Your first week in Riyadh, in order

Almost everyone who stays with us arrives with the same list and the same worry: what has to happen first? Less than you think. Most of the first month in Riyadh is decided by one document, the iqama, and your employer is the one producing it. Your job in week one is to do the handful of things that do not wait on it, be available for the two appointments that do, and not sign anything you will regret. Here is the order we suggest, and why it saves a week of doubling back.

A note on dates: the rules below were checked in September 2026. Timelines vary by employer, and the official portals linked at the end are the final word.

Before you land: three questions for HR

Your work entry visa is valid for 90 days, and your employer uses that window to turn it into an iqama, your residence permit. Nearly everything else in your new life keys off that card: the bank, the government apps, the lease, the driving licence. So the most useful thing you can do before you fly is ask HR three questions.

1. When do you expect my iqama? Two to four weeks after arrival is typical. The answer sets your whole calendar.
2. Who books the medical, and when? The medical has to happen within the first couple of weeks. Good employers book it for your first days.
3. Where am I staying for the first month? If the company has not arranged it, a furnished serviced apartment near the office is the standard answer, and we wrote about how to choose the area.

Day one: sleep, a SIM card, the apps and a supermarket

Most flights from Europe land between midnight and four in the morning. Sleep first. Then four things, in any order, all of which work with your passport alone.

Getting in from the airport. The metro's Yellow Line runs from every terminal at King Khalid International to KAFD in the north in about 39 minutes with no changes, for SAR 4 on a two-hour ticket; tap a bank card at the gate. Our metro guide has the rest of the network. Careem and Uber pick up outside arrivals and reach the northern districts in twenty-five to forty minutes depending on the hour.

A SIM card. STC, Mobily and Zain all have kiosks in the arrivals hall and shops in every mall. Hand over your passport; the staff use your border number, the identity number assigned when you entered, to register the line, and may take a fingerprint. Starter packs run from about SAR 35 to 50 with a few gigabytes of data. You can hold two SIMs at a time, and eSIMs from the usual travel providers also work. Once your iqama arrives you move to a resident plan and update the registration to your iqama number.

The apps. With a Saudi number and mobile data you can set up the ones you will use daily before the government ones are available to you.

A supermarket. Danube and Tamimi are the two everyone ends up choosing between in the north, with Carrefour and Lulu close behind. Cards and Apple Pay are accepted everywhere, and you will use very little cash.

Two rhythms to learn on day one. The working week is Sunday to Thursday, and the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Shops and restaurants run late, and the city is at its most alive after eight in the evening.

Days two to seven: the medical, and what waits on the iqama

The iqama is your residence permit and your employer's government-relations team drives the process. Your part is two appointments.

The medical. Within the first two weeks you attend a Ministry of Health approved centre for a blood test and a chest X-ray. Results typically come back within a day or two. Your employer must also have your health insurance in place, a policy approved by the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance, before the iqama can be issued.

Biometrics. Fingerprints and a photograph, taken at a Ministry of Interior enrolment centre, or through Absher once you have access.

With those done, the employer files the application through the Muqeem and Qiwa platforms, and the card is issued typically five to ten working days later and handed to you at work. Two to four weeks end to end is the normal experience; ask your own HR rather than trusting a general figure.

While you wait, this is what you can and cannot do.

The pattern is clear: the first week is for the things in the left column, and the second wave comes the day the card arrives.

Money in the first week

Riyadh runs on cards. mada, Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay are accepted at every counter, and your home bank card works, so you need very little cash: SAR 500 to 1,000 from an airport ATM covers tips and the occasional stall.

Salaries are paid into a Saudi account through the Wage Protection System, so you will need one, and there are two routes.

• On the work visa, before the iqama. Under the central bank's rules a bank may open an account for a new arrival on the employer's official request, with a SAR 10,000 cap on transfers and cheques during the first three months. Al Rajhi Bank, for one, opens accounts for people on the 90-day work visa in a branch, with your passport, the visa, a company letter and proof of where you are staying. Ask HR whether they will request it; many do, so the first salary is not delayed.
• After the iqama. Once you have Absher, Nafath and a registered National Address, the big banks open accounts digitally in minutes. Al Rajhi, SNB and SAB are the usual choices for salaried expats, and if your employer has a payroll agreement with one of them, activation is same-day.

Ask HR which bank they pay into. Choosing the same one makes the first payday simplest.

After the iqama arrives: the second wave

The card opens the rest, and most of it takes an afternoon.

1. Absher. Register on the Absher Individuals app with your iqama number, a Saudi mobile number registered in your own name, and an email. This is the account behind every other government service.
2. Nafath. The national single sign-on, set up from Absher, used by banks and most apps to verify you.
3. Tawakkalna. The digital wallet for your iqama, driving licence and permits. Carry the card too, but the app is what you will actually show.
4. National Address. Register on the Saudi Post SPL app; once you sign a lease on Ejar, the address updates from the contract. Banks and government services ask for it.
5. A resident SIM plan, re-registered to your iqama.
6. The full bank account, digitally, as above.
7. Your driving licence. Visitors can drive on a valid foreign or international licence for up to a year, but once you hold an iqama you need a Saudi one. Licences from around 48 countries, including the UK, the EU states, the US, Canada, Australia and the GCC, can be exchanged without a driving test; check your country on Absher before you book, because the list is updated. Bring a translation of the licence if it is not in English or Arabic.
8. Sehhaty, for your health insurance card and appointments.

Then, and only then, the lease. You have had two or three weeks to test the commute at eight in the morning and to see the districts in daylight, which is exactly how we suggest choosing where to live.

The order, on one page

If you land in October, one more thing for the list: Riyadh Season will be fifteen minutes from anywhere in the north, and the first Friday evening at Boulevard City is a good way to feel at home quickly. For the rest of the arrival questions, see our moving to Riyadh guides.

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