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Saudi Arabia Work Visa Requirements for Filipinos: The Documents, and Who Pays for What

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By iStart Editorial Team·Published August 19, 2026

Saudi Arabia Work Visa Requirements for Filipinos: The Documents, and Who Pays for What

The offer came through a cousin's officemate in Riyadh. Then the list arrived on Messenger — passport, NBI, medical, transcript — and underneath it a figure, with a note saying half now. Somewhere in that message is the law, and somewhere in it, somebody's business model.

We have watched Filipinos work through this list for years. The visa is applied for by the employer, against an employment contract you have already signed. Know that, and the list sorts into two piles — yours, and theirs. Still choosing between countries? Start with where Filipinos work abroad; this guide covers the requirements and the costs, not the job.

What a Saudi work visa actually is — and who applies for it

A Saudi work visa is employer-sponsored: the employer requests the authorization — that step, not the visa itself — and each application runs through the Kingdom's visa services platform. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes that service — "to request authorization on work visa to bring in people from outside".

Saudi Arabia's official visa platform lists three visas: a Permanent Work Visa for long-term employment contracts, a Temporary Work Visa for short-term ones, and a Seasonal Work Visa for seasonal positions. Visit and transit visas are separate, not work routes.

The documents you provide

On the Philippine side, the Department of Migrant Workers' 2023 rules for land-based overseas Filipino workers apply to anyone recruited through a licensed agency.

Section 55 — "Fees and Costs Chargeable to the OFW" — caps what you can be charged for. Its documentation costs:

  • a passport;
  • an NBI, police or barangay clearance;
  • a PSA-authenticated birth certificate;
  • your transcript of records and diploma, certified by CHED and authenticated or apostilled by the DFA;
  • your PRC professional licence, authenticated by the DFA;
  • a certificate of competency from TESDA or another competent certifying body, for the job applied for;
  • the DOH-prescribed medical examination, based on the host country's medical protocol;
  • and membership with PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG and the Social Security System.

Not every item applies to every job: a PRC licence, a transcript and a certificate of competency follow the position applied for.

Two more sit around it: the signed, DMW-approved employment contract, and the OEC/OFW Clearance you present at departure.

Ask to see the Saudi embassy's own requirement in writing. And if a trade needs its qualification recognised first, read this next.

Who pays for what

Two legal systems answer the same way. Under Philippine rules, recruitment and placement costs are the employer's — Section 58 names them: the visa and its stamping fee, the work and residence permits, round-trip airfare, transport from the airport to the jobsite, the DMW processing fee, OWWA membership, and any additional trade test the employer requires. In the Kingdom, Article 40 of the Saudi Labor Law puts these on the employer, as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development states it: the recruitment fees for a non-Saudi worker, residence and work-permit fees and their renewal, profession-change and exit-and-return fees, and the ticket home at the end of the relationship. That Law's own Article 7 exempts domestic workers from it, so Article 40 is not their rule; a separate regulation the Ministry issues covers them. A worker asked to pay for the visa is paying a cost two legal systems assign to somebody else.

A two-column card comparing the costs a Saudi employer bears under Section 58 with the documentation costs a Filipino worker may be charged for under Section 55.

Section 56 permits a placement fee of one month's basic salary specified in the DMW-approved employment contract — except to domestic workers, who may not be charged one at all, and except to workers bound for countries whose system does not allow it. The fee is paid only after the contract is signed, and the agency must issue a BIR-registered receipt stating the date, purpose and exact amount.

Section 59 closes the list. No other fees, in whatever amount, form, manner or purpose, may be charged against an overseas Filipino worker beyond those the rules specify.

The DMW has raised the domestic-worker floor from US$400 to at least US$500 — an increase its advisory directs be integrated into the contracts it processes. How the floor is applied across the Gulf is not something we could confirm on a primary source, so read the figure in your own DMW-processed contract before signing.

"Can I get a 3-month work visa?"

Yes and no. Yes: the Temporary Work Visa is an official Saudi category, for short-term employment contracts. No: it is not yours to obtain — the employer requests it.

In October 2024, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced the Council of Ministers' approval of an updated regulation for temporary work visas, granting flexibility to facilities "by extending the period of temporary visas for a similar period, i.e. (90) additional days". The regulation also obligates "a copy of the employment contract signed by both parties" and medical insurance "as a prerequisite before granting the visa by the Kingdom's representations abroad". Ask which category your offer is for, in writing.

Three checks before you pay anyone

Start with the advertisement. Section 75 requires a manpower-pooling advertisement to carry, in large font, the phrases "for manpower pooling only", "no fees in any form and/or purpose will be collected from the applicants" and "beware of illegal recruiters and human traffickers", and to specify the agency's name, address and DMW licence number, the employer's name and worksite, and the skill categories and qualification standards. That rule is for pooling ads — but the licence number, employer and worksite are what a fake post cannot produce.

A Filipina in her late twenties reads a recruitment advertisement closely on her phone, copying details into a notebook before replying.

Then the agency. The DMW publishes its list of licensed recruitment agencies at dmw.gov.ph, free to search.

Then the medical. Under Section 62 the examination is conducted through a DOH-accredited clinic of your own choice, and only after there is reasonable certainty that you will be hired under an approved job order. Being steered to one clinic, or asked for a medical before there is a job, departs from the rule. What it covers follows the host country's protocol — ask to see that requirement in writing.

What a first Saudi contract can build

Two things are worth building. One is on the rules' list: the certificate of competency for the job applied for. The other is the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development's Professional Accreditation programme: Professional Verification, which checks skills, experience and certificates for high-skilled jobs before entry, and Professional Examination, practical and theoretical testing for medium and low skills; whether an occupation is covered is a question for the employer. Across the Gulf the roles being recruited shift year to year; the qualification that gets you in is the one that moves you up.

There is another way to read a requirements list. Most read it as hurdles. Read it the other way: every item is a thing you can prove — that you trained, that you are licensed, that you are cleared, that somebody tested your skill. It is a record — the same one a manager reads when a supervisor's post opens. The papers are not the toll. They are the portfolio.

A card pairing four Philippine requirements - transcript and diploma, PRC licence, clearance, certificate of competency - with what each one proves about the worker.

Before you sign anything

  • The advertisement I answered carries the licence number, employer and worksite.
  • The agency is on the DMW's published list of licensed recruitment agencies.
  • Nothing paid toward the visa, its stamping fee, the work and residence permits.
  • Any placement fee paid only after the contract is signed, with a BIR-registered receipt.
  • The medical at a DOH-accredited clinic you chose, after there is a job.
  • Domestic worker: no placement fee at all, and the salary figure read before signing.
  • Office or administrative role: the DMW advises verifying the position's eligibility, after Saudization expanded to 69 administrative support professions in the private sector — secretarial, clerical, data entry, reception and translation posts are among those named.

The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most

Do I need a job offer before I can apply for a Saudi work visa? Yes, and the first step is not yours to file: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes the authorization as a service for the entity bringing the worker in. All three visas assume an employment contract you hold.

My agency is asking me to pay for the visa. Is that allowed? No. The visa and its stamping fee, and the work and residence permits, are the employer's — Section 58 of the DMW's 2023 rules, and Article 40 of the Saudi Labor Law, a Law domestic workers sit outside. A placement fee of one month's basic salary may be charged to a land-based worker — never to a domestic worker, and never to workers bound for countries whose system does not allow it — and only after the contract is signed, with a BIR-registered receipt. Section 59: no other fees, in whatever amount, form, manner or purpose.

Where do I check that a recruitment agency is legitimate? On the DMW's list of licensed recruitment agencies at dmw.gov.ph, free to search. Then the advertisement: look for the licence number and the employer's name and worksite.

Is the minimum salary for domestic workers going up? The floor for Filipino domestic workers rises from US$400 to at least US$500 in the contracts the DMW processes — its own advisory. How it is applied across the Gulf is not something we could confirm on a primary source — read the figure in your own contract before signing. It is a floor for domestic workers, not a Saudi wage.

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