Running payroll · 7 min read · Updated October 2026
Employee onboarding documents by country: what payroll needs from a new starter
The documents and numbers payroll needs from a new employee in each of the seven payroll countries, and how new starters complete their own record before their first payday.
Which documents does payroll need from a new employee in the Gulf and Egypt?
Payroll needs each new employee's national ID or residence document and its number, and the IBAN of the account their salary goes into. An expatriate also provides their passport. Your entity registers each employee for social insurance where the country's scheme covers them. In our platform, each new starter completes their own record on a secure link, and a checklist for their country sets what they upload.
Let each new starter complete their own record
Onboarding here means a new employee completing their own record. It is not the setting up of your payroll.
HR starts the hire, and the new starter receives a secure link. It needs no login. On it, they enter their own details and upload the documents a checklist for their country sets. Each country has one list for nationals and another for expatriates.
Each upload is checked against that list as it arrives. A step cannot be completed while a required document is missing. HR sees what is still outstanding for each hire.
The IBAN a new starter enters is checked by the same rule the salary file uses. A PRO handling the permit steps never sees their salary or bank details.
Get a new starter ready for payroll in Saudi Arabia
The salary file for Mudad names every employee by an ID number, and names the account their wages go into.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | An expatriate | Their visa and residence are issued against it |
| National ID | A Saudi national | The salary file for Mudad names a Saudi national by its number |
| Iqama | An expatriate | The residence permit, issued once they are in the Kingdom. The salary file for Mudad names an expatriate by its number |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone | Wages go into an account at a bank in the Kingdom, and the salary file names it |
| Registration with GOSI | Everyone, registered by your entity | Due by the last day of the month they join. For a Saudi national, the date they first joined GOSI decides their contribution rates |
Get a new starter ready for payroll in the UAE
On the mainland, where establishments are registered with MOHRE, the WPS salary file names each employee by the personal number MOHRE gives them.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | An expatriate | Their visa and residence are issued against it |
| Emirates ID | Everyone | An expatriate's is issued with the residence visa. GPSSA registers an Emirati national with it |
| MOHRE personal number | Everyone | The WPS salary file names each employee by it. It comes from your entity's own MOHRE records, not from the new starter |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone | Wages go through a bank, an exchange house or another institution the Central Bank authorises. The salary file names the account |
| Pension registration | An Emirati national, registered by your entity | With GPSSA within 30 days of joining. In Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund takes GPSSA's place. A national of another Gulf country is registered through GPSSA too |
Get a new starter ready for payroll in Qatar
Wages go through WPS into each employee's account in Qatar, and the salary file names each employee by their QID.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | An expatriate | Their visa and residence are issued against it |
| QID | Everyone | An expatriate's residence permit is carried as the QID, issued after arrival. The WPS salary file names each employee by its number |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone | Wages go into the employee's account in Qatar, and the salary file names it |
| Registration with GRSIA | A Qatari national, registered by your entity | Within 30 days of joining. A national of another Gulf country is registered through GRSIA too |
Get a new starter ready for payroll in Kuwait
Wages go into each employee's account at a local bank. Social insurance covers Kuwaiti nationals.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | An expatriate | Their entry visa and work residence are granted on it |
| Civil ID card | Everyone | Issued by the Public Authority for Civil Information, to an expatriate once residence is granted. Its number is the ID payroll holds for them |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone | Wages go into each employee's account at a local bank |
| Registration with PIFSS | A Kuwaiti national, registered by your entity | Within ten days of joining |
Get a new starter ready for payroll in Bahrain
Salaries are paid through the LMRA's WPS portal, from a salary file built to the template the portal takes.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | An expatriate | Their work permit and residence are issued against it |
| CPR card | Everyone | An expatriate's identity card follows the residence permit, after arrival. Its number is the ID payroll holds for them |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone | Each salary is paid into the account it names |
| Registration with SIO | Everyone, registered by your entity | SIO is told within two weeks of someone joining |
Get a new starter ready for payroll in Oman
Wages go into each employee's bank account through WPS. Every employee is registered with the Social Protection Fund.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | An expatriate | Their visa and resident card are issued against it |
| Identity card | An Omani national | Its number is the ID payroll holds for them |
| Resident card | An expatriate | Issued by the Royal Oman Police, applied for within 30 days of arrival. Its number is the ID payroll holds for them |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone | Wages go into each employee's bank account through WPS |
| Registration with the Social Protection Fund | Everyone, registered by your entity | Within 30 days of joining |
Get a new starter ready for payroll in Egypt
Wages are paid in pounds, in cash or into a bank account. Every employee is registered with NOSI on Form 1.
| What | For whom | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| National ID card | An Egyptian national | Its number is the ID payroll holds for them |
| Passport | A foreign employee | It is shown to the Ministry of Labour for their work licence |
| Form 1 | Everyone, completed with your entity | Registers the employee with NOSI within two weeks of joining |
| The salary account's IBAN | Everyone paid into a bank | The bank file names the account each salary goes into |
Put an ID number right before it holds up the salary file
In each of the six Gulf countries, the salary file is not produced while an employee's ID number or bank account is missing. Each gap is found when the run is checked, before you approve it.
HR corrects an ID number on the employee's record. Each document holds its number and expiry date. Each change records who made it and when.
Know what the checklist asks for beyond payroll
Each country's checklist also asks for documents the permit process or the role needs. For an expatriate in any of the six Gulf countries, that includes a medical fitness report. Educational certificates are asked for in every country, attested in the Gulf. In Egypt, a criminal record certificate is asked for too.
Each country's hiring guide sets out the permit steps those documents serve.
Pay a new starter from their first day
The new starter joins the run from their start date. A part month is paid pro rata.
Their IBAN becomes the account the salary file pays. Nothing has to be keyed in again.
Common questions.
What if an expatriate has no residence document yet?
Do nationals provide the same documents as expatriates?
Who registers the employee for social insurance?
See how a payroll month runs with us.
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