Saudi Arabia Updates Fees for Iqama Renewal and Reentry Visa Extension
The Ministry of Interior’s Absher Business platform has recently launched updated fees for seven administrative services provided to establishments.
Separate from the annual employer subscription package, these fees apply to particular transactions handled through the platform. These fees represent a major change in the cost structure of basic services, meant to guarantee fair pricing for consumers and increase administrative efficiency by means of their implementation.
While the renewal of a residency permit (Iqama) has been set at SR51.75, among the revised fees extending an exit and reentry visa now costs SR103.5. A final exit visa costs SR70; the cost of acquiring a new Iqama has also been fixed at SR51.75. While upgrading passport information for expatriates has been priced at SR69, employers or those seeking an employee status report will now be obliged to pay SR28.75. Absher Business claims that these fees are purely for using the platform to deliver these services and do not fit the typical employer subscription package.
To simplify administrative procedures for people, companies, and government agencies, the Absher platform has been always extending its variety of digital services, In keeping with this development, Absher Individuals has launched a new service letting hosts document instances of absconders—visited guests entering Saudi Arabia on a visit visa, This program offers a formal means for hosts to report guests who overstay their visas, therefore guaranteeing immigration compliance. Authorities can better monitor those who stay in the nation over their allowed stay by using this approach, therefore lowering the risk of unauthorized immigrants.
Absher has specified rigorous requirements that must be fulfilled before a host may report using this new reporting tool in order to stop abuse of it. These rules state that the absentee must have arrived Saudi Arabia on a personal or family visit visa, and that the report can only be submitted seven days after the visa has formally expired, But hosts are only authorized to report a guest no more than 14 days after their visa expires, hence there is a deadline for turning in such complaints. Besides, the visit visa has to be already marked as expired in the system before the report is turned in. Every visitor can only be reported once, hence once the report has been turned in, there is no way to revoke or withdraw it.
These rules guarantee correct and responsible reporting and help to stop possible system abuse. The launch of this tool supports a larger endeavor to control immigration policies in the Kingdom, so stressing the need of compliance and responsibility among guests and their hosts. The Saudi government has been leading the way in digitizing several public services; current changes to the Absher platform are a mirror of that dedication.
Service fees for particular transactions fit Saudi Arabia's more general initiatives to improve administrative effectiveness and digital governance, The government wants to guarantee that customers pay for the convenience of online transactions and simultaneously increase the viability of digital platforms by assigning expenses to certain services, These fees give companies and foreigners a better framework of administrative expenses connected to necessary services including employee status updates, Iqama renewals, and visa extensions. Concurrent with this, the capacity to document absent visits improves the control over immigration and residence compliance even further.
These changes help to keep the Absher Business platform central in modernizing Saudi Arabia's governmental administration, Service fees and the new absconding report feature underline the government's dedication to raise efficiency, openness, and digital accessibility, Future improvements should be expected to simplify administrative processes while preserving rigorous regulatory control as the platform develops. These steps not only help government institutions but also give companies and citizens a more dependable and orderly way to handle vital Kingdom services.