The Saudi Professional Accreditation Program is reshaping the quality of the Kingdom’s expatriate workforce. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) runs the Professional Accreditation Program to do it. The program now spans more than 160 countries and over 1,000 professions. It supports Vision 2030 with a simple goal: foreign workers must prove their qualifications and skills before the Kingdom grants them a work visa.
For companies hiring into Saudi Arabia, two things matter. You need to know how the framework works. You also need to know which of its two tracks applies to each role. Get this wrong, and you face visa delays and costly rejections.
What is the Professional Accreditation Program?
MHRSD launched the program to regulate how skilled and technical labor enters the Saudi market. It runs in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation. The program splits into two distinct services.
Track 1: Professional Verification
This track covers high-skill, white-collar roles. Think Groups 1 to 3 of the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations—engineers, physicians, accountants, and other licensed professionals. It checks academic credentials, experience, and certifications. The process is fully automated. The platform delivers a result within a maximum of 15 working days. For many of these professions, verification works alongside the relevant sector regulator’s own licensing process, which we detail below.
Track 2: Professional Inspection (the SVP)
People commonly call this track the Skills Verification Program, or SVP. It covers medium- and low-skill technical trades that need no academic degree. Electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, welders, and mechanics all fall here. This track does not check credentials. Instead, it tests competence directly through theoretical and practical exams. Workers sit these exams at approved centers, usually before they enter the Kingdom and sometimes after.
Why the distinction matters
Many summaries describe the program only as “credential verification.” That description misses the trades-exam track, which governs most blue-collar hires. The recruitment industry uses a simple rule of thumb. Professional Verification is for licensed professions. The SVP is for skilled trades.
Why the Program Exists
MHRSD states four main aims. The program seeks to improve the quality of skilled workers, raise their productivity, lift the quality of the services they deliver, and reduce the inflow of unqualified workers into the Kingdom. Employers and recruiters point to further benefits. They cite greater confidence in hiring and a more merit-based market. These are downstream effects, though, rather than formally stated government objectives.
Program Reach and Milestones
The figures below come from official Saudi sources. We date each one, because the program has grown fast and snapshots from different periods do not match.
- As of August 2025, the Saudi Press Agency reported full coverage of all targeted countries. The program now spans more than 160 nations and covers over 1,000 professions.
- The same mid-2025 milestone put cumulative accreditation above 460,000 workers by the end of the first half of 2025, as reported in August 2025. That is more than double the total recorded a year earlier.
- An MHRSD update in October 2024 had recorded more than 209,500 workers accredited across more than 127 examination centers. By the August 2025 update, that network had grown to more than 150 centers inside and outside the Kingdom.
- MHRSD launched the umbrella program in 2021. External, pre-arrival testing then rolled out in phases across the largest labor-exporting countries. Pakistan went first, and Egypt joined in December 2023. The current core group is Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Egypt. As the program expands, further sending countries such as the Philippines and Nepal have come into scope.
One note on precision. Official and press sources consistently describe the program as covering “more than 1,000 professions.” The often-quoted figure of “1,007 professions” refers only to the roles under the Professional Verification track—Groups 1 to 3, such as engineering and health roles. It is not the whole program.
How the Process Works
Your entry point depends on which track applies. For the SVP trades track, candidates register through the official SVP International platform. They complete a profile, then select an approved assessment center, trade, and exam date. Finally, they sit theoretical and practical exams. The SVP certificate stays valid for five years.
The Verification track works differently. Candidates submit qualifications and certificates through the MHRSD platform, which returns a result within 15 working days. A successful outcome then feeds the work-visa process that MoFA handles. The PACC portal and its knowledge center publish reference material and guidance for the wider program. Portals do change from time to time, so always confirm the current URL on the official site before you apply.
Sector Regulators: Where Licensed Professions Are Verified
For Group 1 to 3 professions, credential verification rarely happens in isolation. It runs alongside the professional body that governs each field. Several sector regulators matter for expatriate hiring. The most prominent are the Saudi Council of Engineers, the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, and the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants. Other professions—including law, teaching, and translation—answer to their own licensing authorities.
Engineers: the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE)
A Royal Decree established the SCE statute. Under it, every engineer who practices in the Kingdom must register with the Council. Registration assesses both academic qualifications and practical experience. The SCE offers distinct membership categories for expatriate engineers. These include engineers whose visa carries an engineering profession and those whose visa does not. Each membership lasts three years.
Registration grades track verified experience. An associate engineer needs at least four years. A professional engineer needs several more. A consultant engineer needs the most. Engineers may also sit professional exams through the SCE. The Council runs these in cooperation with the U.S.-based NCEES and with Qiyas. The NCEES route covers exams such as Fundamentals of Engineering and Principles and Practice of Engineering.
Fees are modest but worth budgeting. Registration typically carries a one-time fee of around SAR 500, plus an annual membership fee of about SAR 250 for engineers and SAR 200 for technicians. One detail deserves attention. The SCE issues the membership card and certificate only after it verifies the submitted credentials with the issuing institution. The Council notes that this check may take up to three months. The SCE accreditation page holds the full details.
Healthcare workers: the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS)
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and allied health professionals need an SCFHS registration to practice legally. SCFHS manages this through its unified Mumaris Plus platform. The journey runs in two stages, and applicants often confuse them.
The first stage is professional classification. It reviews your qualifications and experience, assigns a professional tier such as general practitioner, specialist, or consultant, and grants exam eligibility. The second stage is registration, the active license, which requires a valid Iqama. SCFHS authenticates credentials through primary source verification, known as DataFlow, before it grants classification. Depending on the profession and tier, applicants may also sit a Prometric written exam or an oral and clinical assessment. SCFHS also accredits the training programs that host postgraduate trainees. That is a separate institutional process, documented on its program accreditation page.
Accountants and auditors: the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA)
Accountants and finance professionals answer to SOCPA. The body was established in 1992 and operates under the Ministry of Commerce. It is also a member of the International Federation of Accountants. For expatriates, registration is not optional. Since 2019, MHRSD has tied work-license issuance and renewal to SOCPA registration through direct electronic linkage between the two bodies. In practice, an employer cannot issue or renew an accountant’s work permit until the worker holds active SOCPA membership and professional registration. The same rule applies when changing an existing worker’s profession to an accounting or finance role.
SOCPA recognizes two broad membership levels. A non-practicing membership follows the SOCPA Fellowship examination. A practicing membership follows a separate request for registration and a license to practice. The Fellowship exam is the main gate to practice. It tests five subjects: accounting, auditing, Zakat and tax, jurisprudence of transactions, and commercial law. SOCPA holds it at least twice a year. Apply through the SOCPA portal, and confirm current fees and processing times there before you budget.
Other licensed professions: law, teaching, and translation
Several more professions sit behind their own licensing gate. Treat each as a separate step in the hiring timeline.
Legal work is the most restricted. Saudi lawyers hold a practice license from the Ministry of Justice and join the Saudi Bar Association. Foreign nationals cannot hold a full practice license. They may only register as non-Saudi legal consultants on a dedicated register at the Ministry of Justice. Non-GCC nationals generally need at least five years of licensed legal practice abroad to qualify. Registered consultants cannot plead before the courts.
Teachers need a professional teaching license. The Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) issues it, and candidates must pass its licensing examination. Schools and the Ministry of Education treat a passing result as a prerequisite, not a bonus.
Translators and translation offices fall under Ministry of Commerce licensing, alongside other regulated professional services. As with the other bodies, expect a qualification check and a separate application.
The takeaway for employers
Clearing the MHRSD verification step is necessary. For regulated professions, though, it is not sufficient. An engineer, clinician, accountant, lawyer, or teacher must also satisfy the relevant sector regulator before they can practice. Build that regulator’s timeline into your hiring schedule. The SCE credential check, for example, can take up to three months, and several bodies run their own examinations on fixed calendars.
What This Means for Employers
The program raises the floor on workforce quality. Map each open role to the correct track before you extend an offer. This avoids the most common failure mode: an offer that expires while the worker waits on the wrong verification path. Our global workforce solutions show how this fits the broader hiring process. A verified or examined workforce also lowers on-site risk, especially in the trades, where safety standards face a direct test.
For expatriate workers, the shift is just as clear. Accreditation is no longer an optional credential. It is now a mandatory step to secure or renew a work visa in covered professions. Verified competence also strengthens a worker’s bargaining position in a market that increasingly rewards merit. Our global mobility and immigration services support both candidates and employers through each track.
A Benchmark for Workforce Verification
Saudi Arabia has built one of the region’s most comprehensive workforce-verification frameworks. It integrates international examination centers with domestic systems. It also aligns every role to the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations. Vision 2030 megaprojects such as NEOM, the Red Sea Project, and Diriyah Gate need millions of skilled workers. The Professional Accreditation Program acts as the quality gate at the front door of that pipeline.
Conclusion
The Professional Accreditation Program is not a single step. It is a two-track system. One track verifies credentials for licensed professionals. The other examines skills for technical trades. Behind the verification track sit the sector regulators—engineering, health, accountancy, law, and more—each with its own license to clear. Know which track applies. Track the current figures and portals. For any organization hiring into the Kingdom, this is now a practical requirement.
Want to learn more about workforce mobility and accreditation support for Saudi Arabia? Write to us.
Figures and procedural details draw on the Saudi Press Agency, MHRSD, the Saudi Council of Engineers, the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, SOCPA, the Ministry of Justice, ETEC, the PACC portal, and regional outlets including Arab News, Arabian Business, and Gulf News. We date figures where program data has changed. Fees, timelines, and portal URLs change without notice. Verify current figures against official government sources before you rely on them for compliance decisions.
