Absher Platform

Absher platform is an online platform for the Ministry of Interior in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was established in 2010 and has a smartphone app developed by the Ministry of Interior for accessing government services. The platform offers its services to individuals, businesses, and the government and serves the digital government's targets by providing diverse electronic services to citizens and residents, including ten sectors of the Ministry of Interior.

In 2024, the Ministry of Interior exceeded 28 million unified digital IDs issued through its electronic platform Absher, offering more than 460 services across its three platforms (Individuals – Business – Government). The total number of electronic transactions carried out amounted to approximately 430 million operations.

In Arabic, Absher is a term indicative of glad tidings or good, joyful news. In the local Saudi dialect, the term is used to connote a speedy response to a request in the fullest sense. Absher is Saudi Arabia's first e-service platform, designated as a colloquial term.

Absher platform accelerates and enhances the efficiency of electronic transactions, interlinks user data between entities, and facilitates the implementation of governmental services with minimal paperwork. It takes about three minutes to conduct a service via Absher, and the platform saves an estimated SAR15 billion annually in conventional transaction costs.

The platform enables beneficiaries to access the services of the following agencies: the General Directorate of Passports; the Ministerial Agency of Civil Affairs; the General Department of Traffic; the General Directorate of Public Security; Public Prosecution; the General Directorate of Prisons; the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing; the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah; and the General Directorate of Expatriate Affairs.

Absher’s main services include booking appointments, requesting official documents, and following up and inquiring about requests and transactions. The digital platform’s services are supported by some four hundred self-service machines distributed in public places around Saudi Arabia, offering various services such as registration, activation of accounts, and updating figures, sixty-eight of which are located in the capital, Riyadh.

The platform has another business-class service portal, joining some 520,000 establishments, that provides about fourteen services, including issuing and renewing workers’ residency permits, issuing exit and return visas, requesting residents' reports and amending their occupancy, transferring services, and delivering documents by post.

The services of the Absher Platform are available to individuals and businesses after registering on the site and then activating the user account via self-service machines or bank branches across Saudi Arabia.