOI/Jawazat) governs the residence document itself. Keeping worker records synchronized across both is a standard employer obligation cited in every guide reviewed.

How much should we budget for iqama issuance and renewal?

Third-party employer guides put the base government iqama fee at roughly SAR 650 per worker per year, but this is on top of visa fees, medical exam costs and the Nitaqat-based expatriate levy - because no official fee schedule was retrieved this session, employers should verify the current amount directly on Absher/Qiwa before budgeting.

What happens if we let a worker's iqama lapse?

Guides reviewed indicate a lapsed iqama blocks the worker's exit/re-entry visa and related Absher/Qiwa transactions and can trigger Ministry of Interior penalties, so employers are advised to renew before expiry via Absher Business; specific fine amounts were not confirmed from an official source this session.

Is there a deadline to convert a worker's visa into an iqama after they arrive?

Third-party guides - including this guide's own TAS Outsourcing citation - widely cite a 90-day deadline from arrival to complete iqama issuance, warning of fines, possible visa cancellation, or a right for the worker to transfer sponsorship without employer consent if missed. This figure is well-corroborated across independent sources but was not confirmed against an official Jawazat/MOI statute this session, so employers should treat it as a compliance-critical target to verify directly.