GCC Government Services Hub
Every GCC government process, on a single continuum: guide, consult, or hand it to our desk.
One residency move can touch four portals, two ministries, a typing centre, and an attestation chain. Wathim works that path with you at whatever level of involvement suits the week. Read the 12-service library, jump on a paid guidance call, or brief our country desks to file the whole case under fixed fee.
12
Core services
6
GCC countries
25+
Portals tracked
30+
In-depth guides
How does GCC paperwork actually work?
Every GCC country builds residency on the same skeleton: a sponsor links a foreigner to a national entity, a government portal records the link, and a card in your pocket proves it is live. The skeleton looks tidy on paper. In practice, the six countries diverged a decade ago and each one now runs its own portals, its own fee codes, and its own rules about who can move a file. That is why the same word, “Iqama”, means a different thing in Saudi Arabia than it does in Kuwait, and why an Emirates ID renewal that takes 24 hours in Abu Dhabi can stall for a week in Dubai if the medical centre files late.
In Saudi Arabia the sponsor system runs through Absher and Muqeem, with Qiwa sitting on top of the labour side. The UAE splits residency between federal ICP and Dubai-only GDRFA, while work permits live inside MOHRE. Qatar runs almost everything through Metrash. Bahrain pushes its residents toward the LMRA labour register. Oman and Kuwait still rely on counter visits more than the others. None of this is documented in one place, which is the entire reason this site exists.
The other shock for new arrivals is the chain dependency. You cannot register a car without a residency that is at least 90 days from expiry. You cannot convert a driving licence without a national ID. You cannot attest a degree without the issuing country's foreign ministry stamp first. A single missed step at the top of the chain pushes the rest by a fortnight. The 12 services below are listed in the order they tend to unblock each other, with cross-links to the portal directory and the calculators that price the most common surprises.
Cluster 1 of 4
Live & Stay
Everything that proves you are legally resident. Get these right first; almost every other service depends on them being live.
Residency Visa
Issuance, renewal, and transfer of GCC residency permits.
Iqama (KSA) · QID (Qatar) · Residency (UAE) · CR (Bahrain) · Resident Card (Oman) · Iqama (Kuwait)
National ID Card
The unified resident identity card across GCC states.
Emirates ID · Iqama card · QID · CPR · Civil ID (Oman/Kuwait)
Family Sponsorship
Sponsoring a spouse, children, or parents to live with you in the GCC.
Dependent Visa · Family Visa · Spouse / child / parent sponsorship
Exit & Re-Entry Visas
Travel permits for residents to leave and return.
Exit Visa · Re-Entry Permit · Final Exit (KSA)
Cluster 2 of 4
Work & Business
The employment and trade layer: who lets you work, who lets you hire, and which papers travel with you between roles and countries.
Work Permit
Issuance, transfer, and renewal of employment permits.
Labour Card · Work Visa · Qiwa / MOHRE / MOL filings
Trade Licence
Setting up and renewing a commercial licence for a business.
Commercial Registration (CR) · Mainland / freezone · Renewal
Document Attestation
Legalising educational, marriage, and birth certificates for use in the GCC.
MOFA Attestation · Apostille · Embassy legalisation chain
Police Clearance Certificate
Obtaining a Good Conduct certificate for visa or job applications.
Good Conduct Certificate · PCC · Criminal record certificate
Cluster 3 of 4
Drive & Move
Mobility on the ground. Convert the licence, plate the car, and stay clear of the fine cascade that catches new arrivals.
Driving Licence
Obtaining, renewing, or converting a foreign driving licence.
Driving Licence · Rukhsat · Conversion · Renewal across all six
Vehicle Registration
Registering a new or transferred vehicle and renewing yearly Mulkiya/Istimara.
Mulkiya (UAE) · Istimara (KSA) · Vehicle Plates (all GCC)
Cluster 4 of 4
Fix & Pay
When something has already slipped: a missed renewal, a fine, a card that lapsed. These are the salvage flows we run most often.
Fines & Overstay
Checking, contesting, and paying traffic, immigration, and overstay fines.
Traffic fines · Overstay penalty · Saher / Salik / RTA / MOI
Health Card / Insurance
Government health insurance enrolment and renewal.
Daman · Tameen · Mandatory health insurance
Why does Wathim list these 12 services in this order?
The Live & Stay cluster is the load-bearing wall. A live residency permit and a current national ID sit underneath everything else; let either lapse and your bank account freezes, your SIM card cuts, and your driving licence reads as invalid at the next checkpoint. Sponsoring family without those two in order is impossible: the salary requirements for family sponsorship across the GCC are tested at the moment the sponsor's file is pulled.
Work & Business is where the most expensive mistakes happen, because the rules genuinely changed in the past three years. Saudi Arabia's 2021 labour reforms moved transfers and exit visas out of the sponsor's inbox and into the employee's. The UAE's 2022 contract reforms made limited-term contracts the default. Both changes wiped out half of what older expat forums still say, which is why we update the work permit guides against current portal screens. Attestation sits next to it because almost every job switch needs a fresh degree stamp, and because the attestation chain is the single longest-running process most expats encounter.
Drive & Move is short by design. The two services compress months of forum hunting into a working answer: which national licences convert without a test, when a road test is mandatory, and how the plate transfer interacts with insurance. The country specifics are unforgiving. The UAE driving licence rules differ from the Saudi process, which differs again from the Qatari one and the Kuwaiti route. Pricing the conversion before booking the test is what stops the silly mistakes.
Fix & Pay is the salvage cluster. Almost every reader who arrives here from search is fixing something already broken: a missed renewal, a fine cascade, a card that cuts insurance. The UAE overstay calculator and the Saudi Iqama cost calculator are the two tools people open at midnight; both feed off the same fee schedules we keep current behind the guides. If a salvage flow is moving too slowly, the country desk can pick it up the same day, file in parallel, and hand back the receipt.
Not sure where to start?
Most people land on this page mid-problem. Pick the situation closest to yours: the link points to the guide that solves the next 30 minutes, and our desk can take it from there if you would rather not.
Just landed in Saudi Arabia
Your sponsor has 90 days to issue an Iqama and link Absher. Start with the cost picture and the renewal clock, then check the Saudi country guide for what your employer should already be filing.
Open the Iqama playbookFamily arriving in the next 60 days
Family sponsorship runs on a salary threshold plus attested marriage and birth certificates. Read the salary rule for your country, then start the attestation chain before tickets are booked.
See sponsorship requirementsSwitching employers (UAE or KSA)
The transfer rule changed in 2021 (Saudi) and again in 2023 (UAE). What used to need an NOC may now run inside Qiwa or MOHRE in days. Confirm before you sign anything new.
Check the transfer routeOverstayed: card lapsed or fine in the dashboard
Overstay fines compound daily in most GCC countries. The salvage flow is renewal-first, then fine settlement, then an in-person stamp where required. Move today, not Monday.
Read the salvage flowNeed a degree or marriage certificate accepted here
The attestation chain runs origin notary, foreign ministry, GCC embassy, then MOFA at the destination. It can take days or six weeks depending on which embassy is on the path.
Start attestationNone of these fit? Send a 2-line message to the desk and we will route you.
When you'd rather just have it done
Tell the GCC desk where you are in the your filing flow. We pick it up from there, fixed fee, no per-visit add-ons.
Fixed desk fee · Email updates · No surprise add-ons.
Which GCC country are you filing in?
Every service page also exists in a per-country edition with the actual portal, the actual fee, and the actual wait time. Pick the country you are filing in and the country guide will point at the right desk.
Hand the next filing to a desk that has done it a hundred times.
Whether it is a 48-hour Emirates ID save, a sponsor transfer that will not close on Qiwa, or an attestation chain spanning three ministries, our country desks pick it up at whatever stage you are stuck.