How to Check Iqama Color Status (Red, Green, Nitaqat)

Last updated: 15 October 2026

How to Check Iqama Color Status (Red, Green, Nitaqat) in Saudi Arabia – Complete 2026 Guide

If you are an expatriate living or working in Saudi Arabia, knowing how to check your Iqama color status is not optional. It affects your legal safety, job security, and future planning. If you are still getting to grips with the system itself, start with our complete iqama guide for expats, then come back here.

Don’t have Absher yet? Follow our step-by-step guide to Absher registration, including the 846 kiosks and banks where you can activate your account.

Your Iqama color (Red, Green, or Excluded) reflects your employer’s Nitaqat compliance, which directly affects:

• Iqama renewal
• Sponsorship transfer rights
• Job title changes
• Visa eligibility
• Legal stay in the Kingdom

This fully updated 2026 guide explains how to check Iqama color status online, what each Nitaqat color means, and what actions you should take, written clearly for expats rather than lawyers.

Check Iqama Color Status (Red, Green, Nitaqat)

The only official method to check your Iqama color status is via the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Development (MHRSD) portal.

This system shows whether your employer is compliant with Saudi Saudization laws.

Requirements

You need one of the following:

• Iqama Number
• Border Number
• Passport Number
• Nationality

Related: Where can I find my Border Number?

The portal will not return a result if your iqama has already lapsed, so check your iqama expiry date first if the search comes back empty. Domestic workers and dependents cannot be checked, as they are not registered under Nitaqat.

Step-by-Step: How to Check Iqama Color Status Online

1. Open the official updated inquiry page:
   https://es.hrsd.gov.sa/services/inquiry/nonsaudiempinquiry.aspx
2. Enter your Iqama, Border, or Passport number
3. Complete the captcha
4. Click Search

What the results page shows

The HRSD page loads in Arabic. Use your browser’s translate option if you need it, or match the fields by position. The result returns your employer’s Nitaqat color, the establishment name, your employment status, and your work permit number.

What your result means

Green. Your employer meets its Saudization targets. At Medium Green and above, renewals, new visas, profession changes and transfers in are all open. At Low Green, work permits can still be renewed but new visas and profession changes stop. Full detail in the sections below.

Red. Your employer has failed its Saudization requirements. Work permit renewals, new visas, profession changes and transfers into the company stop. Read the Red section carefully before doing anything else.

مستبعد (Excluded). Your employer sits outside the Nitaqat rating, usually because the establishment is very small. There is no official public explanation of how this affects services, so ask your HR department or HRSD (19911) before a renewal or transfer.

No result returned. The most common cause is an expired iqama. Check your iqama expiry date and try again. The second most common cause is entering a border number when an iqama has already been issued, in which case use the iqama number instead.

What Is Iqama Color & Nitaqat System?

The Nitaqat program was introduced in 2011 to increase employment of Saudi nationals by regulating foreign labor. It is managed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

Companies are evaluated based on:

• Industry type
• Company size (see the 7 Qiwa establishment sizes)
• Number of Saudi versus expat employees

Your Iqama color reflects your employer’s Nitaqat status, not your own conduct. This is the point most expats miss. Nothing you do personally moves the color. It is a rating of the establishment you are sponsored by.

Complete Nitaqat Color Levels (Updated)

Internally, Saudi authorities classify companies into five Nitaqat performance levels, though expats usually see simplified results.

Sub-levels matter: a Low Green employer has fewer services than a Medium Green one. Separate profession quotas also apply. For example, the Saudization quota in procurement rose to 70% for 12 job titles from 31 May 2026, with penalties for companies that miss it.

Low Green: The Category Most Expats Misread

Low Green looks safe because it carries the word Green, and this is where many expats relax when they should not. Low Green means your employer has scraped past the minimum threshold rather than comfortably cleared it.

What still works at Low Green:

• Your existing iqama and work permit can be renewed
• You keep your legal status without interruption

What does not:

• The company cannot recruit new expatriate workers
• Job title and profession changes are blocked
• It cannot receive workers transferring from other employers

The practical read: a Low Green employer is one bad quarter away from Red. Many expats in Saudi Arabia only discover this when a promotion stalls because the profession change cannot be filed. If you are at Low Green and considering a move, moving while your status is still Green is far easier than moving after it turns.

Green Category – What It Means for You

A Green Iqama status means your employer meets Saudization targets.

Benefits of Medium Green, High Green and Platinum

• Iqama renewal allowed
• Profession change permitted
• New visas allowed
• Can receive workers transferring from other employers
• Business expansion enabled

Green means legal stability for expats. It does not mean permanent stability. A company sitting at Medium Green today can be Low Green after one hiring quarter, so treat the result as a snapshot rather than a guarantee. See the full 2026 iqama fee breakdown for what a smooth Green renewal actually costs you.

Red Category – Serious Warning for Expats

If your Iqama color status shows Red, your employer has failed Saudization requirements.

What Red Companies Cannot Do

• Renew Iqamas
• Issue new work visas
• Change job titles
• Transfer employees from others

A Red employer usually has cash flow problems before it has compliance problems. Two things are worth checking the same day: whether any huroob has been filed against you, and whether your iqama renewal fees have actually been paid by your employer. Both are common early warning signs, and both are things a struggling company will not tell you about.

What YOU Can Do

• Move to a new employer under the Labour Reform Initiative. Since 2021, private-sector workers can transfer without their employer’s consent when the contract ends, or during it with notice, in defined cases. The new employer must be at least Medium Green to receive transfers. Confirm your own eligibility on Qiwa before you resign anything.
• Move to any Green or Platinum company that can sponsor your profession
• Protect your legal stay by keeping your own documents current, regardless of what your employer does

Saudi labor law is built to protect employees from non-compliant employers. The protection only works if you act on it, and it works best while your iqama is still valid.

Yellow Category – Official Update

The Yellow Nitaqat category was abolished on January 26, 2020. All Yellow companies were moved to Red.

You may still see yellow on the HRSD inquiry page. There it marks a job group at risk under a profession quota (services will be suspended if the quota is not met), not your employer’s band. Some older pages still list Yellow as a band.

مستبعد (Excluded) – Is It Safe?

If your Iqama color status shows مستبعد, it means:

• Your employer is a very small establishment that falls below the Nitaqat rating threshold
• Nitaqat rules do not apply to it
• There is no official public explanation of what it means for services

If you see this status, ask your HR department or HRSD on 19911 how it affects your renewals and transfers. An excluded establishment is usually small, so the general stability of the business matters more to you than any color rating would.

Can You Check Iqama Color on Absher or MOI?

Many people search for Iqama color status on:

• Absher
• Ministry of Interior

The answer is no. Neither Absher nor MOI provides Iqama color or Nitaqat status.

The reason is straightforward once you see it. Absher handles your personal residency services, things attached to you as an individual. Nitaqat is an establishment classification held by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, attached to your employer. They are two separate systems with two separate owners, which is why no amount of digging through your Absher account will surface a Nitaqat color. Only MHRSD (Official Website) is official.

Real-Life Tips Every Expat Should Know

Check the color before you accept an offer, not after. A salary that looks excellent from a Red company is a salary you may not be able to keep, because your iqama renewal sits with an employer who cannot file it.

Re-check before every contract renewal. Employers are not required to tell you their status changed, and most will not volunteer it during a renewal conversation.

Screenshot the result with the date visible. If a dispute reaches HRSD later, being able to show what the portal said on a specific date is more useful than describing it from memory.

Treat Red as an early payroll warning. The cash flow problem that stopped a company hiring Saudis is usually the same one that makes payroll late. Many expats notice the delayed salary first and only check the Nitaqat color afterwards, by which point they have lost weeks they could have used.

Do not wait for iqama expiry to act. Transfer options are widest while your iqama is still valid. Once it lapses, your position weakens considerably and several routes close entirely.

Common Mistakes Expats Make

• Trusting the employer verbally
• Confusing Absher services with MOL, and don’t check the employer status
• Ignoring Low-Green risk
• Waiting too long to transfer
• Believing outdated Yellow info

If your status came back Red

• Your legal options when an employer stops paying salary, including WPS complaints
• Article 81: resigning without notice and keeping your end of service
• How to track a sponsorship transfer request

2026 Nitaqat Changes Every Expat Should Track

The Nitaqat framework is not fixed. HRSD launched a new three-year phase of Nitaqat in early 2026 with higher targets, so an employer that was comfortably Green last year can slip into a lower band without any change in its own headcount.

Profession quotas are a separate track. In procurement, the Saudization quota rose to 70% for twelve job titles from 31 May 2026. If you work in one of those roles, check whether your job group shows a warning on the HRSD inquiry page.

Which Saudi employees count. Since 15 April 2026, only employment contracts documented electronically on Qiwa count toward a company’s Saudization percentage. Qiwa also lists these conditions for a Saudi employee to be counted as one full employee:

• The contract is active and documented on Qiwa.
• The registered monthly salary is at least SAR 4,000. A royal order of 25 October 2026 raises this to SAR 5,000 six months after the measure starts, then to SAR 6,000 a year after that (see our report on the Nitaqat minimum wage rise).
• The employee is not registered as part-time or as a student.
• The employee has had no more than five employment contracts in the last 52 weeks.

A Saudi employee can also hold no more than two active contracts at the same time. For expats this matters indirectly: if some of your employer’s Saudi staff stop counting, its Nitaqat colour can drop even though nobody has left the company. It is one more reason to check your colour before you renew your contract.

The Ministry has also signalled a longer term restructuring of the programme aimed at expanding Saudi employment through the rest of the decade. Details continue to be published through official HRSD channels.

The practical takeaway: a status you checked six months ago is not a status you can rely on today. Check your color once a quarter, and always before signing a contract renewal.