The iqama explained: getting, renewing and keeping your Saudi residence permit

Written by Site owner Last updated 15 October 2026 How we write and check guides

Your iqama, officially the Muqeem ID, is your legal residence in Saudi Arabia. Your employer applies for it and renews it; you don't. The work visa in your passport only gets you into the country. A full bank account, travel out and back, and a clean departure all depend on the iqama and its expiry date.

How the work visa itself is obtained is covered in our work visa guide. This page starts when you land.

From arrival to iqama

You enter on the work visa. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) rulebook calls this a "temporary (90-day) work visa", and expects your iqama to be issued "during the three legal months" after you arrive.
You attend the medical; the employer handles the rest. Jawazat's published checklist for a new residence permit is written for companies licensed by the Ministry of Investment, but four of its items reach Jawazat electronically from other systems: a medical report from an approved hospital or clinic, a work permit, payment of the residence fee, and medical insurance. If your iqama is late, ask your employer which of these is outstanding.
The employer issues the iqama through Muqeem, the portal companies use to issue, renew and print iqamas for their foreign staff.
You activate the digital copy. In the Absher Individuals app go to My Services, then Download Digital Muqeem ID.

A slow start can free you to move. The Labour Law's implementing regulations, in the April 2025 edition HRSD currently publishes, let a new worker who has not been issued a work permit transfer to another employer without the current employer's consent, under the conditions of the Nitaqat programme. HRSD's 2021 Labour Reform Initiative guide set the trigger at 90 days from entry without a work permit, and waived the usual conditions in that case, such as completing 12 months with your first employer. Check the current conditions in Qiwa, HRSD's platform for job transfers, before you rely on them.

Late fees are not yours to absorb either. Article 40 of the Labour Law puts the fines for delays in your iqama and work permit on the employer, where the employer causes the delay (see the renewal section below).

Before the iqama: money and phone

SAMA's account-opening rules, last updated in September 2025, are specific about your first three months:

A bank may open an account for you only on an official request from your employer stating that your iqama has not been issued because 90 days have not yet passed since you arrived.
That account comes with an ATM card and transfers only. No cheque book, no credit card.
During those three months, until you hold an iqama and an account in your own name, a bank may not make a transfer or cheque of more than SAR 10,000 for you. That ceiling is for professionals such as physicians, engineers and senior administrators. For other jobs, the limit on each transfer is set according to the profession on the work visa.
If you do not give the bank your iqama within the first three months, the account is frozen.

This matters most for rent. If your landlord wants a large payment up front (see what it costs to live in Saudi Arabia), you may have to make it before you can move money freely. Before you fly, agree in writing that temporary housing is covered until the iqama is out.

For a phone line: in January 2016 the telecoms regulator (then CITC, now CST) directed operators to verify every mobile subscriber, either by fingerprint or through Absher.

What the iqama unlocks

A normal bank account. Under SAMA's rules, an expatriate working on an employment contract cannot open an account without a valid iqama. Apart from the restricted first-months account above, the only exception is case-by-case approval from the Ministry of Interior.
Absher Individuals. This is your own self-service account. You use it to download the digital ID, and Absher lists a visa-request service through which a resident can issue an exit and re-entry visa or request a final exit.
Travel out and back. An exit and re-entry visa is only issued within your iqama's validity. Our separate exit and re-entry guide covers the detail.

Renewal: who pays, and how often

Article 40 of the Labour Law, as amended by Royal Decree M/44 with effect from 19 February 2025, reads (our translation of the official Arabic):

The employer bears the fees for recruiting the non-Saudi worker; the residence permit and work permit fees and their renewal, and the fines for delay in these that the employer causes; the fees for change of profession and for exit and re-entry; and the worker's return ticket home after the relationship between the parties ends.

Four practical points follow.

Renewal is not a cost you should see. Article 40 puts your own iqama and work permit renewal on the employer, so a salary deduction for either runs against it. For scale, Jawazat's fee schedule lists SAR 650 to issue or renew the iqama of a company or establishment employee, and SAR 1,000 for a change of profession. The schedule does not say what period the SAR 650 covers. Where an iqama is issued or renewed for a shorter period, the January 2021 decision below has the fees collected in parts according to the iqama's duration.
"That the employer causes" is new. Before the 2025 amendment, the article put fines for delay on the employer without that qualifier. Now it covers only the fines the employer causes. Keep a record, such as emails and Absher notifications, showing that you handed over your passport and attended any medical when asked.
Your iqama may be renewed three months at a time. A Council of Ministers decision of 26 January 2021 allows iqamas tied to work permits to be issued and renewed quarterly, with three months as the minimum, and the work permit fee, iqama fee, expat levy and other fees collected according to the iqama's duration. Don't assume a year: check the expiry date in Absher.
Dependants are not on the Article 40 list. Jawazat charges SAR 500 to issue or renew the iqama of a dependant aged 18 or over, and SAR 2,000 to add a dependant or newborn from outside the Kingdom. Adding a child born in the Kingdom is free. Under Royal Decree M/71 (December 2022), renewing a dependant's iqama while they are outside the Kingdom costs double the in-Kingdom fee. Whether your employer pays dependants' fees depends entirely on your contract.

If it lapses

Fines, then deportation. Article 49 of the Residence Law requires you to apply for renewal at least three days before expiry. Under Article 55, a first failure without lawful excuse is fined at twice the residence fee, a second at double that, and a third leads to deportation. In law the duty is yours, even though the employer does the filing. The law states the fine as a multiple of the fee, not in riyals, so confirm the amount actually charged with Jawazat before you rely on a figure.
Your bank account freezes. SAMA requires banks to freeze all accounts and transactions of a non-Saudi customer 90 days after the iqama expires. After 180 days, the balance moves to a pooled account the bank holds for such cases.
You cannot travel on your own initiative. Jawazat issues exit and re-entry visas only within the iqama's validity, and HRSD's 2021 guide to self-issued visas requires a valid iqama for both an exit and re-entry visa and a final exit.
You may be free to move. The Labour Law's implementing regulations let a worker whose work permit or iqama has expired transfer to a new employer without the current employer's consent, under the conditions of the Nitaqat programme.

Where it goes wrong

The late iqama nobody chases. The medical slips, the work permit waits on it, and the weeks pass. In your first week, ask which of the four electronic items is outstanding, and put day 90 in your diary.
Arriving without a cash plan. For up to three months you may have a restricted account and a transfer ceiling. That collides with an annual rent payment.
A short renewal under a long holiday. On a three-month renewal, your iqama can expire while you are away, and no exit and re-entry visa can run past it. Confirm the renewal is done before you book leave.
Fees passed through payroll. If a payslip shows "government fees", ask what they are for. If they are for your own iqama or work permit, Article 40 says the employer pays them.
Leaving it all to HR. Absher shows your own expiry date. Check it yourself whenever you plan to travel.

Before you sign

Ask these in writing, alongside the package questions in negotiating a Saudi job offer:

How long does iqama issuance usually take here, counting from arrival, and who books the medical?
Is my iqama renewed yearly or quarterly, and who watches the expiry date?
Does the company pay all iqama, work permit and levy costs for me, and for my dependants?
How will I be paid until the iqama is issued, and is temporary housing covered until then?
Will you issue exit and re-entry visas for my annual leave through Muqeem?

The first month's sequence, including registering on Absher, is in the relocation checklist.

Sources

General information, not legal advice. Rules change and cases vary by nationality, profession and employer.

Rules change — if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.