If you’re an expat living in Saudi Arabia and you’ve recently renewed your passport, there’s good news. You no longer need to visit the Jawazat (General Directorate of Passports) office in person to update your passport details. The Absher platform now lets your employer handle this process online—quickly and conveniently.
Here’s a simple guide to how it works, who it’s for, and what you need to know before using the service.
Who Can Use This Service?
This online passport update service is available to:
- Expatriates over the age of 18
- Those who have recently renewed their passport
- Those without any legal or administrative restrictions
Where to Find the Service on Absher
Your employer can log in to their Absher account and follow these steps:
- Go to “My Services”
- Click on “Passports”
- Select “Resident Identity Services”
- Choose the option to update passport information
There’s a service fee of SAR 69 (including VAT) for this process.
What’s Required?
To complete the update, your employer will need:
- A clear photo of the new passport
- Confirmation that:
- The old passport is not lost
- There are no traffic violations on the resident’s iqama
- There are no absence-from-work reports
- Both employer and employee are alive and well
- There are no security restrictions on either party
The Absher system will automatically extract details like the passport number and expiry date from the uploaded image.
Important Notes
- This update can only be done once every five years per worker.
- If the old passport is lost, a personal visit to Jawazat is still required.
- If the resident has family members tied to the old passport who have since gotten new passports, you also need to go to Jawazat in person.
- If the service is done using a lost or forged passport, the person who submitted the update (usually the employer) will be held fully responsible.
Final Thoughts
This online update is a big time-saver for expats and employers in Saudi Arabia. Just make sure all conditions are met, the passport photo is clear, and there’s no false information submitted. If anything seems off, it’s better to visit Jawazat directly to avoid complications.