Saudi Arabia / Hiring & employee residence
Bring the right people.
Prepare the right route.
Work visas, local transfers and Iqama: understand what your business and employee need to arrange, from the offer to the employment records.
Research checked 8 October 2026 · Official references & scope
01 / Start with the situation
Where is your next employee?
Regular private-sector employment. Temporary work, domestic workers and dependent residence follow separate routes.
Check your business. Active Qiwa status, CR where required, work permits, wage protection and recruitment quota. A calculator is not visa capacity. Check Nitaqat
Check the role. Occupation-specific Saudization and professional requirements are separate from your company’s Nitaqat band. Check the occupation
Overseas hiring: five steps
A planning sequence—not approval progress. Some preparation can run in parallel.
Prepare the hire
Employer · Qiwa
Confirm quota and payment. Issue the visa document with the correct occupation and mission.
Process the visa
Employee · Saudi mission
Complete delegation, stamping and the mission’s medical, document and professional checks.
Travel & record entry
Employee · Employer
Travel within visa validity; confirm arrival and border-number records.
Issue the work permit
Employer · Qiwa
Issue and pay promptly after arrival; check the record updates.
Complete the Iqama
Employer · Jawazat services
Complete medical, insurance and biometrics; issue residence through the applicable service.
from entry into Saudi Arabia
Arrange it early. This deadline is not permission to work without the required authorisations.
MHRSD requirement ↗ (opens in a new tab)Local transfer: three steps
Offer acceptance is not transfer completion. Follow the employee’s actual Qiwa case.
- 01
Check & offer
New employer checks the current contract, occupation and permit status, then submits the offer / transfer request. The employee reviews and accepts.
- 02
Resolve consent & notice
Follow the applicable approval and notice conditions. Current-employer consent is not required in every case; do not assume every transfer is immediate.
- 03
Complete & update
Finish approvals and payments before starting with the new employer. Check work-permit, residence, insurance, GOSI and payroll records as applicable.
02 / Prepare the matching file
One route. One preparation list.
Confirm the exact mission, profession and portal checklist. No documents or personal details are collected here.
03 / Choose by occupation
Which professional checks apply?
Follow your selected hiring route. Professional registration is a separate check.
Overseas: qualifications & experience
Complete applicable qualification and experience verification before travel. Check coverage for the occupation and country.
QVP guidance ↗ (opens in a new tab)Overseas: practical skills
Complete applicable theory and practical tests before travel. Confirm the approved overseas centre and occupation coverage.
Skills verification ↗ (opens in a new tab)Local transfer · DuVolks practical experience
No routine QVP / SVP step.
In DuVolks’ current local-transfer experience, QVP and SVP are not routine transfer requirements. Follow the employee’s actual Qiwa case and any requirements shown there.
Practice note · 8 October 2026. Not a blanket exemption.
Separate: professional registration
For either route, confirm any required professional registration. Engineering roles may need Saudi Council of Engineers registration / accreditation for the applicable category.
Engineering requirements ↗ (opens in a new tab)Professional verification is not document attestation. More than one check may apply. Confirm each requirement separately before arranging authentication.
04 / Budget & plan ahead
Plan beyond the visa.
The budget
Hiring + employment
One route: overseas visa, processing and travel—or local transfer and record updates.
Ongoing: work permit / levy, Iqama, health cover, salary, allowances and employer GOSI. Include applicable medical / professional charges; avoid double-counting.
The start date
Allow for the dependencies
Employer readiness, professional checks, mission processing and document corrections—or transfer consent and notice.
A portal’s processing time is not the whole hiring journey.
After onboarding
Keep the records current
Track permit, residence and insurance expiry dates. Keep occupation, contract and payroll records consistent.
Iqama renewal guideItemise the quote: separate government fees, provider charges and DuVolks service fees, including country-specific charges. Use the planner’s hiring breakdown; employer GOSI is calculated there. Article 40: recruitment, Iqama and work-permit fees / renewals are employer costs; the receiving employer bears transfer fees. Do not pass these statutory costs to the employee. Official cost duties ↗ (opens in a new tab)
From a hiring plan to the right next step
Tell us who you need.
You provide accurate records, agreed terms and required personal actions. DuVolks coordinates preparation and follow-up within the agreed scope. Authorities decide—support is not an approval guarantee.
Official references & review scope Checked 8 October 2026
Targeted review of regular private-sector recruitment, work permits, employee mobility, professional verification and Iqama prerequisites. Not a country-specific visa checklist, individual eligibility decision or full labour-law review.
Requirements and documents vary by employee, profession and route. Check the relevant Saudi mission and the current official case before applying. Sources open in a new tab.