Saudi QVP: how professional verification works for work visas

QVP is Saudi Arabia's online check of a foreign worker's degree, experience and professional certificates against the occupation on their work visa. Where it applies, the worker completes it online before entering Saudi Arabia. Once the request is qualified, the result goes directly to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs systems.

This guide is for three groups: applicants with a Saudi job offer, HR teams at Saudi employers, and recruitment agents in source countries such as India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal and Kenya.

What QVP is

QVP stands for Qualification Verification Program. The Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) calls the same service Professional Verification. It is one part of Saudi Arabia's Professional Accreditation programme for expatriate workers.

The Professional Accreditation knowledge centre describes its purpose in two parts:

• to make sure the worker holds verified and reliable academic qualifications
• to make sure the worker has the professional experience and skills the job needs

HRSD runs the service with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under Cabinet Decision No. 195. In January 2025 the ministry said Professional Verification covered 160 labour-sending countries and 1,007 professions. It covers highly skilled professions, in the first three major groups of the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations.

QVP is not the same as document attestation. QVP checks whether your qualification is genuine and fits the job. Attestation, or an apostille, is a separate chain of stamps on the document itself. If your visa file also asks for attested certificates, see our guide to degree attestation for Saudi Arabia.

Who needs QVP

QVP applies where required for the job title, nationality or country. There is no single rule that fits every applicant, so check your own case before you start.

Three things decide it:

1. The occupation on the visa. Verification is linked to each occupation in the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations. The platform tells applicants to choose the exact occupation that matches the one in their visa application. The occupation code is on the work visa.
2. The field. The occupation search on the Professional Accreditation home page shows the route. A health occupation, for example, is referred to the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties instead of QVP.
3. The country. The same search shows whether the occupation is activated in your country of residence.

Run the search with your own occupation and country before you start. QVP is for professional roles where a degree, diploma or professional certificate matters to the job. Skilled trades are usually handled by a different programme, the skills test described below.

How QVP relates to the SVP skills test

Professional Accreditation has two parts. HRSD describes them in its overview of the programme:

• Professional Verification (QVP) checks certificates, experience and skills for high-skilled jobs.
• Professional Examination, known as the Skills Verification Program (SVP), tests workers through practical and theoretical exams. It targets medium- and low-skilled professions that do not need a degree.

In short, a degree-level professional role points to QVP, and a skilled trade that needs no degree points to an SVP test. Your occupation decides which one applies, not your preference, and the occupation search on the platform shows the route.

When HRSD launched the skills programme in 2021, it said that work visas for the targeted jobs would be linked to the worker passing the exam in their home country, at selected test centres abroad. The SVP section of the knowledge centre adds a few practical points:

• The test is computer-based, or computer-based and practical, depending on the occupation.
• Test takers choose the language when booking. The options include Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu, Filipino, Sinhala, Tamil, Bengali and Nepali.
• An employer can register on the platform and book tests for its workers.

SCE accreditation for engineers

Don't assume an engineering job skips QVP. When we searched in November 2026, Civil Engineer and Mechanical Engineer with India as the country of residence both showed the Qualification Verification Program. Check your own occupation and country.

The Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) runs its own accreditation. Its service for applicants outside Saudi Arabia is for engineers, engineering technologists, architects and architectural technologists. The SCE says this service enables the applicant to obtain a visa for engineering, technical or architectural work. So an engineer may need both QVP and SCE accreditation, where required for the job title.

The SCE lists these conditions and documents:

• the applicant must be outside Saudi Arabia
• at least a bachelor's degree in engineering, engineering technology, architecture or architecture technology, from an accredited programme
• the academic record (transcripts)
• a letter of acknowledgement and authorisation
• a copy of the residence permit or entry visa
• the passport and a personal photo

If the job title on the visa is an engineering one, check this before the visa file moves on. Our QVP, SCE and Wakala service covers both.

How to apply for QVP from your home country

You apply online. The platform says requests are created by professionals who plan to work in Saudi Arabia, so you do not need to be there. Based on the knowledge centre's instructions, the steps are:

1. Check your occupation. Search for the occupation and your country of residence on the Professional Accreditation home page. The search shows which programme applies and whether it is activated in your country.
2. Create an account. Choose "Programs", select the Qualification Verification Program, click "Sign up", complete the form and click "Verify". One-time passwords come by email.
3. Start a verification request. Select your occupation. Select your major exactly as it appears on your certificate.
4. Add your qualifications. The platform accepts educational qualifications, professional experience and professional certificates. Experience from a different field can be added, but it is assessed against the occupation you chose.
5. Pay the fee online. Payment is by Visa or Mastercard. The fee is not refunded if you withdraw the request.
6. Wait for the checks. Each request goes through three levels: validation with the issuing authority, academic degree alignment, and occupation alignment.
7. Get the result. Once the request is qualified, the platform sends the result directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs systems. You can download the certificate from your dashboard.

The verification certificate has no expiry date. If the result is "Unqualified", you can appeal once, within 5 days of the result, from the request itself.

Documents to prepare

The platform does not publish a single document list. In our experience, it helps to have clear scans of these ready before you open the request:

• Passport copy, with your name spelled the same way you will enter it
• The visa details, including the exact occupation
• Degree or diploma certificate
• Transcripts or mark sheets
• Experience letters, where you are adding experience
• Professional certificates or licences, where they relate to the job
• Translations, where the request asks for one (see our translation and document preparation service)

Tell your university or college in advance that a verification request may reach them. One reason a request can end as "Unable to Verify" is no response from the institution.

How to check your QVP status

Sign in to your account on the Professional Accreditation platform and open the verification request. The platform also notifies you by email when the status changes. These are the statuses it lists for each section of a request:

The overall result of the request is "Qualified" or "Unqualified". To confirm that an issued certificate is valid, use the certificate check with the certificate number.

Where QVP fits in the work visa process

QVP is one step in a longer chain. The order of steps 2 and 3 can vary, but the main stages are:

1. The employer obtains the work visa in Saudi Arabia. Companies use the visa issuance service on Qiwa. The visa carries the occupation code that QVP checks against.
2. The employer gives the Wakala. On the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa platform (previously known as Enjaz), the employer authorises a recruitment office to use its work visas with the Saudi mission. Our guide to the work visa Wakala explains this step.
3. The worker completes the checks that apply: QVP, the SVP test or SCE accreditation, depending on the occupation, plus any medical or document requirements, where required.
4. The recruitment office lodges the visa file with the Saudi embassy or consulate. See our work visa stamping service.

For HR teams, the occupation in step 1 matters most. If it does not match the worker's qualification, the QVP result can be "Unqualified", and the worker cannot change the visa. Check the occupation against the candidate's degree before the visa is issued.