also called Iqama card · Iqama residence permit · Saudi residence permit · residency permit Gulf
The residence permit and ID card held by foreigners across the Gulf states, the document that proves you legally live there once a work or investor visa has been issued.
The Iqama is the residence permit and ID card that foreigners carry across the Gulf states once a work or investor visa has been issued. The entry visa only starts the process; the Iqama is what lets you rent, bank, get a phone line and bring family. It is traditionally tied to an employer, so if it lapses or your sponsor cancels it, your legal presence and everything attached to it can fall apart at once.
You land in a Gulf country on your work visa and try to rent a flat and get a SIM, only to be told to come back once your Iqama is issued, because everything keys off that card. From then on you watch its expiry more closely than your passport's, knowing that if your sponsor cancels it, your whole legal footing goes with it.
In the Gulf the entry visa is only the start, the Iqama is what lets you rent, bank, get a phone line and sponsor family, and it is traditionally tied to an employer. If your Iqama lapses or your sponsor cancels it, your legal presence and everything attached to it can collapse at once. Watch its expiry more closely than your passport's.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These describe how a foreigner legally lives in the Gulf.
Kafala is the sponsorship system that ties your residence and right to work to one named sponsor, usually an employer, and an iqama is the residence permit and ID card you hold once that visa is issued.
Premium Residency is Saudi Arabia's paid route, nicknamed the Saudi Green Card, that lets you live and own property without a local sponsor.
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