Muqeem Portal Explained for Expats & Employers

If you employ expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia, مقيم is the government portal you will use most for residency administration. It is the official employer-facing system for managing iqama renewals, exit/re-entry visas, final exit, passport updates, and general resident-status handling. This سعودي ليفنج guide explains what مقيم does, how it differs from the apps individual residents use, how to register your establishment, and the workflow for the transactions employers run most often.

What Muqeem is — and what it is not

مقيم, accessed at muqeem.sa, is built for establishments and employers, not as a full self-service app for individual workers. It centralizes the residency and passport-related services a company must perform on behalf of its expatriate staff. Individual employees, by contrast, generally handle their own personal services through أبشر.

Think of it this way: the worker uses أبشر for personal matters, while the employer uses مقيم to administer the residency side. The two systems work alongside other official Saudi channels, including قوى for labour and work authorization, نفاذ for identity login, and the Ministry of Human Resources e-services for labour records.

Services you can manage through Muqeem

• Iqama issuance and renewal for expatriate workers
• Exit/re-entry visas for staff travelling abroad temporarily
• Final exit processing when a worker leaves the Kingdom permanently
• Passport updates and resident data corrections
• Quick inquiry to check residency status without running a full establishment workflow

The quick inquiry feature is useful for confirming a resident's status details before starting a transaction.

Registering and activating your establishment account

Before you can transact, you must create and activate an establishment account and verify the company. This is typically done using:

• A valid Commercial Registration (CR)
• Chamber of Commerce attestation
• The company stamp
• Authorized-signatory information

Once the establishment is verified through the CR and authorized-signatory details, the authorized user signs in through نفاذ / National Unified Access using their أبشر identity. Subscription and activation are commonly processed through سداد; one documented مقيم subscription channel uses SADAD biller code 085. Companies may subscribe to different packages, so confirm current subscription options and pricing on the official portal before committing.

The typical transaction workflow

For most services, the process follows a consistent pattern:

• The employer logs into مقيم through نفاذ
• Selects the relevant worker
• Chooses the service — for example, renewal or exit/re-entry
• Settles any outstanding fees or fines through سداد
• Prints or saves the resulting document once the transaction completes

Keeping the worker's data and any linked labour records in order beforehand — through قوى and the labour e-services — helps avoid blocked transactions.

Fees to budget for in 2026

Fees change periodically, so always confirm the exact amounts on the official portal at payment time. As commonly cited for 2026:

• Standard iqama issuance/renewal: the employee-side residence fee is around SAR 51.75
• Domestic worker iqama renewal: around SAR 600
• Work permit levy: around SAR 800 per month per expatriate worker, paid by the employer

These are separate line items, and additional fees or fines may apply depending on the worker's category and status. The system generates the total due through سداد at checkout.

Practical tips for employers

• Keep the CR, Chamber attestation, and authorized-signatory details current — expired documents block account access
• Ensure the authorized user's أبشر account and نفاذ login are active
• Use the quick inquiry function to verify status before starting a paid transaction
• Coordinate residency actions with قوى so labour and residency records stay consistent
• Always confirm current fees and subscription package prices on the official portal before paying

Used correctly, مقيم makes residency administration faster and more transparent — but it works best when your establishment records, أبشر identity, and labour data are all aligned across the official Saudi channels.

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