KSA عربي
KSA عربي
Global عربي
By 2025, Saudi Arabia will host over 10 million expatriates, skilled workers, ambitious entrepreneurs, bright students, and families who establish their lives together.
That’s not just an abstract number, but it’s more than paperwork that defines residency in the Kingdom. It determines your rights, security, and where you’re going to live. If you want to invest, lead a project, study, or meet loved ones, the path within residency you select will determine how easily you will be able to live, work, and survive here.
However, the options may be confusing and unclear due to the variety of permit categories, such as employment-based Iqamas visas, investor visas, or the special Premium Residency. Each type has various eligibility, duration, and paperwork requirements.
If you choose the wrong permit, it can moderately kill the growth, restrict the opportunities, or put a load on your peace of mind.
Hundreds of thousands of professionals have faced challenges, including delays in getting jobs, struggles to earn their livelihoods, inability to own properties, or sudden dependence on sponsors. These issues cannot just hold people back career-wise, but also family and future-wise.
I have seen professionals waste months of their lives in the application process, and investors lose out on deals because of unclear permit conditions. These are not minor setbacks; they could define your entire experience in Saudi Arabia.
The great news is that by 2025, the Kingdom will have already made significant progress in simplifying and expanding the residency process.
Whether it is employer sponsorship you want, or the Premium Residency and its independence, or the category focused on investors, entrepreneurs, or skilled talents, the choices have become more flexible than before. And nowadays, long queues have been eradicated in favor of quicker and paperless processing through online services such as Absher and Qiwa.
The establishment of new categories for investors and professionals is opening doors that didn’t exist before.
Here, in this blog, we will cover each type of residency, who can attain it, the duration, and the requirements. You will also get to know the upcoming changes in 2025 so you can choose the path that aligns with your goals, confidently and practically.
Read more about: Saudi Arabia Premium Residency Program
An iqama is a residency permit of Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Interior issues it and serves as either evidence of legal residence or a work permit in the Kingdom.
For foreign residents, it’s more than an ID, it is the document that allows you to open a bank account, rent a house, access healthcare, enroll your kids in school and receive most services in daily life.
It all begins when you arrive to Saudi Arabia on a valid work visa. You need to have been sponsored by your employer within 90 days of entering the country.
To complete the application, you’ll provide your passport, work contract, medical tests and proof of health insurance. They also put you through biometric registration, which includes your fingerprints and a photograph in the Jawazat Passport Office. After the approval, your card is issued to your name.
An Iqama typically lasts a year, although there are employment contracts that allow two years before renewal. It’s your sponsor who is responsible for renewal, but the important thing is that you take the necessary steps to make sure it is completed on time. If it’s late, you can get fines and even deportation for repeat violations.
In 2025, the Saudi authorities made some updates regarding biometric data, which should be updated every time a permit is renewed. Health insurance will be confirmed automatically via the government official portal, and employers can renew their permits within a timeframe of 3, 6, 9, or 12 months with fixed fees:
- Iqama renewal: SAR 650/year
- Work permit (Maktab Amal): SAR 800/month (minimum 3 months)
- Dependent fee (if sponsoring a family member): SAR 400/month
You can renew your Iqamas anytime via digital Portals like Absher and Muqeem. For residents, this card isn’t just a formality; it’s the basis for legal security, professional stability, and access to opportunities in Saudi Arabia.
A Visit visa has been made on a short-term basis for entry into Saudi Arabia. It is used for a tourism activity, attending a meeting, performing an Umrah, visiting family, or attending special occasions.
The most popular validity time is on a single-entry visa up to 90 days and a multiple-entry visa valid for one year, where each stay is limited to 90 days. When you’re on a visit visa, you can’t take a job, operate a business, or even use most services available for residents because it’s only intended for temporary use.
It is meant to serve those people intending to stay in the Kingdom long term, either to work, study, invest, or reside with family.
It is usually the initial process before obtaining the Iqama, which is a residency permit. You come to Saudi Arabia on a family visa, work or investment services visa.
And then your sponsor, such as your employer, university, or a family member, will apply on your behalf to obtain the Iqama. When you have it, you are legally able to work, open a bank account, sign tenancy contracts, access healthcare, and sponsor dependents.
The difference between the two is significant in daily life:
- Legal Rights: With a visit visa, you are entitled to be in the country but not to work or access most of the services. But with an Iqama, residency visas provide full legal status to live, work, and access public and privately facilitated services.
- Duration: Visit visas are short-term, and they must be renewed outside the country. Although the residency visas are renewable, they are long-term and can be renewed in Saudi Arabia.
- Purpose: Visit visas are issued to stay temporarily, but residency visas are issued to establish a life, a career, and a business within the Kingdom.
This difference is more than technical. So if you’re planning on working, investing, studying, or settling, a residency visa and the Iqama are required. Otherwise, your residence is restricted, and many practical steps in everyday life will be blocked.
Read more about: Can a foreigner or non-resident open a bank account in Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia presents multiple residency pathways in 2025. They’re all for different things, either for a job, business, or an education, or living as a family.
If one understands the qualification, validity, and documentation required, then the process might be swifter and easier.
This is the standard residence of expatriates who are working in Saudi Arabia.
- Eligibility: It is also necessary that you obtain a confirmed employment offer from a Saudi employer. The employer has to be registered at the Ministry of Human Resources; they will be your official sponsor during your stay.
- Validity: The term of employment, Iqama, is usually valid for one year. It needs to be renewed every year, although it is the responsibility of the sponsoring employer to renew it, so long as you stay in the position.
- Required Documents: To get this, you’ll need an updated passport, work visa, signed contract, and recent medical report. It is obligatory to have health insurance and be registered with Jawazat by using biometrics.
This is for individuals who want to live in Saudi Arabia without being sponsored. They will have rights to work, capital investment, and property ownership.
- Eligibility: It’s either Real Estate Owner, Investor, Entrepreneur, Special Talent, Gifted, Limited or Unlimited Duration. They want the applicant to be financially viable, with a clean criminal record and respect for the law of the Saudi civilization.
- Validity: This residency can either be permanent at a one-time fee or issued on a 5-year basis and renewed when it expires, depending on the category.
- Required Documents:The prospective students must provide a valid passport, proof of funds, clean criminal record and updated medical reports. There may be some additional documents depending on the category, such as a deed to the property or an investment license.
This is one of the Premium Residency types and is intended for foreign investors seeking to run businesses in Saudi Arabia.
- Eligibility:You need a valid investment license from the Ministry of Investment. You must also invest a minimum of SAR 7 million within two years and create at least ten jobs for Saudi nationals.
- Validity:This residency may lead to permanent status if the investment and job creation thresholds are met.
- Required Documents: For the application, you’ll need your company registration documents, recent bank statements, audit financials, and photocopied passports. There is also a need for a medical report and an Investment license from the Ministry of Investment.
This would be used by international students who attend universities in Saudi Arabia.
- Eligibility: It should be acknowledged by one of the prestigious universities or educational institutes in Saudi Arabia. Before applying, applicants are required to prove admission.
- Validity: The length of the residency and academic program is the same. It is typically granted on an annual basis and renewed every year until the program is completed.
- Required Documents: You need a valid passport, an official acceptance letter by the institute, a financial support document and a medical report. The procedure also demands health insurance and the consent of guardians if applicants are under 18.
This is the type that Saudi residents also use for their family members.
- Eligibility:The family members who can apply are: a spouse, children under the age of 25, and, in some instances, parents of the sponsor.
- Validity: This residency would be valid as per the sponsor's Iqama. It must be renewed along with the sponsor's permit.
- Required Documents: The applications should include a copy of the sponsor’s Iqama, passports and photographs of the dependents, proof of relationship with family members, such as a marriage or birth certificate, and a medical report for each applicant.
These consist of the Special Talent, Entrepreneur, and Real Estate owner under the Premium Residency program. Each of them has specific eligibility:
- Eligibility: Exceptional Talent is for executives, researchers, and healthcare professionals with a high salary threshold and expertise.
- Entrepreneur residency: is for entrepreneurs bootstrapping high-capital startups.
- The residency of the Real Estate Owner: applies to people who own at least SAR 4 million in property.
- Validity: This depends on the category and is between a five-year renewable status and a permanent status.
- Required Document: These could be professional experience, ownership of a business, deeds, banking statements and a medical certificate, for example. All the individuals must be passport-carrying and have a clean criminal record.
By 2026, Saudi Arabia will continue to develop its residency program to become more digital and attract skilled people and investors. The government has introduced changes regarding resident application, renewal, and leaving the country. Such changes are crucial to workers, investors, students, and families.
A majority of the residency services have been digitalized. Some of the activities that used to require multiple office visits are now handled through platforms such as Absher and Qiwa.
Now residents can renew their Iqama, obtain an exit and re-entry visa, update family residency permits, apply, and pay government fees by phone or computer to the Absher site.
It additionally allows you to upload required papers and schedule visits if on-site is required.
In case of employment transfers, Qiwa has become the main channel. If you change jobs, your new employer can initiate the transfer online.
The existing sponsor will subsequently get 14 days to either accept or deny the request. As soon as it’s approved, the system will update your status without any delay.
This digital shift cuts out paperwork, accelerates approvals, and keeps records real-time accurate.
Saudi Arabia has added new categories of specialization to the Premium Residency program. These are investors, entrepreneurs, real estate owners, and specialists with special skills or talents.
Such new categories will attract valuable investment and skills to the country. For instance, the Investor category requires you to have an authorized Saudi investment license, fulfill specific deposit requirements, and meet certain financial and employment benchmarks.
The exceptional talent is a special category where physicians, scientists and executives can qualify, if they have a specific salary or qualifications. All these categories may be issued for a five-year duration, and they can be renewed.
The growth has already drawn huge interest. By mid-2025, it had received over 40,000 applications,
proving the worldwide demand for long-term living in Saudi Arabia. The 21-year-old age limit of the Premium Residency requirement, too, has been removed, and younger qualified applicants may apply immediately.
For travelers, rules have also seen updates. As of June 2025, visitors whose visit visa has expired will be allowed a 30-day grace period to exit the country without penalty fines or re-entry ban. This regulation provides a way for someone who accidentally overstays to correct their condition without harsh punishment.
The other significant change is that the cancellation of the exit/re-entry visa will not be refunded. Whether you use the visa or not, the fee is still paid.
This is essential information to residents looking to travel because it implies that residents are not supposed to apply for a visa until the travel dates are definite.
Such changes make the issue of residency management in Saudi Arabia more accessible and transparent.
But the online portals simplify the systems, expand residency options, offer more options for professionals and investors, and updated exit policies provide more clarity to travelers.
These are the updates you’ll need to keep in mind to avoid unnecessary delays, fines, and missed opportunities by anyone living in or moving to Saudi Arabia.
1. What is the difference between Iqama and Premium Residency in Saudi Arabia?
In Saudi Arabia, the standard type of residency Permit is Iqama. It’s tied to a sponsor, usually your employer, and you’ll be authorized to be in the country because of that relationship. You are permitted to work and live, but most things, like switching jobs or travelling, need the sponsor’s permission.
While the Premium Residency or the Saudi Green Card is something different, and it's not a sponsor-dependent thing. You can work in any company, own property, invest, and invite your family without any limitations. It focuses on skilled professionals and investors seeking more autonomy in the Kingdom.
2. Can students work while holding a student residency in Saudi Arabia?
The purpose of a student residence is not to earn a wage, but to study. The majority of students do not have the opportunity to work using this permit. The only exception is if the university organizes a work placement or internship, which is incorporated into the course.
These are of Human Resources that the Ministry typically approves. Any other employment without a proper permit is subject to fines, or the person may be forced to leave the residency.
3. Can residency be transferred from one employer to another?
Yes, but it is not automatic. When you have a transferable Iqama, and your current sponsor consents, you can switch to another company.
This is done via the Qiwa platform, where contracts and transfer requests are monitored. In other cases, like unpaid wages or breach of contract, you can be transferred without the approval of the employer, but the government must authorize this.
In the absence of these conditions, you may be required to leave the Kingdom and come back on a new visa.
4. Can residency holders travel in and out of Saudi Arabia freely?
It varies according to the type of residence. When you have a regular Iqama, you must have an Exit/Re-Entry visa for every trip.
Your employer must approve this, and it is valid for a set period. In case you are outside the country beyond that time, your Iqama will be cancelled.
This is not the case with Premium Residency holders, where they are still able to come in and out at any time, provided that their residency is still valid.
5. What happens if my Iqama expires in Saudi Arabia?
An Iqama that has expired may lead to significant issues. The initial renewal lapse is imposed with fines of SAR 500, the second SAR 1,000, and repeat delays may result in deportation. They may also not be permitted to return to the Kingdom for a set time.
An expired permit might deny you access to services, travel, or employment, legally. It is the responsibility of the sponsor to renew the employees, but it is always a wise idea to keep track of the expiry date yourself.
6. Can dependents work if they have a dependent Iqama?
The family members of the prominent resident, such as spouse, child or parent, are allotted a dependent Iqama. It permits them to stay in Saudi Arabia without working.
When a dependent is offered a job, they should change status to a working visa sponsored by an employer before starting.
In highly exceptional situations, such as specific roles in education or healthcare, where dependents have been granted permission to work, but these are exceptional cases, not the rule.
7. What are the Residents’ Rights & Responsibilities?
The expatriates in Saudi Arabia can work, live, get healthcare, open bank accounts, and send their kids to schools, if their permit allows.
They may also be allowed to sponsor their close relatives to be with them. In return, they have to obey Saudi laws, respect cultural norms, and keep their residency papers valid.
It is also the law to carry the Iqama around everywhere. If a resident is working illegally or letting their Iqama lapse, they are subject to fines, detention and even deportation.
Disclamer:
This post is for educational purposes only, and does not constitute investment advice or a solicitation to take any financial action. It should not be relied upon when making investment or financing decisions.
