What is Qiwa Portal KSA?
Qiwa (qiwa.sa) is the Saudi government’s digital platform for labour and workforce services, operated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD). Employers use Qiwa to document employment contracts, issue and renew work permits, change employee occupations, transfer staff between establishments, pull Saudization certificates, and check their company’s Nitaqat band. Every establishment that employs people in Saudi Arabia needs an active Qiwa account. Figures reported for the first quarter of 2026 put around 2 million registered establishments and 13 million workers on the platform, with roughly 12 million employment contracts documented through it.
The Qiwa portal is where your company’s relationship with the Ministry of Human Resources actually lives. Contracts, work permits, occupation changes, employee transfers and your Saudization score all run through one establishment account, and almost none of it happens on paper anymore.
One change makes this more urgent in 2026 than it was a year ago. Since 15 April 2026, HRSD calculates Saudization rates from employment contracts documented electronically on Qiwa. A Saudi employee whose contract is not on the platform does not count toward your quota. Qiwa sits inside the labour market digitisation programme under Vision 2030, and for employers it has quietly become the control panel for whether you can hire at all.
What Is the Qiwa Portal in Saudi Arabia?
Qiwa Saudi Arabia is HRSD’s unified digital gateway for labour sector services. In the Ministry’s own description, it offers a suite of electronic services that let establishments manage employment contracts and comply with the relevant regulations.
For a business owner, that translates into a set of named modules inside your establishment account.
| Qiwa Module | Who Uses It | What It Does | Applies To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Establishment Registration | Company owners | Create and verify the account tied to your Commercial Registration | All new companies |
| Contract Management | Employers and employees | Create, document and digitally sign employment contracts | Saudi and expat staff |
| Work Permits | Employers | Issue, renew and cancel work permits | Expat employees |
| Occupation Management | Employers | Change an expatriate's registered profession | Expat employees |
| Employee Transfer | Employers | Request or approve transfer of an employee between establishments | Expat employees |
| Saudization Certificate | Employers | View the Nitaqat band and download the Saudization certificate | All establishments |
| Establishment Certificates | Employers | Issue official establishment documents and validate them | All establishments |
| Internal Work Policy | Employers | Submit the company work regulation for HRSD approval | Larger establishments |
Two things to know before you start. Qiwa transactions draw on your establishment’s account balance in Absher, so a visa or permit request fails if that balance is short. And wage protection compliance, filed through the Mudad payroll platform, gates several Qiwa services: fall behind on WPS and the portal stops issuing.
What the Qiwa Employer Account Actually Gives You
The claim that Qiwa “simplifies HR” is not useful. These are the specific things a Qiwa employer account changes.
Your Saudization band, checked before you commit to a hire. The Saudization certificate section shows your current Nitaqat range at any time. Checking it before you sign an expat offer letter is the difference between a permit that issues and one that is refused.
Contracts that count. Contracts documented on Qiwa are what HRSD uses to calculate Saudization from April 2026 onward. The Ministry set documentation compliance thresholds of 85% by 30 April 2026 and 90% by 30 June 2026, so this is no longer administrative housekeeping.
Work permits issued at the counter, not over months. HRSD lists the duration for issuing and renewing a work licence as immediate, at SR 100 through Sadad. Before these services moved online, professional visa issuance was reported to take up to eight months.
Skill classification in one place. Since the phased rollout on 5 July and 3 August 2025, expat work permits are classified as High-Skilled, Skilled or Basic, based on qualifications, experience, professional skills, salary and age. The classification is applied through the establishment’s Qiwa account.
Occupation corrections without a physical visit. If an employee’s registered profession does not match the job they do, you can change it in Qiwa, provided the establishment is in the platinum or green range.
Qiwa Nitaqat Compliance: The Saudization Bands Every Employer Must Track
Nitaqat is the Saudization quota programme. It sets the share of Saudi nationals a business must employ based on its sector and size, and your establishment’s range is visible inside Qiwa.
Get one thing right that most guides still get wrong. Under the current Nitaqat Mutawar framework, HRSD uses five ranges: Red, Low Green, Medium Green, High Green and Platinum. There is no Yellow band. It was removed when the programme was overhauled, and any 2026 guide still showing a Yellow tier is working from outdated material.
| Range | New Expat Visas | Renew Work Permits | Change Occupations | Transfer Employee In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| High Green | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Medium Green | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Low Green | Not allowed | Allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
| Red | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
Based on the HRSD Nitaqat Mutawar procedural guideline and HRSD service conditions current as of July 2026. Very small establishments are assessed on a separate size band, so displayed ranges can differ by establishment size.
Read the Low Green row again, because it is the one that catches companies out. Low Green is still green, and it still blocks new visas and transfers in. Businesses that assume “green is fine” find the problem the week they try to hire.
Two Saudization decisions landed in 2026, both enforced through Qiwa. Sixty-nine administrative support professions moved to 100% Saudization from 5 April 2026, applying to establishments with one worker or more. Engineering professions move to 30% across 46 job titles from 30 June 2026, for establishments with five or more workers. If either touches your job titles, your band can move without you hiring or firing anyone. The sector-by-sector picture is in our guide to Saudization (Nitaqat) requirements in Saudi Arabia.
Analytix reviews client Nitaqat positions monthly and advises on hiring sequence, so companies reach a band before they need it rather than after a permit is refused. That work sits with our GRO services team.
Visa and Work Permit Issuance via Qiwa
Visa and permit requests for expatriate staff are submitted from the establishment account. The process is short. The eligibility conditions decide whether it succeeds.
How to Request a Visa on Qiwa
- Log in to the establishment account on Qiwa.
- Open the visa services section and select the visa type required.
- Enter the employee details requested, including nationality, gender, city of departure and the occupation being filled.
- Enter the number of visas required.
- Submit and settle any fees due.
HRSD publishes the duration of its instant professional visa issuance service as immediate, which applies when the establishment meets every condition on submission. Where it does not, the request is refused rather than queued. That is why the checks below matter more than the form.
Eligibility Conditions Before You Submit
- The establishment must be in the platinum or green range on Nitaqat.
- The Commercial Registration must be valid and the establishment status active.
- There must be enough balance in the establishment’s Absher account to cover the transaction.
- The company must be compliant with wage protection.
- The person submitting must be an accredited representative of the establishment in the Ministry’s systems.
Two rules to diarise. A work permit must be issued for an expatriate employee within the first 90 days after entry into the Kingdom, and renewal can be submitted once 180 days or fewer remain before expiry. Miss the first and you have a violation. Miss the second and you have a gap in which the employee cannot legally work.
Our PRO services team handles Qiwa visa and permit files directly for companies that would rather not manage submissions and refusals in-house. The full picture of sponsoring foreign staff is in our guide to work visa and employee sponsorship in Saudi Arabia.
Registration Process for the Qiwa Portal in the KSA
Qiwa registration is done once per establishment and is tied to your Commercial Registration number.
Before You Register
Have these ready. Most failed registrations are a missing item on this list, not a portal fault.
- A valid Commercial Registration (CR), with establishment status showing as existing
- The Nafath app installed and linked to the mobile number of the person registering, since Qiwa offers login through Nafath, the national single sign-on
- The National ID of the Saudi owner, or the iqama number of the non-Saudi owner
- Confirmation that the person registering is an accredited representative in the Ministry’s systems
Step 1. Create an Account
Go to qiwa.sa and select sign up. Authenticate the owner or accredited representative, then enter the Commercial Registration number the account will be tied to.
Step 2. Verify Your Business Information
Qiwa pulls establishment data against the Commercial Registration. Check the trade name, activity and headcount against your own records before continuing. Errors here follow you into every later transaction.
Step 3. Activate Your Account
Complete verification and settle the establishment subscription. The subscription has to stay active. An expired subscription is one of the most common reasons a permit request is refused, and it stays invisible until the moment you submit.
Step 4. Access Employment Services
The dashboard opens the modules listed earlier: contract management, work permits, occupation management, employee transfer and certificates. Add users and assign permissions before your HR team starts submitting, rather than working through one owner login.
Step 5. Set Up Nitaqat Monitoring
Open the Saudization certificate section and record your range on the day you register. If it reads Low Green or Red, deal with the band before planning expat hiring, because new visa requests will be refused until it improves. Check monthly, not annually. Sector Saudization decisions can move your range without any change to your own headcount.
- FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
If your question is not addressed here, please feel free to reach out to us. We value your inquiry.
What is Qiwa portal in Saudi Arabia?
Qiwa (qiwa.sa) is the Saudi government’s digital platform for labour and workforce services, operated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. Employers use it to document employment contracts, issue and renew work permits, change occupations, transfer employees, and check their Nitaqat Saudization band.
How do I register on Qiwa KSA?
Go to qiwa.sa and select sign up, authenticate as the owner or an accredited representative, enter your Commercial Registration number, verify the establishment data Qiwa pulls against it, and activate the account by settling the subscription. Qiwa offers login through Nafath, so have the Nafath app installed and linked to your mobile number first.
Who can use the Qiwa portal in Saudi Arabia?
Any establishment registered in Saudi Arabia that employs staff, whether Saudi-owned or foreign-owned. Foreign companies operating under a MISA licence use the same platform. Employees also have their own Qiwa access to view documented contracts and request services.
How do I check my company's Nitaqat band on Qiwa?
Open the Saudization certificate section in your establishment account. It shows your current range and lets you download the certificate. From 15 April 2026 the rate is calculated from contracts documented electronically on Qiwa, so undocumented Saudi employees will not appear in the calculation.
What happens if my company is in the Red Nitaqat band?
A Red establishment cannot apply for new expatriate visas, cannot issue work permits for new expatriate workers, cannot renew existing work permits, cannot change occupations, and cannot receive transferred employees. The way out is raising the share of Saudi nationals to reach a green range for your sector and size.
How long does Qiwa work permit processing take, and what does it cost?
HRSD lists the duration for issuing and renewing a work licence as immediate, at SR 100 through Sadad. The condition is that the establishment satisfies every eligibility check at the point of submission. Requests from establishments that do not are refused rather than held.
What is the difference between Qiwa, Absher, Muqeem and Mudad?
Qiwa is HRSD’s labour platform for contracts, work permits and Saudization. Absher is the Ministry of Interior platform, and your establishment’s Absher balance funds Qiwa transactions. Muqeem handles residency services for expatriate staff. Mudad is the wage protection and payroll platform, and WPS compliance filed there gates access to several Qiwa services. Most employers use all four. Our overview of the main Saudi government portals sets out how they fit together.
Can I transfer an employee to my company through Qiwa?
Yes, through the employee transfer module, and the receiving establishment must be in a range that permits it. Low Green and Red establishments cannot receive transfers in. The employee-side rules are covered in our guide to iqama transfer rules in Saudi Arabia.
Conclusion
Qiwa is not optional for anyone employing staff in Saudi Arabia. It is the interface between your company and the Ministry of Human Resources, and since April 2026 it is the system of record that decides whether your Saudi employees count toward your Saudization rate. An expired subscription, an undocumented contract or a band that slipped to Low Green all produce the same outcome: the hire you planned does not happen.
The businesses that stay ahead of this treat Qiwa as a monthly check rather than a login they visit when something breaks. Contracts documented, band recorded, permit expiries diarised against the 180-day window. That is also what the 2025 labour reforms that replaced the kafala system assume of employers.
Analytix manages Qiwa portal operations for companies across Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province, from first registration through monthly Nitaqat monitoring. If you are still at the incorporation stage, our business setup in Saudi Arabia team activates the Qiwa account as part of post-incorporation compliance, so you can employ staff from day one.
