Before you press accept on Qiwa: what to check in the contract
The contract authenticated on Qiwa is the one that counts. A practical list: wage split, profession, term, housing, probation and workplace — before acceptance, not after.
The button on Qiwa is not a formality you complete while you wait for the “real contract”. Article 51 requires the employment contract to be authenticated. The establishment creates it. From your account you accept, reject, or ask for a change. Acceptance on the screen is acceptance. The paper you signed at home, if it differs from this screen, does not beat what was registered once you are in a settlement.
Six things to read before you accept
- Your name and the establishment’s name. The name on the sign may not be the registered name. Match it to what you were promised.
- The profession. Article 38 forbids employing you outside the profession on the work permit. “Sales” when you will stand in a workshop is a constraint you will pay for at renewal and transfer.
- The wage, split. The basic as its own figure, housing as its own figure, transport as its own figure. One number called “all-in” throws away the base of the end-of-service award, which in Saudi Arabia uses the actual wage. The gratuity guide and the housing guide.
- The term. Article 37: a non-Saudi’s contract is written and fixed-term. If the term is missing it is treated as one year from the day you actually start.
- Probation. Article 53: it cannot add up to more than 180 days. If a longer period is written, the extra does not beat the text.
- The workplace and the hours. The city on the contract is the city you can be sent to. Hours above the cap are overtime, not a sentence that says the salary includes everything.
If the screen and the paper differ
Do not accept and “sort it later”. Rejection or a request to amend exists for this difference. Photograph the screen before you choose, and keep the photo off a company phone if the phone is not yours. After acceptance, correcting the wage is harder than reading it now.
Article 61 requires the employer to provide proper housing or a suitable cash allowance with the wage, even if the contract tries to stay silent. If the clause says housing is “subject to availability” with no allowance, read the housing guide before you accept. Article 52 lists what the contract must contain: the wage including benefits and allowances, the type of work and its place, the start date, and the term.
How to open the account in the first week, and how Qiwa, Absher and Mudad differ, is in the papers guide. What to look for in any contract, even off Qiwa, is in the guide to reading a contract.
The layout of the Qiwa page changes. The articles do not change with the layout. If you cannot get in, the ministry on 19911 is more useful than an office that offers to “accept for you”.
After a rejection, and after acceptance
Asking for an amendment is not an insult to the establishment. It is the gap between a wage that was promised and a wage that was registered. In the request, write the figure you disagree with, not the sentence “the contract is wrong”. If the request is closed and a new contract is sent, read the new contract from the top. Some corrections fix one field and leave the profession or the city as it was.
Acceptance does not cancel your right to be paid for work you do, even if you notice the mistake a week later. It does make it harder to prove “I agreed to something else”, because the screen will be shown in a settlement. That is why the photo before acceptance is worth more than the photo after a dispute. If the contract is in a language you do not read, ask for the Arabic copy. The Labour Law is read in Arabic in a dispute, and a copy you do not understand is not protection.
Probation runs from the day you actually start, not from the visa date. Extending it more than once until the total passes 180 days does not create a new probation. If the contract says probation renews automatically with no limit, the statutory text is the limit. Read the probation guide before you accept an open-ended clause.
Sources
Rules and fees change and differ by country and employer. Always check with the official authorities before paying or signing anything.