Saudi Arabia Announces New Short-Term Work Visa

A new temporary work visa system has been introduced by Saudi Arabia, allowing firms to issue short-term visas for up to three months, with an option to extend for an additional three months.

To apply for a temporary work visa online, the applicant must follow these steps:

• Log in to the enterprise’s account on Qiwa platform.
• Select the temporary work visa service from e-services.
• Then, complete all the required fields and submit the request.

It is important to note that only the employer or a commissioner on Qiwa business can submit the request.

According to the website, once the request for an online work visa is submitted through the Qiwa platform, it will be issued immediately without any need for additional documents.

However, the firm must be active and possess a valid commercial registration, except for certain activities exempt from registration.

The company must have a Nitaqat level of at least medium green. Nitaqat is a program that classifies companies based on their Saudization rates.

If the company has multiple entities under the same unified number, there should be no expired work permits, and there should be sufficient credit in the national unified number of the enterprise on Absher. Absher is an online platform that provides various e-services to residents and businesses in Saudi Arabia.

A visa request may be declined due to two reasons. First, if there is an insufficient balance in the unified number of the enterprise’s Absher account. Second, if the rejection is from the Ministry of Interior.

Note here that the issued visas can be canceled, and the government fees will be refunded to the company. The refund will be subject to terms and conditions.