What contract authentication is
Contract authentication (توثيق العقود), also searched for as contract attestation or Qiwa contract documentation, is the electronic recording of an employment contract with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development through the Qiwa platform. Once it is authenticated, the contract is certified by the Ministry and is no longer only an agreement between two parties.
The duty comes from Article 51 of the Saudi Labor Law (نظام العمل). Article 51 of the Labor Law requires the contract to be written in two copies, one held by each party, and adds that it must be authenticated in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions and as the Implementing Regulation (اللائحة التنفيذية) specifies. The duty is new. Royal Decree M/44, in force since 19 February 2025, amended Article 51 of the Labor Law: before that amendment, the Article required the two copies and said nothing about authentication. A description of contract authentication written before that date therefore describes a different state of the law from the one in force now.
Paragraph 2 of Article 18 of the Implementing Regulation, which implements Articles 51 and 52 of the Labor Law, requires the employer to authenticate workers’ contracts electronically through the platform approved by the Ministry.
Contract authentication: the statute requires it, Qiwa carries it out
The distinction between the rule and the channel is not a matter of wording. Qiwa is the channel through which the Ministry delivers the service; it is not the source of the obligation. Stated accurately, the contract is authenticated electronically through Qiwa, in performance of what Article 51 of the Labor Law requires. Stated inaccurately, Qiwa obliges the employer to authenticate the contract.
The distinction has a practical effect. The procedure on the platform can change by an announcement from the Ministry, whereas the duty changes only when the statutory text is amended. For the same reason, an Article of the Labor Law cannot be cited for a procedural detail on the platform.
How contract authentication works on Qiwa
The Ministry describes the service in three steps. The establishment creates the contract and authenticates it electronically. The worker then approves it, rejects it or asks for it to be amended, from their Qiwa Individuals account (قوى أفراد). Once both parties agree, the Ministry certifies the contract. Processing is immediate, and the worker is notified by SMS.
The Ministry launched the electronic authentication service on 27 December 2023, and it states two conditions for the service:
- An operating establishment. The establishment must exist and be actively operating.
- No contract already in force. The worker must not already hold a valid contract in the Qiwa system.
The second condition has a direct consequence in practice. While a worker still holds a valid contract in Qiwa, a new contract for that worker does not meet it, so a transfer of services and the authentication of the new contract follow one another rather than running side by side. The detailed steps of the service are set out in our guide to attesting employment contracts on Qiwa and the effect on Nitaqat.
The two places where contract authentication makes a contract visible
Since 15 April 2026, Saudization percentages in Nitaqat have been calculated from employment contracts authenticated electronically on Qiwa, on the basis of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 195 dated 4/4/1443H. An entity that does not authenticate its contracts therefore puts its classification at risk, whatever the number of Saudi employees it actually employs. Our guide to what an establishment’s Nitaqat band classification controls describes the services that depend on the band.
The second place concerns pay. The authenticated contract is the reference against which the amount paid is checked under the Wage Protection System: the Ministry describes the check as the accuracy of payments against authenticated employment contracts. A contract that has never entered Qiwa is not there to serve as that reference.
The fines for failing at contract authentication
The Schedule of Violations and Penalties for the Labor Law and its Implementing Regulation, issued by Ministerial Decision No. 112377 of 21/8/1447H (9 February 2026), sets its fines in three columns by the number of workers at the establishment: 20 or fewer, 21 to 49, and 50 or more. Two of its rows bear on the employment contract:
- Not authenticating workers’ contracts electronically. It is classed as a grave violation, with a fine of SAR 300 for an establishment of 20 workers or fewer, SAR 500 for one of 21 to 49 workers and SAR 1,000 for one of 50 workers or more, per worker.
- Not using Arabic in employment contracts, data, records, worker files and the instructions the employer issues. It is classed as a violation that is not grave, at SAR 300, SAR 500 and SAR 1,000 in the same order of columns, and the row carries no per worker multiplier. It corresponds to Article 9 of the Labor Law, which makes Arabic the required language and allows a foreign language to be used alongside it, not instead of it; where the two texts differ, the Arabic text governs.
The words “per worker” in the first row are what change the size of the exposure at an establishment with a large workforce, because the fine is multiplied by the number of workers concerned.
What does not substitute for contract authentication
A contract template that is downloaded, printed and signed does not authenticate the contract, and it does not enter the contract into Qiwa. A signed template serves to agree the terms and to record them between the two parties, but it does not discharge the duty in Article 51 of the Labor Law.
Before that point, a job offer is a step that comes ahead of the contract, and the reference for the rights of the two parties is the written employment contract. The stages therefore run in a fixed order: an offer, then a written contract containing the particulars Article 52 of the Labor Law requires, then authentication. The particulars themselves are set out in our guide to writing, attesting and the mandatory particulars of the Saudi employment contract.
Contract authentication and keeping the contract on file
The Arabic word توثيق carries two meanings, and only one of them is contract authentication. In the sense defined above, authentication is a procedure with the Ministry that has a statutory effect outside the establishment. Keeping a copy of the contract, its annexes and its amendments in the employee file is internal organisation. That record is also required, but it does not stand in for authentication and does not dispense with it. An establishment that keeps every contract in well ordered files, but has not authenticated those contracts on Qiwa, has met the second requirement and not the first.
The rules on the term of the contract and its renewals, and their effect on continuous service, come from the Labor Law rather than from the wording of the contract. They are covered in our guide to fixed term and indefinite term contracts and when a contract converts. The same is true of the profession recorded in the contract and on the work permit: changing it is a separate statutory procedure.
This is an explanation of the concept and of the statutory provisions cited, not legal advice.
A standalone Saudi HR system
One employee file holding the contract, the documents and their expiry dates, the attendance record, leave, salary and end-of-service entitlements. End-of-service, overtime and leave-balance calculations are built into the system.
A standalone system on its own subscription. The connection to Qoyod Accounting is now available.