Huroob in Saudi Arabia: How the "Absent From Work" Process Works Now

How the process works now

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) published updated rules on worker absence in October 2022. Qiwa announced changes in July 2025. The process now runs as follows:

1. The employer files the report on Qiwa. According to the rules announced in July 2025, the employer can do this only if your iqama has at least 60 days of validity left and you have no active employment contract at the time. Check the current conditions on Qiwa, as they may change.
2. Your status becomes "disconnected from work". Your record is detached from that establishment, and the employer no longer bears liabilities for you.
3. You have 60 days to act. You can transfer to another employer, leave the Kingdom on final exit, or sign a new contract with the same employer.
4. If you do nothing, at the end of the 60 days your status automatically becomes "absent from work". You are removed from the company's records, and both MHRSD and the Ministry of Interior are notified.

What to do in the 60 days

• Check your status now. Look at Qiwa and Absher as soon as you suspect a report, not weeks later.
• If you have a new employer, start the transfer immediately. Transfers take time, and the 60-day window does not stop.
• If you want to go home, arrange final exit within the window. See Employer Refusing Final Exit Visa.
• Separate your money claims from your status. A report does not cancel what your employer owes you: unpaid wages, end of service and leave. These go through amicable settlement and the labor court, within 12 months of the end of the employment relationship (Article 234(a)). See How to File a Labor Complaint.

Example: A Pakistani welder's salary has been unpaid for three months, so he stops going to work. His employer files an absence report. His status changes to "disconnected from work".

Within the 60 days, he does two things at once. He accepts an offer from another contractor and completes the transfer. He also files a labor claim for his unpaid wages and end-of-service award. His status is resolved by the transfer, and his money claim continues separately.

Workers reported absent under the old system

For workers whose status was already "absent from work" before the 2022 update, MHRSD allowed transfer to a new employer. The conditions are:

• the new employer must agree to take on any overdue fees for the worker;
• the transfer must be completed within 15 days of the Ministry's approval, or the status stays "absent from work".

Absence report versus Article 80 dismissal

These are two different things:

• An absence report concerns your status in the Ministry's systems.
• Dismissal for absence under Article 80 concerns your contract rights. It requires more than 30 days' unexcused absence in a contract year, or more than 15 consecutive days, after the required warnings. You must also be given the chance to object.

An employer that files an absence report has not thereby proved an Article 80 dismissal. See Article 80.

If the report is wrong

If you were working, on approved leave, or left because the employer breached its obligations, keep everything that proves it. Useful evidence includes attendance records, messages, bank statements showing unpaid salary, and leave approvals.

Raise the matter with MHRSD and pursue your labor claim. If you left because of unpaid salary, see Article 81.

For employers

According to the rules announced in July 2025, you can file an absence report on Qiwa only where:

• the worker's iqama has at least 60 days of validity left; and
• the worker has no active employment contract.

Check the current Qiwa conditions before filing. If you also intend to end the contract under Article 80 for absence, you must separately meet that article's conditions and give the worker the chance to object. Keep attendance records and warnings in writing.