There is no single equivalency office: your degree gets you the visa, but practising depends on the profession's own gatekeeper — SCFHS for health, the Saudi Council of Engineers for engineering, and skills exams for the trades.
Overview
Saudi Arabia runs qualification recognition through profession-specific gatekeepers rather than a single ENIC-NARIC-style office. For the visa itself, your degree must be authenticated — an apostille from the issuing country since the Convention entered into force on 7 December 2022, with cultural-attaché university verification still applying to some credential categories — and must match the profession on your visa authorisation. To actually practise, regulated professions add their own layer: health practitioners must complete professional classification with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) through the Mumaris Plus portal, including DataFlow primary-source verification and a Prometric exam (the SMLE for physicians); anyone holding an engineering job title must register with the Saudi Council of Engineers, without which the Iqama profession cannot be carried or renewed; and skilled trades fall under the MHRSD's Professional/Skill Verification Program, run with MOFA and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), which tests workers in their home country before the visa. Verified against scfhs.org.sa, saudieng.sa, hrsd.gov.sa and qvp.pacc.sa as of June 2026.
Three Layers of Recognition
- Layer 1 — Authentication for the visa: Degrees and diplomas must be apostilled in the issuing country (Hague route) or legalised through the consular chain; some credential categories also pass Saudi cultural attaché verification of the awarding university. The credential must support the profession stated on your visa authorisation and future Iqama.
- Layer 2 — Professional licensure: Regulated professions (health, engineering, accounting, law) require registration with the Saudi regulator before you may practise — authentication alone is not a licence.
- Layer 3 — Skills verification for trades: The Professional/Skill Verification Program (MHRSD + MOFA + TVTC, with the Qualification Verification Program portal at qvp.pacc.sa) examines skilled-trade workers — electricians, plumbers, welders, HVAC technicians, mechanics and more — in their home countries, covering 1,000+ professions across 23 fields on a country-by-country rollout. Passing is a visa condition where the rollout applies.
- Unregulated roles: Many private-sector roles (management, IT, sales, design) have no licensing body — recognition is effectively the employer's hiring decision plus the authenticated degree behind the Iqama profession.
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See Paid Plans →Frequently Asked Questions
Is there one office in Saudi Arabia that recognises foreign degrees, like ENIC-NARIC in Europe?
No. Saudi Arabia distributes recognition across profession-specific gatekeepers. The degree itself is authenticated (apostille or legalisation) for the visa, and the Ministry of Education handles academic equivalency mainly for study and public-sector contexts — but permission to practise comes from the profession's regulator: SCFHS for all health practitioners, the Saudi Council of Engineers for engineering titles, SOCPA for accountants, and the MHRSD skill-verification machinery for trades. If your role has no regulator — most IT, management and commercial roles — your authenticated degree plus the employer's hiring decision is the whole process.
I'm a nurse/doctor. What exactly does the SCFHS process involve and how long does it take?
Four stages on the Mumaris Plus portal: (1) submit your qualifications and experience documents; (2) DataFlow primary-source verification, where SCFHS's partner contacts your universities, licensing boards and employers directly; (3) the relevant Prometric computer-based exam — the SMLE for physicians, profession-specific exams for nurses and allied health, with oral/clinical assessment at specialist and consultant levels; (4) professional classification and, after you have a Saudi employer, registration to practise. Budget several months end to end — DataFlow and exam scheduling are the slow steps — and note your classification (technician/specialist/consultant) directly drives your title and salary band.
Do engineers really have to register with the Saudi Council of Engineers?
Yes — registration is mandatory for anyone holding an engineering job title in the Kingdom, expatriate or Saudi. MHRSD links engineering professions on the Iqama to valid SCE membership, so without accreditation your Iqama cannot carry or renew an engineering profession, and employers cannot lawfully keep you in the role. You apply through the SCE's professional accreditation e-service on saudieng.sa against your Iqama or border number, submitting your authenticated degree and experience evidence; the SCE assesses grade (engineer vs technician). Do it immediately on arrival — it is a common, avoidable cause of first-renewal failures.
What is the Skill Verification Program and does it apply to me?
It is MHRSD's program — launched in 2021 with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation — to test skilled-trade workers before their work visa is issued, through theoretical and practical exams taken in the home country, with a parallel track for workers already in the Kingdom. It targets more than 1,000 professions across 23 fields, with electricians, plumbers, welders, HVAC technicians and mechanics among the core trades, and rolls out country by country. Whether it applies to your file depends on your profession and nationality — your sponsoring employer can confirm against the current rollout, and the Qualification Verification Program portal (qvp.pacc.sa) handles the scheme.
Does my degree need attestation even if my profession has no licensing body?
Yes. Authentication of the degree is a visa-file requirement independent of professional licensing: the credential supporting your stated profession must be apostilled by the issuing country's competent authority (for Hague Convention countries, since 7 December 2022) or legalised through the foreign-ministry-plus-Saudi-embassy chain otherwise, and translated into Arabic where required. Note that some credential categories are still routed through Saudi cultural attaché verification of the awarding university — check the Saudi mission's current checklist in the issuing country. Keep the authenticated original safe; you may need it again for Iqama profession changes or family matters.
My Iqama profession doesn't match my actual job. How bad is that?
Bad enough to fix proactively. The Iqama profession is the legal description of what you may do; it must be supported by your authenticated qualifications and any required professional registration. Mismatches block SCE and SCFHS registrations (which check the profession), complicate employer transfers on Qiwa, can invalidate insurance and end-of-service positions in disputes, and working materially outside your profession is a labour violation with penalties for both sides. Profession changes are an employer-initiated MHRSD/MOI process requiring the supporting credentials — raise it with HR early, with your apostilled documents ready, rather than waiting for a renewal to fail.