Saudi exit and re-entry visas: what to read on the visa before you fly
Exit and re-entry is a trip and a return, not the end of the contract. The employer issues it, the fee sits with them, and the two dates — when you may travel, and how long you may stay outside — are what keep the iqama alive.
An exit and re-entry visa is not annual leave, and it is not a final exit. It is permission to leave the Kingdom and come back while the iqama is still valid, if you keep to what is written on the visa. Mixing it up with final exit is how people fly home and find the iqama has ended because they travelled on the other visa.
Who issues it, and who pays
In private-sector work the employer issues it through Absher or Muqeem. You do not issue it yourself. Article 40 puts the exit and re-entry fee on the employer. Being asked for money in the name of an “exit fee” before leave runs into that article, outside the two narrow cases in the article (unfitness for the work, or wanting to return without a legitimate reason), and those are about the return ticket, not about selling the visa. The detail is in the fees guide.
Two dates, not one
The visa usually carries two different dates, and people read one of them. The first: until when you may travel (the visa’s validity). The second: how long you may stay outside the Kingdom. A single exit and re-entry is used once. A multiple one is used more than once inside its validity. Do not rely on “they said two months”. Photograph the visa, read both dates, and ask if you cannot tell which one is the time allowed outside. Staying out past that period cancels the visa and can bring the iqama down, so you come back needing a new visa rather than a “small fix”.
Travel while the iqama is valid for the whole trip. Exit and re-entry on an iqama that expires while you are outside is a second problem on top of the visa. Check the expiry in Absher before you buy the ticket. Iqama renewal.
The passport, and family
Handing the passport over for a day so the visa can be issued is a procedure. Handing it over with no receipt is retention. Ask for a note: who took it, and when it comes back. The Implementing Regulation, giving effect to Article 20, requires the employer not to keep a non-Saudi worker’s passport or iqama. Your family’s exit and re-entry is a separate request for registered dependants, not a clause implied by your own visa.
A visit visa is not a route into this visa. Working on a visit and then “we will get you exit and re-entry” is not a path. The difference between a work visa and a visit visa is in that guide.
Visa lengths and fees change by decision, and the Absher screen changes its layout. Before you travel, read the visa issued in your name, not a summary in a group chat.
If it is issued late
Agreed leave does not produce the visa by itself. The employer issues it. Ask in writing with enough time to have it issued and to read both dates, not the night before. If the request is refused, the reason appears to them in Absher: an iqama close to expiry, a passport close to expiry, or a service stopped on the establishment. A lawful reason can be dealt with. “Pay and we will get it from outside” is not a reason.
Do not travel on a visa while a transfer request is still open. Leaving in the middle of a transfer that has not completed can drop one of the two paths. Close one situation first: either the transfer is visible on Qiwa, or you travel on exit and re-entry with a valid iqama and the transfer is postponed by a written agreement. Mixing the two leaves you outside the Kingdom with no new contract and no clean way back.
Exit and re-entry for a dependant is issued in that person’s name. It does not follow from a photo of your visa. A child or a spouse with a valid iqama needs their own visa. Read the name on the visa before the airport. A visa in your name takes no one else out.
Sources
Rules and fees change and differ by country and employer. Always check with the official authorities before paying or signing anything.