Saudi Arabia introduces short-term visa to work for 3-months introduces short-term visa to work for 3-months

Saudi Arabia has launched a new short-term work visa that can be issued immediately without the need for further documentation.

Businesses can issue a temporary work visa that permits the bearer to work for three months from the entrance date, for a total of one year.

Specifics regarding the visa
This visa, which can be renewed for a similar duration of time, permits the holder to work for a specified period of time without the need for a work permit or residency.

The business owner must submit the visa application using Qiwa Business, an electronic portal that connects to the Ministry of Human Resources’ different labor-related services.

According to temporary work visa laws, the hiring company must be active and have a valid commercial registration, with the exception of operations that do not require commercial registration.

Furthermore, the enterprises must have adequate credit on their national unified number to meet their commitments and must not have any expired work licenses.

The reasons for denying a request for a temporary visa include insufficient cash in the unified number of the business on Absher and denial from the Interior Ministry.

The temporary work visa balance package is cancellable, and government payments are returned.

According to the site, the cancellation request must be issued by the business owner or a commissioner.

Information for sponsoring companies

Employers may obtain quotas for the new visas through the Qiwa online portal. To be eligible for a quota, employers must:

• Have a valid commercial registration.
• Be compliant with Saudi Arabia’s Wage Protection System.
• Have a Nitaqat status of “Medium Green” or better.
• Ensure that all foreign workers have valid work permits.

Eligible employers can purchase quotas in packages of one, five, 10 or 50. One quota costs 1,000 SAR (about USD$267); a package of 50 costs 45,000 SAR.

Visas are valid for one year from the date the quota is purchased. Payment will not be refunded after 30 days, including in cases where the visa is issued but the visa holder never travels to Saudi Arabia. Visas are nontransferable from company to company, but unused visas can be canceled and reallocated within a company.

What this means for Nigerians

This temporary visa from Saudi Arabia will provide flexibility for foreign workers such as Nigerians to have exposure to the work life in Saudi Arabia.

Temporary workers from Nigerian must ensure that the hiring company meets to above obligations to ensure that they are eligible to hire and sponsor.

More details will be released soon on this new development.