How to Apply for Family Iqama Visa: Complete Guide

Someone who recently moved to Saudi Arabia and plans to bring their family members to live with them as residents need to go through a complete process to issue the family Iqama visa.

It is also known as permanent Family Visa but I don’t like to call it permanent since it can be misunderstood with the premium residency.

Saudi Arabia is changing and opening its doors to foreigners. The foreign investors are moving to the Kingdom and it’s creating thousands of jobs in the market. While many of the expatriates are already living in the kingdom with their families. Those who are joining the workforce recently have to follow a procedure to bring their families to Saudi Arabia.

In this article, I have tried to explain the complete procedure with it’s required documents.

There are two primary ways to apply for the family iqama visa.

1. Issuance through Absher (online): This option is only open to highly qualified individuals and their employers (organizations) are enrolled in this via the Istiqdam (recruitment) office.
2. Issuance through the Istiqdam office: This option is open to all qualified individuals with suitable professions and their organizations with active Chamber of Commerce membership in any city of the Kingdom.

Eligibility Criteria For Family Iqama Visa

Before we discuss the procedure there are a few points you need to understand.

1. You can only sponsor your wife or husband and children.
2. You can sponsor children from your ex-wife / ex-husband.
3. You can sponsor your wife’s / husband’s children if they are from a different marriage.
4. You cannot sponsor your siblings.
5. You cannot sponsor your parents. (Sponsoring parents is only possible if they are already on a residence (iqama) visa)
6. You cannot sponsor more than one wife unless she is already on a residence (iqama) visa.
7. You cannot sponsor any children above the age of 18.
8. Your declared monthly income must be at least 5000 SAR.
9. You should have a profession that matches your qualifications e.g. A person working as an Electrical Engineer in a private firm should have the profession of Electrical Engineer.
10. Your Iqama should be valid for at least 3 months at the time of applying for the family iqama visa.

Cost of Family Iqama Visa

Once you know that you are eligible, now you need to know how much the family iqama visa will cost you. I will try to explain the complete costs related to this topic.

• Cost of the Visa: The total cost of issuing the visa is 2000 SAR. Please be advised that this is the total fee of the visa, it is not calculated as per person. E.g. If you have 1 wife and 3 children, and you are going to issue a visa for all family members at one time, the cost will be 2000 SAR. If you apply for each member separately at different times, then you will have to pay this fee on every visa application.
• Cost of Issuing the Visa in Home Country: To know the exact fees of stamping and issuance of a visa in your home country please visit the Tasheer website. Select your nationality and residence country where you will apply for a visa. Click visa fees and choose your nationality and ‘Resident’ as the visa type.

• Cost of Medical Examination: Two medical examinations will be required. The first one will be required before issuing the visa which must be done in the home country. This medical exam varies between 100 USD to 250 USD per person or local currency depending on the country you are applying from. More information on medical examinations from the home country can be obtained from the website of Wafid. The second will be required once your family has arrived in the Kingdom. This will cost between 250 SAR to 500 SAR per person depending on the medical center you’ve selected. I suggest you visit 2 or 3 medical centers in your city and choose the cheapest option.  

• Cost of Dependent Fees: This is also locally known as family tax. This fee was imposed on expats in 2017 and currently, it stands at 400 SAR or 107 USD per family member per month. E.g. You those who have 1 wife and 3 children; the total cost will be 400 SAR x 4 Family Members = 1600 SAR per month x 12 months or 1 year = 19,200 SAR (This is your estimated cost for keeping your family on iqama for 1 year) I will discuss more this later.
• Cost of Issuing Iqama Cards: Once your family has arrived in the Kingdom and you have completed the medical examination, you need to pay the dependent fees locally known as family tax. This fee must be paid within 90 days from the date of arrival. The fees are calculated after 90 days from the date of arrival till the expiry date of the sponsor’s iqama. E.g. If your iqama is valid until 29^th December and your family has arrived on 29^th June, you must pay the fees before 27^th September and the fees should be paid until 29^th December, which will be approximately 1200 SAR per person.

Issuance through Absher (Online):

Before starting the procedure, please be sure to pay the visa fees for 2000 SAR through SADDAD. Only qualified professionals with their companies enrolled with Istiqdam for the online visa issuance scheme will be able to issue the visas. Females are not allowed to sponsor their spouses through an online portal, they must visit the Istiqdam office.

• Step 1: To issue your family iqama visa online you simply need to log in to your Absher account.

• Step 2: Select My Services and then Select Expatriates Affairs

• Step 3: The page for family visa service will appear with all the basic requirements mentioned on it.

• Step 4: Click on ‘New Family Visa Application’

• Step 5: The initial page will open which will display your personal information such as Iqama number, Nationality, Expiry Date, Profession, etc.

• Step 6: Verify your details on this page and ensure all details are correct.
• Step 7: Click ‘Apply for Family Visa’

• Step 8: A form will appear that will ask you to fill in the details of
  • your total Salary amount in Saudi Riyals.
  • Date of your receiving your highest qualification.
  • Highest level of Education.
  • Major subjects (this means your specialization).

• Step 9: After filling in the above information, you will find the option of ‘Add new dependent’. Select this option to open a new form where you will add the information of your dependent. You must add all dependents or family members’ details separately.

• Step 10: In Saudi Arabia, there are up to 4 names that can be added to your ID, which is up to your grandfather’s name and then your last name as your surname or family name. Kindly make sure that you only enter the names as shown in the passports. If you do not have 2 or 3 names added in your passport you can simply Skip, the Second name and Third name by adding a dash ( – ).
• Step 11: Add the passport number, age, nationality, religion, and port of boarding (From the city where the visa will be issued through the Royal Saudi Embassy).
• Step 12: Once you are done adding your family member details, make sure to verify and double check your all details.
• Step 13: Click and tick on the option of ‘I agree that I am the applicant of family visa that all data entered is correct and if it is not, I will stand all penalties in accordance with the system of fraud and forgery’. Please understand that you are applying for legal residency in a country where you are working as a legal resident. Please refrain from any fraudulent activity to be easily.
• Step 14: Click on Submit Family Visa. This will generate your family iqama visa application with a document number.
• Step 15: Save a PDF of your family iqama visa application and send it to your company’s HR or GR officer and request them to attest or authenticate the application through the company’s portal of chamber commerce. The cost of attestation is 35 SAR per document, usually the companies will ask you to pay this amount.
• Step 16: Once your application is attested, the status will change to Approved in your Absher account. You can print this document and send it to your family in your home country to get the visa issued.

Issuance through the Istiqdam Office:

Before we discuss the procedure of issuing the family iqama visa through the Istiqdam office, you need to understand that this process is lengthy, time, and sometimes stressful if you do not have the right documents in place. You can consider this procedure as appearing for a visa before a visa counselor and answering the interview questions.

Similarly, when applying through the Istiqdam office, you must appear before the officer, present all required documents, and answer any questions asked by the officer. The officer is solely responsible for approving or rejecting your application. So, make sure you present your application well and answer all questions carefully and correctly.

Please note that you must submit your application to the same city where your company is registered with the Chamber of Commerce. E.g. If your company’s head office is in Jeddah with Chamber of Commerce in Jeddah and you work in the branch office in Dammam. If the branch office is not registered with the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce, then your application will not be accepted in the Istiqdam office in Dammam. You must apply at the Istiqdam office in Jeddah.

List of required documents as of Decemeber2024,  

1. The Istiqdam form is correctly filled with all required information and duly attested by the chamber of commerce of your company. Click Here for the Template. Below is the English-translated representation of the form for your ease in filling it yourself.

1. Salary Letter addressed to the manager of the Istiqdam office (Make sure to add the city name where you will be submitting your application). Click Here for the Template.
2. Original university degree duly attested by the Saudi Embassy from the country of issuance of the degree and Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) with Arabic translation.
3. Original marriage certificate duly attested by the Saudi Embassy from the country of issuance of marriage certificate and Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) with Arabic translation.
4. Original birth certificates of the children duly attested by the Saudi Embassy from the country of issuance and Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) with Arabic translation.
5. Copy of your iqama
6. Copy of your passport
7. Copy of the stamped visa sticker (if available)
8. Copy of the passports of all applicant dependents.
9. GOSI Certificate
10. Professional certification or license issued by the respective authority if you are a pilot, doctor, engineer, accountant, auditor, or technician.
11. Commercial registration of your company and branch commercial registration if you are working in a branch office.

There could be any additional documents that might be required if asked by the Istiqdam officer.

Visit to Istiqdam Office

Once you have the above list of documents ready, book an appointment with the Istiqdam office through Absher and visit the Istiqdam office on your appointment date.

Address of Istiqdam offices, Click on the address for the Google Maps location.

1. Dammam: 7126 Anas Ibn Malik St, 3449, Al-Hamra’a, Dammam 32422
2. Riyadh: 2905 King Abdulaziz Rd, Al Murabba, Riyadh 12628
3. Jeddah: 4532 Salih Al Umari, 9431, Al Marwah Jeddah 23544

Upon your appointment, once you have arrived inside the office, obtain a token number, and wait for your turn. Upon your turn, submit all the documents mentioned above and let the officer study your documents. You will be asked to wait again until he completes his verification.

Once your application is approved, you will be called to the desk and will give a Yellow Slip. This is your visa document. Before leaving the desk, make that the document has below information:

• Document Number: This will be your visa number throughout the process.
• Names of Dependents: Make sure the names of dependents are correct and match with passports.
• Nationality: Make sure the nationality is correct.
• Sequence Number: This is going to be the temporary ID number better known as the border number once the applicant lands in Saudi Arabia.
• Arrival City: Make sure that the arrival city is correct and should be within the same country where the visa will be issued.
• Changes: if any of the above details are not incorrect, inform the office and request them to correct the details.

The validity of the visa is 1 year from the date of issuance. Please note that this validity is based on the Hijri calendar. So, the validity is approximately 355 days from the date of issuance.

Once you have the right slip in hand, check your Absher account regularly after 3 days from the date of issuance of the visa slip. The visa details will appear in your Absher account. Once you have these details available in your Absher account, now you can send this visa slip to your home country for issuance of the visa from the local Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your home country.

In most countries, Tasheer Authorized Agents are authorized by Saudi Embassies in these respective countries to process the application. Check their website to know your agent details.

I hope this procedure helps you, if you have any more questions make sure to comment below.