Need to bring foreign experts into Saudi Arabia for a quick project? Standard work visas won’t cut it—they take weeks to process because you have to deal with degree checks, medical exams, and residency paperwork. Especially when it comes to fast-paced IT rollouts, setting up equipment on site, brief consulting trips, or auditing jobs, companies heavily rely on a temporary work visa saudi arabia to get specialist talent on the ground fast.
This permit is processed online by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) on the Qiwa portal. It is exempted from the ministry of the private sector companies in bringing foreign workers without going through the long-term residency (Iqama). But spending the time to understand how to approach allocation limits in 2026, qualify for basic Saudi Arabia work visa eligibility and plan government fees right will keep your project on track.
This Saudi short term work visa is designed strictly for urgent, project-based tasks. It runs on a completely different playbook than standard long-term hiring permits.
Once your visa gets approved on Qiwa, it stays valid for entry for up to one year. The moment your specialist lands in the Kingdom, their 90-day initial stay counter starts. Need more time on site? You can apply for a one-time 90-day extension through Qiwa before that first period runs out—which caps your total stay at 180 days on a single permit.
Because this permit sits outside the regular residency framework, your worker doesn’t need an Iqama (or a separate Ministry of Labor permit). They can also fly in and out of Saudi Arabia as many times as needed during their approved stay—assuming their medical insurance stays active. Just keep in mind that this general temporary permit has nothing to do with seasonal visas issued for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage service operators.
Your sponsoring business in Saudi Arabia handles the application from start to finish. Long before you buy visa quotas, government systems automatically audit your corporate records across state databases.
To issue a temporary work visa to Saudi Arabia on Qiwa, your business must hold an active Commercial Registration (CR) with the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) or a valid MISA investment license. You also need a Medium Green status or higher in the national Nitaqat Saudization system. (Companies in Red or Yellow zones get blocked automatically). On top of that, you must keep clean Wage Protection System (WPS) records, hold active work permits for current staff, complete annual self-evaluations, and register employee work locations on Qiwa.
Updated MHRSD rules enforce strict instant visa limits based on how long your business has been open:
As an individual applicant, this part is easy to fulfill Saudi Arabia work visa requirements. A machine-readable passport with at least six months of validity and two blank visa pages is a requirement for the worker. The job title you enter into Qiwa must match their actual qualifications and on-site duties. Your business must also buy health insurance covering their whole stay. Once Qiwa generates the approval number, the specialist just heads to a Saudi consulate or VFS center to submit biometrics and get their passport stamped.
Budgeting for short-term hires means accounting for government portal package fees plus national taxes. The actual cost of a work visa in Saudi Arabia depends on the package tier you select on Qiwa.
Qiwa purchases may be counted as commercial digital services, which is why standard Saudi value-added tax (VAT) rate of 15% will apply and it will simply add to your SADAD invoice:
Important: New businesses (less than 2 years old) are system-limited to purchasing only the 1-visa and/or 5 visa packages due to the cycle being limited to a total of only 5 visas.
Beyond the core Qiwa package fee, make sure to factor these secondary items into the total cost of work visa in saudi arabia:
Your HR team or government relations officer (GRO) manages the whole application online—no visiting ministry offices in person.
Choosing between a temporary work visa saudi arabia deployment and a standard long-term employment visa comes down to timing and project scope:
To keep your deployment on schedule and satisfy all saudi arabia work visa requirements, follow these three steps:
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