General care nurse · Saudi Arabia

Work in Saudi Arabia
as a nurse.

Saudi Arabia keeps two decisions apart: the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties decides whether you can practise, and the labour ministry decides whether you can work. The permit never replaces the licence, so read them in that order.

Recognition
Regulated
Work permits sourced
2
Official sources
20
Last checked
2026-08-03
  1. PhilippinesYour documents, prepared here
  2. RecognitionRequired to practise here
  3. Right to work2 permits compared
  4. Saudi ArabiaEvery source read since 2026‑08‑03
Build my roadmap →Compare the permits

The short answer

Two questions, and they are not the same question.

◎Licence decision required

Recognition

Regulated · assessed case by case

Who decides: Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS), with the licence to practise issued by the Ministry of Health — Article 2 of the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions prohibits practising any health profession without a licence from the Ministry of Health, and the licence requires registration with SCFHS. Article 28 punishes practising without a licence with up to six months in prison, a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or both.

Saudi Arabia separates the permit to work from the licence to practise. The work permit comes from the labour ministry (MHRSD), and Article 34 of the Labour Law states that it does not replace any permit or licence another body requires to practise the work or profession. Where an occupation is licensed, that licence is a separate decision by the body responsible for it, on top of the Ministry's own Professional Accreditation of foreign workers' qualifications.

↗Always required

Work authorisation

Whatever the recognition branch says, you still need the legal right to work in Saudi Arabia. We have sourced 2 routes for a qualification obtained outside the EU and EEA.

  • Employer-sponsored work visa and work permit
  • Premium Residency: Special Talent

Qualified inside the EU or EEA? Free movement replaces this branch entirely — pick your country below and the answer changes accordingly.

Work authorisation

Every permit we can source,
side by side.

Open the full roadmap →

Employer-sponsored work visa and work permit

MHRSD, the Saudi labour ministry, with the visa issued through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Checklist
Qualification
Article 33 of the Labour Law asks for the professional competence or academic qualifications the country needs. For the high-skill tier, the Ministry's guide adds that the occupation falls in major groups 1 to 3 of the Saudi occupational classification, that the total wage is not below the tier's minimum, that the worker passes the Professional Accreditation programme, and that the application passes the Ministry's points system on qualifications, experience and wage.
Professional Verification
No standard time is published. The Ministry reports checks completed in a record time not exceeding 15 days
Visa, work permit and residence permit
Not published on any official page we could open: the platforms that run them (Qiwa, Absher, my.gov.sa) block automated reading. Ask your employer which of them it pays
Health certificate
Paid on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa platform; the amount is not shown on its public page
Everything about Employer-sponsored work visa and work permit →
The procedure, step by step4 steps · 2 possible outcomes
  1. Secure a contract with a Saudi employer. The employer obtains the Ministry's approval to recruit and holds the work visa; through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa platform it authorises the use of that visa at the Saudi mission, directly or through a recruitment office.
  2. Expect your qualifications and experience to go through the Ministry's Professional Accreditation programme, which the guide makes a condition of the high-skill tier. For the occupations in major groups 1 to 3 it takes the form of Professional Verification, which checks your qualifications and experience for authenticity and against the professional requirements of the Saudi labour market.The Ministry states that Professional Verification now covers more than 160 countries and over 1,000 occupations. Its list of covered countries and occupations sits on Qiwa, which could not be read from here: confirm with your employer whether your occupation and country are covered.
  3. Pay for the health certificate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa platform runs it as a separate payment for anyone applying for a work or residence visa.
  4. Enter Saudi Arabia on the work visa and receive the work permit, which ties you to your employer and to the occupation recorded on it: under Article 38 of the Labour Law, the employer may not employ you in another occupation.Article 34 of the Labour Law adds that the work permit does not replace any licence another body requires to practise the work or profession. If your occupation is licensed, the permit alone does not let you start.

Possible outcomes

  • A work permit in one of three tiers, high-skill, skilled or basic, tied to your employer and to the occupation recorded on it.
  • The basic tier is limited to workers no older than 60, in the Ministry's guide.

Premium Residency: Special Talent

Premium Residency Center

Checklist
Salary floor
SAR 35,000 a month (2026 figure)The floor for the healthcare and scientific professionals track, on a contract with a whitelisted entity in a priority specialisation and with the minimum score in the Center's points system. The researcher track is SAR 14,000 a month, and the executive track SAR 80,000 a month in total wage at the first or second executive level. The portal prints no year against these figures: they are the ones on the page on 5 October 2026, and the Center says all conditions are subject to change.
Qualification
For the researcher track and the healthcare and scientific professionals track: a bachelor's degree or higher and more than three years of work experience in a related field. The executive track names no degree.
Residency term
Five years, renewable for one term on meeting the eligibility criteria again
One-time fee
SAR 4,000
Everything about Premium Residency: Special Talent →
The procedure, step by step3 steps · 3 possible outcomes
  1. Secure an employment contract with an entity on the Center's whitelist, in one of its priority specialisations, at the monthly wage your track requires, and a recommendation letter from that employer.Neither the whitelist of entities nor the list of priority specialisations could be read on the portal from here. Ask the employer whether it is on the whitelist before relying on this route.
  2. Reach the minimum score in the Center's points system. We do not compute it: the portal runs its own eligibility check before you apply.
  3. Apply on the Premium Residency portal and pay the one-time fee.

Possible outcomes

  • A five-year residency, renewable once, with the right to move from one establishment to another and an exemption from the fees imposed on expatriates and their dependants.
  • Permanent residency, on continuing to meet the product's standards and residing 30 months in five consecutive or non-consecutive years.
  • Refusal, where the wage floor, the whitelist or the points-system minimum is not met.

Recognition procedure

What the authority asks of you.

Ordered the way the procedure runs, from an origin outside the EU and EEA. Pick your own country of qualification below and the planner reorders it for you.

1

Prepare your documents

  1. Request certified copies of your diploma and transcript of records from the Philippine institution that issued them.
  2. The Apostille Convention has been in force for the Philippines since 14 May 2019, and the competent authority is the Department of Foreign Affairs. Higher-education documents reach it through the Commission on Higher Education, which issues the CAV — the Certification, Authentication and Verification that covers academic documents.
  3. Since 16 March 2026 a CHED eCAV is apostilled electronically and nothing else: the DFA no longer issues paper apostilles for this category. What you receive is an e-Apostille, and anyone you send it to can confirm it on the Philippine e-Register.If a fixer offers to put a physical apostille sticker on your eCAV, that is not the procedure in force. Check the e-Register instead.
  4. Under Article 5 of the Convention, an apostille certifies the signature, the capacity of the person who signed and the seal on the document. It certifies nothing about what the document says or what your qualification is worth.
  5. Check whether your occupation needs a licence from a professional body before you sign a contract. The work permit does not cover it, and the employer can only employ you in the occupation recorded on the permit.
  6. Gather your documents in Arabic or English: the nursing qualification, the certificate of your internship or practical training, your academic record, proof of your work experience, and a valid professional registration or licence from the country where you practised.SCFHS asks for a verification letter with that registration. Where your country has no official body for professional registration, it asks for an official letter from that country's Ministry of Health instead.
  7. Check your experience. A non-Saudi whose qualification comes from outside Saudi Arabia needs at least twelve months of it. The exceptions are a full internship year done inside Saudi Arabia, or a foreign qualification accepted at master's level or above.
2

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Apply for professional classification on Mumaris+, the SCFHS portal. You can apply from outside Saudi Arabia and you do not need a work permit for this stage. If your qualification is not on the SCFHS list of recognised qualifications, it goes through the Qualification Study service first.
  2. SCFHS sends your certificates from outside the Kingdom for verification by DataFlow, which contacts the body that issued them. If that body does not answer within 20 working days, the application is rejected.
  3. SCFHS sets your professional grade from your qualification. A university degree accepted at bachelor's level in nursing classifies you as a nurse. A recognised diploma of at least two years classifies you as a nursing technician, who works under the supervision of a registered nurse.
3

Close any gaps

  1. Unless you are exempt, pass the SCFHS professional assessment. For a bachelor's-level nurse, SCFHS's criteria name the professional practice licence exam or the classification exam. You have four attempts a year; if you do not pass, the application is rejected and you can file a new one a year after the previous one.The SCFHS nursing licence exam, the SNLE, has 200 multiple-choice questions in two parts of 120 minutes each, at SCFHS-approved Prometric centres in Saudi Arabia and abroad, with a pass score of 500 on a scale of 200 to 800. SCFHS exempts anyone already assessed by methods equal to or higher than its own for the same qualification, or by a body it authorises. No SCFHS document we could read lists which earlier assessments or bodies qualify, so whether yours does is SCFHS's decision.
4

Register and start working

  1. Once you are in Saudi Arabia with a valid residence permit, apply for professional registration. Registration is valid for two years, and an employment letter is part of the file if you are already employed.
  2. Do not practise before you hold the Ministry of Health licence, which requires your SCFHS registration.The executive regulations allow a time-limited licence for a practitioner under contract while the classification is still in progress, with the SCFHS requirements completed afterwards.

What it costs

CHED Certification, Authentication and Verification
Set by the Commission on Higher Education — confirm the current fee on the eCAV portal before applying
DFA apostille
Set by the Department of Foreign Affairs and charged per document — confirm the current fee before applying
Classification and registration, nursing specialist grade
SAR 1,340: SAR 900 classification, SAR 240 registration and SAR 200 administrative fee. The SCFHS table prints a total of SAR 1,430 for the exam route with the same three amounts, so confirm the figure on Mumaris+
Classification and registration, nursing technician grade
SAR 760: SAR 400 classification, SAR 160 registration and SAR 200 administrative fee
Qualification Study, if your qualification is not on the recognised list
SAR 300
Verification by DataFlow and the exam seat at Prometric
Set by those companies, not by SCFHS; neither is published on an SCFHS page

How long it takes

SCFHS decision, by route
7 business days on a direct decision, 30 on an electronic written exam (Prometric, Pearson VUE) and 45 on a practical assessment, in the Professional Registration service page. The Mumaris FAQ gives 35 for the practical assessment
Verification
The issuing body has 20 working days to answer
Registration
Valid for two years

Possible outcomes

  • Classification at a nursing grade, then registration with SCFHS and the Ministry of Health licence to practise.
  • Classification as a nursing technician, where the qualification is a diploma rather than a bachelor's degree.
  • Rejection where the verification cannot be completed, or where the professional assessment is not passed within the four attempts of the year.

Possible, not predicted. Nobody here can tell you which one you will get.

Where you qualified

The answer changes
with your country.

Everything we cover →

Qualified outside the EU and EEA — permit required

Colombia → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapArgentina → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapIndia → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapPhilippines → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapNigeria → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapBrazil → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapMexico → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmapVenezuela → Saudi ArabiaOpen this roadmap

Qualified inside the EU or EEA — free movement applies

Spain → Saudi ArabiaDifferent answerGermany → Saudi ArabiaDifferent answerNetherlands → Saudi ArabiaDifferent answer

People reach this page looking for

  • SCFHS classification for overseas nurses
  • Mumaris Plus registration from abroad
  • DataFlow verification for SCFHS
  • SNLE exam for nurses
  • Saudi Arabia nursing license from the Philippines

Questions

Answered from the same sources.

Is general care nurse a regulated profession in Saudi Arabia?

Yes. Regulated · assessed case by case. The decision is made by Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS), with the licence to practise issued by the Ministry of Health.

Which authority recognises a foreign general care nurse qualification in Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS), with the licence to practise issued by the Ministry of Health. Article 2 of the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions prohibits practising any health profession without a licence from the Ministry of Health, and the licence requires registration with SCFHS. Article 28 punishes practising without a licence with up to six months in prison, a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or both.

Which work permits can a general care nurse apply for in Saudi Arabia?

We have sourced 2: Employer-sponsored work visa and work permit, Premium Residency: Special Talent. Each one has its own conditions, and this page compares them side by side rather than recommending one.

What salary do you need to work in Saudi Arabia as a general care nurse?

Premium Residency: Special Talent: SAR 35,000 a month (2026 figure, The floor for the healthcare and scientific professionals track, on a contract with a whitelisted entity in a priority specialisation and with the minimum score in the Center's points system. The researcher track is SAR 14,000 a month, and the executive track SAR 80,000 a month in total wage at the first or second executive level. The portal prints no year against these figures: they are the ones on the page on 5 October 2026, and the Center says all conditions are subject to change.).

How long does the process take?

SCFHS decision, by route: 7 business days on a direct decision, 30 on an electronic written exam (Prometric, Pearson VUE) and 45 on a practical assessment, in the Professional Registration service page. The Mumaris FAQ gives 35 for the practical assessment. Verification: The issuing body has 20 working days to answer. Registration: Valid for two years. These are the timeframes the authorities publish, not a prediction about your case.

Is this page up to date?

The oldest source behind it was checked on 2026-08-03. Every claim links to the official page it came from, with its own check date, so you can verify any of it yourself in one click.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

20 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest of them is 2026-08-03, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Two minutes, no account

Your qualification, your country, your roadmap.

This page answers the pairing in general. The planner answers it for the country you actually qualified in, and prints the result with its sources attached.

Build my roadmap →How we verify this