How to Change Jobs in Saudi Arabia: Transferring Your Iqama on Qiwa

You can change jobs in Saudi Arabia through Qiwa, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) platform. The new employer sends you an offer, you accept it in your Qiwa account, and a new work permit is issued under the new employer. HRSD lists the service as free and immediate on the platform side.

What changed in 2021

The Labor Reform Initiative took effect on 14 March 2021. As announced in November 2020, private-sector expatriate workers can move to a new employer when their binding contract ends without the current employer's consent, provided notice and specific measures are followed. It also lets workers request exit/re-entry and final exit visas themselves, with the employer notified electronically (TBS News).

HRSD's current service page describes the process this way: an electronic service that lets a resident employee move to a new employer without the current employer's approval, subject to regulations and conditions. It does not list those conditions. Because we could not verify them from an official page, check your own eligibility inside Qiwa before you resign. Qiwa shows your contract status.

Steps to transfer

1. Get an offer. The new employer logs in to its Qiwa account and sends you a job offer with an employment contract. For the employer, HRSD's transfer service takes the worker's iqama number and the contract; it needs a valid commercial register, wage protection compliance and enough credit for the transfer.
2. Accept it in Qiwa. You log in to your own Qiwa account and accept or reject the offer.
3. Your current employer is notified. On the freedom-of-movement route HRSD says the current employer is notified of the request rather than asked to approve it.
4. The system checks the requirements. If they are met, your data is updated and a new work permit is issued.
5. Check the iqama. Ask the new employer to confirm the iqama is updated under their establishment and when it expires. Renewal is a separate step: see the iqama renewal guide.

Do not stop working for your current employer, or travel on a final exit visa, until Qiwa shows the transfer as complete.

Notice and resignation

• Indefinite-term contract. The notice period in Article 75 of the Labor Law has been amended. According to law firms King & Spalding, BCLP and Qoyod, since 19 February 2025 an employee paid monthly gives at least 30 days' notice and the employer at least 60; before that it was 60 days for both. Non-monthly pay stays at 30 days. Check the figure in your own Qiwa contract and use the notice period calculator.
• Fixed-term contract. The 2025 amendments added Article 79 bis on resignation. As summarized by Clyde & Co, you submit a written resignation (through Qiwa), the employer has 30 days to respond and the resignation is deemed accepted if it does not, the employer may defer acceptance by up to 60 days with a written reason, and you can withdraw within 7 days unless it has already been accepted.
• Ending the contract on Qiwa. HRSD lists a free "Termination of Contractual Relationship" service: choose the contract, give a reason, set the last working date and submit. It needs a valid Qiwa contract and no other termination request pending.

Notice is separate from the transfer itself. Agree your last working day with the new employer before you submit anything.

If your contract has ended

Qiwa gives expatriate workers a 60-day grace period after a contract ends and shows as expired. During it you can transfer to another employer, leave the country permanently or sign a new contract with the same employer. If none happens, you are reported as absent from work (Ajel English, August 2026). The same report says a transfer can still be made after the grace period if you have lived in the Kingdom more than 12 months.

For workers already recorded as absent, HRSD launched a regularization initiative on 18 September 2025. The new employer must commit to paying any outstanding work-permit fees, and the worker needs at least 12 continuous months in the Kingdom before the absence or contract expiry.

Before you resign: a checklist

• Get the new contract in writing and make sure it is registered on Qiwa, not just emailed.
• Check your own contract status and any end date in Qiwa.
• Confirm your end-of-service award: see the end-of-service benefits guide.
• Use up or get paid for accrued annual leave. Article 111 pays you for accrued days when you leave work without using them.
• Ask the new employer who covers any iqama, work-permit and medical-insurance costs. We could not confirm a fee schedule from an official source.
• Keep your health insurance continuous: see the health insurance guide.

If the transfer stalls

HRSD's contact centre is 19911 (info@hrsd.gov.sa) for Qiwa services. If you think an employer is blocking a transfer you are entitled to, raise it with HRSD rather than leaving the job without a completed transfer.

Sources

Facts in this guide were checked on 22 October 2026 against these pages. Fees and rules change, so confirm on the official page before you pay or apply.

• HRSD: Transfer of services from another employer (Freedom of movement)
• HRSD: Transferring Expatriate Worker Service
• HRSD: Request for transfer of expatriate workers
• HRSD: Termination of Contractual Relationship (Qiwa service)
• HRSD: Initiative to regularize workers recorded as absent from work (6 October 2025)
• TBS News: Saudi Arabia launches labour reforms (November 2020)
• Ajel English: Qiwa details grace period, job transfer after expat resignation (August 2026)
• Clyde & Co: KSA Labour Law amendments, Part 1, resignations (25 March 2025)
• King & Spalding: Amendments to the Saudi Labor Law approved
• Qoyod: Labor law 2025 amendments
• BCLP: Saudi Arabia's evolving labor landscape (2 July 2026)
• HRSD: Annual leave (Articles 109-111)