Qiwa Platform Saudi Arabia (2026): Services & How to Use It

By Ankita Jaiswal — Sr. Business Consultant, Noble Core · Updated June 2026

This guide explains exactly what Qiwa is, how to set up an establishment account, the key services every employer uses, how Qiwa links to GOSI and Muqeem, the work-permit fees for 2026, and the common mistakes that get companies frozen.

What is the Qiwa platform?

Qiwa (qiwa.sa) is the unified e-services platform of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD), launched to digitise the entire employer-employee relationship in the Kingdom. Instead of visiting labour offices, businesses now manage almost every workforce task online — issuing and renewing work permits, documenting contracts, monitoring their Saudization (Nitaqat) status, transferring staff between establishments, and updating company labour data.

Qiwa sits at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 labour-market reforms. It is the operational backbone of the Labour Reform Initiative and works in tandem with other government systems — GOSI for social insurance, Muqeem for residency, Mudad for the Wage Protection System (WPS), and Absher for individual government services. For any company hiring in the Kingdom, a Qiwa establishment account is not optional; it is the system of record for your labour file.

Before Qiwa, hiring a foreign worker, renewing a permit, or moving an employee between companies meant paperwork, in-person visits, and long waits at labour offices. Today the same actions happen in minutes online, with status updates visible in real time. The platform has processed more than 11 million employment contracts and issued hundreds of thousands of Saudization certificates, reflecting how central it has become to running a compliant business in the Kingdom. If you are an investor planning to hire local and foreign staff, understanding Qiwa early — before your first employee arrives — will save you weeks of avoidable delays and protect your Saudization standing from day one.

How to set up a Qiwa establishment account

Every registered business in Saudi Arabia must have a Qiwa establishment account tied to its Commercial Registration (CR) and unified national number. If you are still setting up your entity, see our guide on company formation in Saudi Arabia first, then return to register on Qiwa.

Step-by-step registration

1. Create or sign in at qiwa.sa using the authorised person’s National ID or Iqama number, verified through Absher / Nafath.
2. Link your establishment by entering the unified national number (700 number) of your company. Qiwa pulls your CR data automatically from the Ministry of Commerce.
3. Assign authorised users — the owner or general manager can delegate access to HR staff and PRO/government-relations officers with specific permissions.
4. Verify the establishment data — confirm your activity, address, and Nitaqat band are correct before transacting.
5. Activate a subscription if required for your size band; many services are free, while bundled employer packages carry an annual subscription.

Once active, your dashboard shows your live Nitaqat status, employee list, work-permit balance, and any compliance alerts.

A few practical notes when registering. The authorised person must be the owner, partner, or general manager listed on the Commercial Registration, or someone they formally delegate; access is granted through the national single-sign-on (Nafath), so make sure that person’s Absher account is active and their mobile number is current. If your CR was only recently issued, allow a short window for the data to synchronise with Qiwa before the establishment appears. Larger groups with multiple branches or several CRs should register each establishment under the correct unified number so that Nitaqat is calculated accurately per entity. Getting these foundations right at the outset prevents the most common onboarding headaches later.

Key Qiwa services for employers

The Qiwa establishment account consolidates dozens of labour services. The table below summarises the ones most businesses use, with the responsible authority and what each one does.

Service	What it does	Authority / linked system
Work permits (issue / renew)	Issue or renew the work permit for each foreign worker; choose 3, 6, 9 or 12-month duration	MHRSD via Qiwa
Contract documentation	Create, amend, renew and terminate standardised contracts with mandatory employee e-approval	MHRSD via Qiwa
Saudization (Nitaqat) status	Live colour-band score (Platinum to Red) and the ratios you must maintain	MHRSD via Qiwa
Employee transfer	Move a worker from another establishment with employee consent — no exit/re-entry needed	MHRSD via Qiwa
Quota / visa management	Request and manage new work-visa quotas based on Nitaqat band	MHRSD via Qiwa
Establishment data	Update activities, branches, working hours and authorised signatories	MHRSD via Qiwa
Social insurance link	Register and report employees for pension and occupational-hazard cover	GOSI
Residency (Iqama) actions	Iqama issuance/renewal, exit-re-entry and final-exit visas tied to the labour file	Muqeem

Work permits

The Work Permits service lets you issue a permit for a new foreign hire or renew an existing one. You select the duration (3, 6, 9 or 12 months) and settle the MHRSD payment code through SADAD, typically within 14 days of issuing the invoice. Your Nitaqat band must be Mid-Green or above to renew permits and request new permanent work visas.

The work permit is the labour-side authorisation that sits underneath the residency permit (Iqama). In practice the sequence is: confirm you have visa quota for the role, issue or renew the work permit on Qiwa, pay the levy, and then complete the matching Iqama step in Muqeem. Plan renewals ahead of time — a lapsed work permit can suspend an employee’s legal status and trigger fines, so most HR teams track expiry dates centrally and renew well before the deadline. The shorter durations (3 or 6 months) give flexibility for probationary or project-based hires, while 12-month blocks reduce administrative repetition for long-term staff.

Contract documentation and authentication

Every employment relationship must be captured in a standardised digital contract on Qiwa. The employer drafts it; the employee must electronically approve it before it is valid. From 15 April 2026, the MHRSD confirmed that only Saudi employees with electronically authenticated Qiwa contracts count toward Saudization — GOSI registration alone is no longer enough. Keeping every contract documented is therefore now central to protecting your Nitaqat score.

The contract templates on Qiwa align with the Saudi Labour Law, capturing salary, job title, working hours, probation period, leave, notice period, and end-of-service entitlements. Because both parties approve electronically, the documented contract becomes a clear reference point if a dispute ever arises, and it reduces the scope for misunderstanding over agreed terms. The 2026 rule change means HR teams should audit their existing Saudi workforce and make sure every national employee has a fully authenticated contract on the platform — any gaps directly erode the Saudization percentage the business is judged on, even where the employee is genuinely working and registered with GOSI.

Saudization (Nitaqat) status and quota management

Qiwa displays your Nitaqat standing in colour bands — Platinum, High Green, Medium Green, Low Green, Yellow and Red — based on the ratio of Saudi nationals to your total workforce in your sector and size band. Establishments in Mid-Green and above can renew foreign work permits, apply for new visas, transfer employees, and change professions. Falling into Yellow or Red restricts these privileges. You manage your visa and quota requests from the same dashboard.

Your required ratio is not a single national figure — it depends on your economic activity and how many employees you have, with quotas reviewed and tightened over time as part of Vision 2030’s localisation goals. The higher your band, the more privileges and incentives you unlock, from priority visa quotas to support programmes for hiring Saudi nationals. Because the band updates dynamically as your headcount changes, hiring a foreign worker without a matching Saudi hire can quietly push you down a band. Forward-looking employers model their Nitaqat impact before they recruit, treating Saudization not as a compliance afterthought but as a planning input for every hiring decision. Qiwa’s calculator and live dashboard make it straightforward to see where you stand and what one more hire would do to your ratio.

Employee transfer

The transfer service lets a worker move from one establishment to another without leaving the Kingdom. It requires the employee’s explicit consent through Qiwa, the receiving company’s acceptance, no open labour disputes between the parties, and both establishments meeting Nitaqat requirements. This is a cornerstone of the Labour Reform Initiative, giving workers more mobility while keeping the process transparent and rule-based for employers.

For the receiving company, a transfer is often faster and lower-risk than recruiting from overseas, because the worker is already in the Kingdom with a valid Iqama. The platform records the consent of both sides and the absence of disputes, so the move is fully auditable. There can be notice-period and timing conditions depending on the worker’s contract and how long they have been with the current employer, so it is worth confirming the specifics in Qiwa before making an offer. Quota and Nitaqat checks apply to the receiving establishment just as they do for a new hire, which is another reason to keep your band healthy.

How Qiwa links to GOSI and Muqeem

Qiwa is not a silo — it is the labour layer of an integrated government ecosystem. Understanding the links saves time and prevents data mismatches.

• GOSI (General Organization for Social Insurance) — every employee on your Qiwa file should be registered with GOSI for pension and occupational-hazard contributions. Salary and headcount data flow between the systems, and GOSI records feed into Nitaqat calculations alongside documented Qiwa contracts.
• Muqeem — the residency platform handles Iqama issuance and renewal, exit-and-re-entry visas, and final-exit visas. A work permit issued on Qiwa is the prerequisite for the Iqama actions you then complete in Muqeem.
• Mudad / WPS — wage payments are monitored through the Wage Protection System; consistent salary data across Qiwa, Mudad and GOSI keeps your file compliant.

Because the systems share data, an error in one — an undocumented contract, an unregistered employee, a salary mismatch — can flag compliance issues across all of them. A worker listed on Qiwa but missing from GOSI, or paid a different salary in the WPS than the figure on their documented contract, is the kind of inconsistency that surfaces during inspections and can hold up otherwise routine transactions. The practical rule is to treat the three systems as one record: whenever you add, change, or end an employment, update Qiwa, GOSI and the wage data together so they always agree. To understand which licence and registrations sit upstream of Qiwa, review our MISA licence in Saudi Arabia guide.

Qiwa fees and work-permit costs in 2026

Most administrative actions on Qiwa carry small or no fees, but the work-permit (labour levy) is the significant recurring cost for companies employing foreign workers. The figures below are indicative for 2026 — always confirm current amounts on the official Qiwa portal.

Item	Indicative 2026 cost (SAR)	Notes
Basic work-permit fee	25 / 3 months	First 3 months of an employee’s stay are exempt
Labour levy — expats ≤ Saudi headcount	700 / month per worker	SAR 2,100 (3M) / 4,200 (6M) / 8,400 (12M)
Labour levy — expats above Saudi headcount	800 / month per worker	Higher band when expats outnumber Saudis
Industrial-licence holders	0	Work-permit levy permanently cancelled (Dec 2025) for valid industrial licences
Establishment subscription	Varies by size band	Some employer packages carry an annual fee

The minimum payment period is 3 months, paid via SADAD; you may settle 3, 6, 9 or 12 months at once. Confirm live figures on qiwa.sa before budgeting.

For most companies the labour levy is the dominant ongoing labour cost, so it pays to plan around it. Two levers reduce it directly: improving your Saudi-to-expat ratio, which keeps you in the lower levy band, and, where relevant to your activity, holding a valid industrial licence, which exempts the levy entirely. Qiwa provides a built-in work-permit calculator so you can estimate the cost per worker and per renewal cycle before you commit. Budgeting these figures into your hiring plan from the start — rather than discovering them at renewal — keeps cash flow predictable and avoids the unpleasant surprise of a large levy bill landing all at once.

Qiwa for employees and job seekers

Qiwa is not only for employers. Workers use the individual account to review and approve their documented contract, check the status of their work permit, request a transfer to a new employer, and view their labour rights and entitlements. This transparency — both sides must approve the contract electronically — is a deliberate feature of the labour reforms, giving employees visibility over the terms they are agreeing to and reducing disputes.

For employers, this two-sided design has a practical implication: you cannot finalise a contract, change material terms, or complete certain actions without the employee’s electronic sign-off. Building that step into your onboarding — explaining to a new hire that they will receive a Qiwa request to approve — keeps the process smooth and avoids permits or registrations stalling because an employee has not yet logged in to approve. Treating the worker as an active participant in the paperwork, rather than a passive recipient, is exactly the cultural shift the reforms were designed to encourage.

Why Qiwa matters for foreign investors in 2026

For a foreign company entering Saudi Arabia, Qiwa is where the abstract idea of “hiring in the Kingdom” becomes concrete. It is the gateway through which every visa, contract, and Saudization obligation is administered, and it is increasingly the single dashboard regulators look at to judge whether a business is compliant. The 2026 changes — most notably the contract-authentication rule for Saudization credit and the cancellation of the work-permit levy for industrial-licence holders — show how quickly the rules evolve, and how directly they affect headcount budgets.

The strategic takeaway is simple: build your Qiwa, GOSI and Muqeem setup as a single, well-governed system from day one rather than bolting it together after your first hire. Decide who holds authorised access, set a process for documenting every contract immediately, track permit and Iqama expiries centrally, and model the Nitaqat impact of each new role before you advertise it. Companies that treat labour compliance as core infrastructure — not back-office admin — move faster, avoid freezes, and keep their visa pipeline open while competitors are stuck untangling avoidable errors.

Common mistakes to avoid on Qiwa

• Leaving contracts undocumented — from 15 April 2026, undocumented Saudi contracts no longer count toward Nitaqat, which can downgrade your band overnight.
• Missing the 14-day payment window on work-permit invoices, leading to lapsed permits and service freezes.
• Ignoring your Nitaqat band until it slips to Yellow or Red, which blocks new visas, renewals and transfers.
• Data mismatches between Qiwa, GOSI and Mudad (different salaries or headcounts), which trigger compliance flags.
• Not delegating user roles — relying on one login creates a bottleneck and risk if that person leaves.
• Attempting transfers with open labour disputes, which the system will reject.
• Forgetting Muqeem steps after issuing a work permit — the Iqama is completed separately.

How Noble Core helps you manage Qiwa

Setting up and running a Qiwa establishment account correctly — documenting every contract, watching your Nitaqat band, paying levies on time, and keeping GOSI and Muqeem in sync — is where many new entrants stumble. Noble Core sets up your establishment account, configures user roles, documents contracts, manages work permits and transfers, and keeps your labour file compliant across Qiwa, GOSI and Muqeem, so your team can focus on the business rather than the portals.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Qiwa platform in Saudi Arabia?

Qiwa is the official digital labour platform of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD). It lets employers issue work permits, document and authenticate employment contracts, track their Saudization (Nitaqat) status, transfer employees, and manage labour data online — linking directly to GOSI and Muqeem. It serves over 14.5 million users in 2026.

How do I create a Qiwa establishment account?

Sign in at qiwa.sa using the authorised person’s National ID or Iqama (verified via Absher/Nafath), then link your establishment by entering your company’s unified national 700 number. Qiwa pulls your Commercial Registration data automatically. You then assign user roles, verify your establishment data, and activate any required subscription before transacting.

What services does Qiwa offer employers?

Qiwa offers work-permit issuance and renewal, standardised contract documentation with mandatory employee e-approval, live Saudization (Nitaqat) status, employee transfers between establishments, visa and quota management, and establishment-data updates. It also integrates with GOSI for social insurance and Muqeem for residency (Iqama) actions, consolidating over 40 labour services in one account.

How much does a Qiwa work permit cost in 2026?

The first 3 months of an employee’s stay are exempt. After that, the basic fee is about SAR 25 per 3 months, plus a labour levy of roughly SAR 700/month if your expats do not exceed your Saudi headcount, or SAR 800/month if they do. Industrial-licence holders are exempt. Payment is via SADAD in 3, 6, 9 or 12-month blocks. Confirm current figures on qiwa.sa.

How does Qiwa link to GOSI and Muqeem?

Qiwa is the labour layer of an integrated system. Employees on your Qiwa file should be registered with GOSI for pension and occupational-hazard cover, and GOSI data feeds Nitaqat. A work permit issued on Qiwa is the prerequisite for Iqama issuance, renewal and exit-re-entry visas, which you complete in Muqeem. Data is shared across the systems, so consistency matters.

What is Nitaqat and how does Qiwa show it?

Nitaqat is Saudi Arabia’s Saudization programme, ranking establishments by their ratio of Saudi nationals in colour bands — Platinum, High/Medium/Low Green, Yellow and Red. Qiwa displays your live band on the dashboard. From 15 April 2026, only Saudi staff with documented Qiwa contracts count toward your score. Mid-Green and above lets you renew permits, get new visas and transfer staff.

How do I transfer an employee on Qiwa?

Use the employee-transfer service. It requires the worker’s explicit consent through Qiwa, the receiving establishment’s acceptance, no open labour disputes between the parties, and both companies meeting Nitaqat requirements. Once approved, the worker moves without leaving the Kingdom — a key feature of Saudi Arabia’s labour-market reforms.

Do employees also use Qiwa?

Yes. Workers use their individual Qiwa account to review and electronically approve their documented employment contract, check their work-permit status, request a transfer to a new employer, and view their labour rights. The two-sided approval — both employer and employee must sign electronically — is built in to improve transparency and reduce disputes.