Saudi visa check by passport number

Can you check a Saudi visa using only a passport number?

No single Saudi portal accepts a passport number on its own. Absher, Muqeem, the MOFA Visa Platform and KSA VISA all pair your passport number with a second identifier: an iqama number, a visa number, an application number or a border number. Find that second number first, and the check itself takes under a minute.

This trips up a lot of people searching for a visa check online by passport number, because the phrase suggests a single-field lookup. In practice every government system in Saudi Arabia treats the passport number as a confirming field, not a search key. That stops guesswork searches as much as it protects your own record. The fix is simple: locate the second number on your visa sticker, entry stamp, iqama card or approval email, then use it with your passport number on the portal that matches your visa type.

Which official portal checks each Saudi visa type

Match your situation to a row below to see the right portal in one look. Every link opens the real government site in a new tab; none of them run through this page.

Not sure which row fits? Use the wizard above and answer what you are holding right now.

Visa number, application number and border number: what's the difference

Four different numbers get called a "visa number" in everyday conversation, and mixing them up is the most common reason a check fails. This table lines them up so you can tell which one you are holding. A iqama (إقامة) is the residence permit and national ID number issued to a foreign resident of Saudi Arabia. A border number (رقم الحدود) is the 10-digit entry ID the General Directorate of Passports gives you when you arrive on a new visa, handwritten on your passport’s visa page and used as your temporary identity until an iqama is issued.

Every Saudi visa portal, in one place

Saudi Arabia runs several visa systems side by side while it moves toward one entry point. Here is what each one actually does, and which of our guides covers it in full.

the MOFA Visa Platform (منصة التأشيرات) is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs platform for issuing and checking visas applied for through Saudi missions and agents, now being unified under the KSA VISA platform. Most people still call it "MOFA", or, out of habit, by its older name, Enjaz.

the unified KSA VISA platform (منصة تأشيرات المملكة) is the single Saudi visa platform bringing tourist eVisa, MOFA and other visa services under one entry point. Expect more services to move onto it over the coming months, so recheck this page's last verified date before you rely on an older screenshot.

Muqeem (مقيم) is the resident-services portal built by Elm with the General Directorate of Passports, used mainly by employers to manage their workers’ passport, visa and residency transactions.

Absher (أبشر) is the Ministry of Interior’s e-government platform where individuals handle their own government services, including many visa and iqama tasks.

Employers manage work visas and worker contracts on Qiwa (قوى), which is the Ministry of Human Resources labour platform where employers manage work visas, contracts and workers. If you are an employee waiting on a work visa, your employer's Qiwa dashboard, not a personal login of your own, usually holds the current status.

How to check visa status in KSA if you don't have an iqama yet

Use your border number or your original visa number, since Absher and Muqeem are both built around the iqama you have not been issued yet. Ask your sponsor to look you up on Muqeem if neither number returns a result, because employers can usually see a new arrival before the wider system catches up.

The gap between landing in Saudi Arabia and receiving an iqama can run from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the medical check, fingerprinting and paperwork your employer handles. During that window your record may show under your border number on one portal and not yet appear on another. That is normal, not an error. Once the iqama is issued, drop the border number and search by iqama from then on, since it becomes your permanent ID across every Saudi service, including Qiwa.

What if a Saudi visa portal shows no result?

A blank or "not found" result almost always means one of three things: a typo in the number, the wrong identifier for that portal, or a visa that has not reached that system yet. Recheck every digit, try the other number you have, visa versus application, iqama versus border, and confirm you picked the portal that matches your visa type from the table above.

Applications made through an agent or a Saudi mission abroad can take time to appear even after approval, particularly while MOFA services keep moving into KSA VISA. If a result still will not show after a fair wait, contact whoever handled the application, your agent, employer, the Saudi mission, or the the General Directorate of Passports (الجوازات), the Saudi passports and immigration authority under the Ministry of Interior that issues iqamas, exit and re-entry visas and border numbers. Repeating the same search will not help, and neither this page nor any other outside site can look inside a government database on your behalf. If an agent applied for you, confirm their visa delegation (okala) is genuine before you rely on their word.

Sorting a visa check is one job. If a final exit visa is part of your plan, work out what you are owed with our Saudi end of service calculator once your visa side is confirmed, so both pieces are settled before you fly.