{"id":1450,"date":"2026-06-11T10:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatestonegroup.com\/uk\/?page_id=1450"},"modified":"2026-10-30T13:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T13:32:51","slug":"iqama-residence-permit-in-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gatestonegroup.com\/uk\/iqama-residence-permit-in-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"Iqama or Residence Permit in Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Saudi Iqama and Residence Permit for UK Nationals and Employers<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Saudi Iqama support for UK nationals moving to the Kingdom for a job, with their families, and for UK employers sponsoring staff. We prepare UK documents in London and run renewals from Riyadh.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Service Overview<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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An Iqama is the Saudi residence permit, carried as a Resident Identity card, and it is what allows an expatriate to live and work in the Kingdom legally. For most UK nationals it comes through a job: the employer is the sponsor and arranges the Iqama after you arrive. At the 2022 census, non-Saudi nationals made up 41.6% of Saudi Arabia’s 32.2 million residents, according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT, May 2023).<\/span><\/p>

If you know the UK’s Skilled Worker route, the principle will feel familiar: your right to stay is tied to a sponsor and held on a government record. The Saudi version runs on its own platforms, and what you need depends on which of two groups you are in.<\/span><\/p>

A UK national joining an existing Saudi employer needs no company formed. A UK business opening its own Saudi entity does, and its General Manager’s Iqama follows the Saudi business setup. <\/a>Gatestone Group has handled 865 business setups, so we plan that company and its General Manager’s Iqama as a single sequence.<\/span><\/p>

Once issued, your Iqama number is the reference most Saudi services ask for. It links your employment record on Qiwa, your exit and re-entry visas, a Saudi bank account and any family you sponsor. It also links your mandatory health insurance, which is regulated by the Council of Health Insurance (CHI). Your National Address, registered through Wasel, Saudi Post’s addressing service, sits on the same record.<\/span><\/p>

Most delays start before anything is filed.<\/span><\/p>

So check the sponsor’s Nitaqat (Saudisation) band on Qiwa first, and agree the Iqama category and work visa. Then list the UK documents, medicals and biometrics, and agree who pays each fee.<\/span><\/p>

To illustrate with a typical family move: a secondary school teacher from Liverpool accepts a post at an international school in Riyadh. A spouse and two children will follow for the new school year. The school sponsors the teacher’s Iqama.<\/span><\/p>

As head of household, the teacher sponsors the family’s dependant Iqamas and pays their monthly fees unless the contract says otherwise. We line up the apostilled marriage and full birth certificates before the UK summer term ends.<\/span><\/p>

Before planning any move, read the dated FCDO travel notice at the start of the process section: it currently covers Riyadh province and its airport<\/span>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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