Saudi Arabia extends work permit grace period for foreign workers to Dec 31, 2026
Saudi Arabia has pushed back the deadline for employers to regularise expired work permits for foreign workers to December 31, 2026, giving businesses an extra six months to fix compliance gaps. The extension, announced by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, moves the cutoff from the previous June 30, 2026 date reported by Travel Biz. It covers expatriates whose permits have been lapsed for more than a year and workers who were never issued a permit within six months of starting work. Under the original schedule, those workers would have been automatically removed from the Qiwa labour platform after the June deadline; now that removal is delayed until year-end.
Employers must now use this window to renew outstanding permits or complete pending registrations, or face financial penalties, enforcement actions and the eventual removal of affected employees from Qiwa records. The Ministry warns that non-compliance could disrupt workforce management and employment status.
The extension follows a broader tightening of Saudi labour rules introduced in June. The Kingdom ended the work-permit exemption for Premium Residency holders, requiring them to obtain a separate permit before taking a job, and raised fines for hiring foreigners without valid permits to SR10,000 (about $2,666) per worker. Employers who fail to digitally register employment contracts incur SR1,000 (about $266) per violation. The revised framework also treats undocumented contracts, illegal recruitment, child labour, passport retention and maternity/childcare breaches as labour violations.
Will you use this extra six months to audit your workforce records and renew permits before the Dec 31 deadline, or risk fines and disruption to your operations?