Saudi Arabia's inbound work-authorisation system runs through a set of linked government platforms — Qiwa for the employment contract and work permit, Absher/Muqeem for residency and identity, and GOSI for social insurance — with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) as the overall regulator. A 2021 reform loosened, but did not abolish, the employer's central role in sponsoring a foreign worker's status.
How far this page has been checked. Every link is on an official government or regulator domain. 2 of 50 were opened and read directly; the other 48 could not be fetched automatically — these sites block robots, fail TLS handshakes, or render only in a browser — and were taken from another official page that links to them, or from a search result on that same official domain. None was guessed. Expect a higher share of moved or retired pages here than on the rest of this series.
The starting points for any inbound move: the national services portal and the ministries and authorities that issue work permits, residency, and identity documents.
my.gov.sa and the ministry sites below are heavily bot-protected; several of these URLs were confirmed via HRSD/my.gov.sa's own linked pages or matching search-result titles rather than a direct successful fetch — treat labels as accurate but expect the page itself to load only in a normal browser.
The employer applies for the work visa and Qiwa work permit before entry; on arrival the worker's residence permit (iqama) is issued and linked to the sponsoring employer via Absher/Muqeem.
Several Qiwa and Absher service pages are single-page apps that block automated fetching; these are included because they are the exact URLs linked from HRSD's own platform directory or returned by search under the qiwa.sa/absher.sa/my.gov.sa domains with matching titles.
Qiwa authenticates the employment contract and issues the work permit; the 2021 Labour Reform Initiative changed the mechanics of job transfer, exit/re-entry, and final exit as set out in the correction above.
The HRSD PDF guidebook link was found via search and not independently fetched; it is HRSD's own official document repository so is included under the citation rule.
Nitaqat bands each establishment by its Saudi-national employment ratio; the resulting colour band affects an employer's ability to renew or issue new work visas for foreign staff, so a foreign candidate's prospects vary sharply by employer and sector.
Regulated professions require verification through the relevant Saudi body — engineers through the Saudi Council of Engineers, health professionals through the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties — and academic qualifications generally need Ministry of Education equivalency.
saudieng.sa and scfhs.org.sa service pages are dynamic and sometimes block automated fetching; included on the strength of matching search-result titles under the official domain.
Domestic and household workers are recruited and sponsored under HRSD's Musaned platform, which sits outside the general Labour Reform Initiative mechanics and has its own contract, insurance, and recruitment-fee rules.
Musaned's own domain redirects through HRSD's Arabic-titled news and service pages, several of which the fetcher could not render; included because they are HRSD's own published pages returned under its official domain.
Jadarat is the unified national employment platform for job matching (public and private sector), and Ajeer is HRSD's licensed platform for temporary/seasonal labour supply, including Hajj-season work.
Large private job boards are widely used to find roles in Saudi Arabia but play no part in the official visa or permit process.
Ongoing life in the Kingdom runs through the Absher and Muqeem accounts for identity and residency matters, ZATCA for tax residency, and standard obligations around health insurance, banking, and driving licences.
ZATCA's residency-certificate service pages are behind interactive forms the fetcher could not render; included as ZATCA's own official domain pages returned by search.
Directory of official and semi-official sources, compiled 2026-08-26. Links are to the issuing body wherever one exists. This page states no eligibility, processing time or fee, and is not immigration advice — rules change, and the issuing authority is always the current source.
Your own government runs the register of licensed recruiters, the emigration clearance and the welfare fund that apply before you leave. Those pages are written from that side.
Developed by Amit Jain at allfrontierglobal.com
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