Muqeem Portal Explained for Expats & Employers

If you employ expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia — or you're an expat wondering how your employer manages your paperwork — مقيم is the platform that ties it all together. Muqeem is the Kingdom's employer-facing electronic portal for managing expatriate residents and completing many passport-related transactions online, without visiting a Jawazat office. This guide from سعودي ليفنج explains what Muqeem does, who uses it, the key services and fees, and how it differs from other government platforms.

What Muqeem Is (and Who Uses It)

Muqeem, accessed at muqeem.sa, is designed for establishments and authorized employer representatives — not for an individual expat's personal account. Employers use it to view employee resident data, check Iqama and visa status, issue official resident reports, and process eligible passport services electronically.

If you are an expatriate wanting to check your own Iqama or visa details, you'll generally use أبشر instead. Muqeem is the employer side of the equation; Absher is the individual side. Access to Muqeem is subscription-based for establishments, with prices that vary by package and company size — there is no single universal subscription price, so confirm current rates when you register.

Key Services on Muqeem

• Resident data inquiry — view an employee's basic resident information and status.
• Resident reports — an official electronic document containing an employee's basic resident details. Each report is valid for seven days from issuance.
• Exit and re-entry visas — issue single or multiple visas for employees.
• Final exit visas — process the end-of-employment departure visa where the service is available.

The Typical Employer Workflow

• Log in to the establishment's Muqeem account.
• Open resident-management or passport services.
• Search using the resident's ID (Iqama) or passport number.
• Select the required service — resident report, visa service, or data inquiry.
• Review the information carefully.
• Pay any applicable government charge through the electronic payment system.
• Print or save the result.

Remember that the Muqeem platform subscription and the government passport-transaction fees are two separate charges.

Exit and Re-Entry Visa Fees

Fees depend on whether the visa is single or multiple and how long it lasts:

• Single visa for up to two months: 200 ريال سعودي.
• Single visa: 100 ريال سعودي for each additional month while the resident is inside Saudi Arabia.
• Multiple visa for up to three months: 500 ريال سعودي.
• Multiple visa: 200 ريال سعودي for each additional month.

The visa must stay within the resident's Iqama validity and meet other applicable passport requirements.

Final Exit Visas

A final exit visa has no separate government visa fee, but all outstanding fines, levies, obligations, and other requirements must be settled before issuance. Employers or heads of households can issue final exit visas through Muqeem or أبشر where the service is available. As a general rule, the resident should have at least 30 days of Iqama validity for final-exit processing; some other transactions may require longer remaining validity.

Iqama and Dependent Costs

The commonly stated annual basic Iqama government fee is 650 ريال سعودي, excluding work-permit charges, dependent levies, insurance, and other costs. The employer is generally responsible for employment-related Iqama and work-permit costs. The dependent levy is commonly 400 ريال سعودي per dependent per month — or 4,800 ريال سعودي per year — where applicable. Because these figures can change, always confirm current amounts on the relevant official portal before budgeting.

Muqeem vs. Qiwa vs. Absher

It's easy to confuse the government platforms, so here's how they divide the work:

• مقيم — resident management and passport-related transactions (resident reports, exit and re-entry visas, final exit).
• قوى — employment contracts, work permits, and labor-related services.
• أبشر — the individual's platform for personal Iqama and visa information.

Keeping these roles clear saves time: employers manage residency through Muqeem and employment through Qiwa, while employees track their own status through Absher. When in doubt about a specific fee or requirement, check the relevant official Saudi government portal directly.

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