Qiwa Platform

Common cause is insufficient evidence. For salary-arrears ground, include WPS screenshots AND bank statements showing non-receipt; for Iqama-not-renewed, include Absher expiry screenshot AND a dated request to the employer.

The new employer must pay the transfer fee (SAR 2,000/4,000/6,000 by count) and accept on Qiwa Business. Confirm the new employer has Nitaqat band that allows the transfer.

The tier is set from the contract data at upload. Retroactive changes routinely fail at the salary check. The fix is a fresh contract on the same job with corrected salary AND profession matching the tier requirements.

The establishment must restore Saudi-to-non-Saudi ratio compliance. As a worker, you have the LRI 2021 transfer-without-consent ground available immediately while Red status persists.

Cash payments outside WPS do not count for the LRI 2021 transfer ground or labour court purposes. The Qiwa contract requires WPS-channel payment; cash-pay employers are non-compliant.

Service-unavailable usually means a Nafath session has expired or the worker's Absher account is locked. Refresh Nafath, then retry. If persistent, the worker's Iqama may have expired.

Yes, in five specific cases under the Labour Reform Initiative 2021. The grounds are: salary unpaid for 3+ consecutive months; employer failed to renew the Iqama on time; employer breached the terms of the Qiwa employment contract; the establishment falls into Nitaqat Red; or the fixed-term contract has expired. You file inside Qiwa > Sponsorship Services > Transfer Without Consent and upload evidence (pay slips, bank statements, the contract). The new employer accepts and pays the SAR 2,000 / 4,000 / 6,000 transfer fee depending on how many transfers you have already done. MHRSD reviews the evidence and confirms eligibility. After a sponsor transfer or final exit, calculate accrued end-of-service benefits using our Saudi end-of-service calculator.

Nitaqat grades Saudi establishments by the ratio of Saudi to non-Saudi employees: Platinum, Green (high / mid / low), Yellow, Red. The band determines work-permit issuance rights at the company level. As a worker, the band matters in two ways: if your employer drops into Red, every new permit and renewal in the establishment freezes - including yours; and Red status is itself a ground for employee-initiated transfer without consent under LRI 2021. The band updates monthly. Check it on your Qiwa dashboard before joining a small establishment and during your annual renewal review.

Qiwa owns the employment layer (contract, profession, salary, skill tier, transfer flow). Absher owns the resident-services layer (digital Iqama, traffic fines, exit visas, family services). Muqeem owns the Iqama-print layer that produces the physical 5-year card. The three platforms share data through the underlying Ministry of Interior and MHRSD databases: a Qiwa contract signature triggers Iqama issuance on Muqeem which surfaces on Absher; a sponsor transfer on Qiwa updates the Iqama sponsor link in Muqeem which appears on Absher within hours. Nafath is the single identity that unlocks all three for the worker side.

The Qiwa contract tier flows through to several downstream entitlements. High-Skilled workers (SAR 15,000+ salary, degree, 5 years experience) qualify for family sponsorship at the lowest documentation bar and for Premium Residency conversion under the residence-to-permanent track. Skilled tier (SAR 7,000-14,999) qualifies for family sponsorship at standard requirements. Basic tier (SAR 3,000-6,999) faces materially tighter family-sponsorship criteria and is generally not eligible for Premium Residency conversion via the standard route. Driving-licence conversion paths also vary by tier - High-Skilled conversion from a recognised foreign licence is the simplest. The tier is hard to change retroactively; confirm on the Qiwa contract before signing because the salary check is enforced at upload and a lower-tier classification can stick for the duration of the contract.

Five qualifying grounds, each with its own evidence baseline. (1) Salary 3+ months unpaid: WPS dashboard screenshots showing the gap, bank statements showing non-receipt, contract showing agreed salary. (2) Employer failed to renew Iqama: Absher screenshot showing expired Iqama, dated communication asking the employer to renew. (3) Contract breach: the Qiwa contract plus evidence of the breach (job title change without consent, salary cut, unauthorised location change). (4) Nitaqat Red: the Qiwa Nitaqat status page screenshot is sufficient. (5) Fixed-term contract expired: the Qiwa contract showing expiry date in the past. File via Sponsorship Services > Transfer Without Consent on Qiwa. MHRSD reviews evidence; approvals normally take 7-14 working days. Walkthrough in our Iqama transfer guide.

Five recurring rejection patterns. (1) Profession mismatch between the work permit and the contract - the Qiwa contract profession must match the block-visa profession exactly, including the Arabic spelling. (2) Salary below the skill-tier minimum: a contract tagged High-Skilled but with salary under SAR 15,000 fails the tier check; downgrade the tier or raise the salary. (3) Nitaqat band of the employer is Red - the establishment cannot issue or renew contracts until compliance is restored. (4) The worker's Iqama has expired and is in renewal limbo - Muqeem must complete renewal first. (5) The previous contract was not formally terminated (resignation accepted, end-of-service paid through WPS) - Qiwa blocks the new one to prevent dual employment. Fix the underlying layer, then re-upload. The platform does not always surface the exact rejection reason in the worker view; the employer's Qiwa Business dashboard shows the detailed error code which the worker can request from HR.

Five common causes. (1) Nafath enrolment has lapsed - SIM change or phone change since the last enrolment breaks the binding. Re-enrol via face-scan at a kiosk with the physical Iqama. (2) The worker's Saudi SIM is in the employer's name, not the worker's - Nafath OTP fails silently and the contract signature times out. Move the SIM at STC, Mobily, or Zain. (3) The Nafath app is on an old version that the 2026 face-recognition engine rejects - update from the App Store or Play Store. (4) The face-scan is failing against an old Iqama photo (more than 5 years old, beard or weight change) - kiosk re-capture fixes it in 5 minutes. (5) The session has timed out - Qiwa Nafath sessions expire after 30 minutes of inactivity. Refresh and retry. If all five are clean and the signature still fails, escalate to Qiwa Support (1900) and request a manual signature confirmation - they can verify identity through alternative channels for stuck cases.

The historical 1-year wait under the old kafala system was abolished by the Labour Reform Initiative 2021. As of 2026, workers can transfer sponsors at any time under one of two paths. With the current employer's consent: the standard transfer flow runs immediately; the new employer pays the SAR 2,000/4,000/6,000 transfer fee based on the worker's transfer count, the worker accepts within 10 days, the current employer has 14 days to object on legal grounds. Without consent under LRI 2021: five grounds (salary 3+ months unpaid, Iqama not renewed, contract breach, Nitaqat Red, fixed-term contract expired) allow immediate transfer with evidence upload. Some sponsors still tell workers the 1-year wait applies - this is no longer correct as of mid-2025 when the residual 3-year ban for resigning workers was also removed. The only delays are the platform's 10-day worker-acceptance window and the 14-day employer-objection window for consent-based transfers.

Nitaqat Red is itself a ground for employee-initiated transfer without consent under LRI 2021. The screenshot of the establishment's Nitaqat status page from your Qiwa Individuals dashboard is sufficient evidence - file via Sponsorship Services > Transfer Without Consent, attach the screenshot, MHRSD reviews and approves typically within 7-14 working days. Other practical considerations: while Red status persists, the employer cannot issue new work permits, cannot renew existing Iqamas (so your Iqama will lapse when expiry comes unless you transfer first), and cannot file exit/re-entry visas. If the establishment is in cure mode (the 2026 30-day appeals window introduced for borderline cases), the band may revert before your transfer completes - your transfer request still proceeds. WPS evidence of any salary irregularities strengthens the case. After transfer, your accrued end-of-service entitlement from the Red employer is still owed; if unpaid, escalate via Najiz Labour Court.