After you are admitted

Planning tool

Onboarding checklist

Official onboarding clock plus first-week tasks from Student Onboarding. This is a planning tool, not an official KAUST decision. Confirm on Onboarding.

First 72 hours

Accept inside the window

Official process page: if you are accepted you have a limited time to respond. Miss it and the decision may be withdrawn. There is no published “72-hour” brand rule — read the offer. Decisions are final; you will not get a reconsideration essay slot.

If you still need an English score, this is when they tell you how and when to upload it. Enrolment is blocked until the published minimum is met.

Official onboarding clock

Seven steps, 8–12 weeks if you are international

Local students can finish in about four weeks (longer with school-age children). International average is 8–12 weeks. Travel is arranged only after every requirement is done, usually within a week of orientation / semester start. Contact: [email protected].

Visa and Iqama

You run the embassy; KAUST runs the invitation

Non-Saudi students need a university-sponsored Iqama. If you already live in the Kingdom on another Iqama, you transfer sponsorship to KAUST — or exit and start from your home country if the current sponsor will not transfer.

• Passport. Valid at least 12 months, two adjacent blank visa pages. Renew before the onboarding form; the invitation letter locks to that passport.
• Agent. Contact the listed local visa agent for a Student / Educational Government visa checklist. You submit to the Saudi Embassy. Onboarding advisors do not stand in the queue for you. Problems: [email protected] coordinates with Embassy Relations.
• Typical file. KAUST admission letter (generated after the onboarding form), visa medical, attested degrees (often Saudi Cultural Mission), valid passport. Birth and marriage certificates may also need attestation if dependents travel.
• Medical. Embassy medical plus KAUST Health review. Report must include Hep B, Hep C, HIV, VDRL, and TB. A positive result can block an Iqama. Translate non-English reports. Validity is often ~90 days — ask the agent.
• Dependents. Onboarding can issue invitation letters, assign a family unit, and align flights. You still collect the documents.
• On arrival. Iqama medical during orientation (or a booked KAUST Health slot). Request via the GA portal. Pickup at GASC about 7–10 days later.

Flights

KAUST books; you do not

Relocation books through Kanoo on the most direct route from the nearest convenient international airport, plus a taxi from Jeddah to campus. A Government Affairs officer meets you. You cannot self-book and still treat it as the official relocation flight. You pay the home-to-airport leg. Travel insurance to the Kingdom is recommended and can be claimed with visa costs. Changing the later return destination: you pay any fare difference. Arrival date is assigned — you do not pick a convenient Sunday. Delays: email onboarding and relocation. Emergency line published on onboarding: +966 544701348.

First weeks

Housing office, stipend, orientation

Go to the Housing office first for the contract and keys. Connect to icampus Wi-Fi with your KAUST ID. Starter linens and some kitchenware are in the unit.

Open a Saudi bank account after Iqama and a Saudi mobile number. Update portal.kaust.edu.sa. First stipend: by the 10th of the following month, prorated; then around the 25th. Visa-cost assistance rides with that first payment. SAR 1,000 × 4 months is held as a deposit.

Orientation week (the week before classes): Registrar, Admissions, Student Affairs, Student Operations, division and programme lectures, Graduate Program Coordinator, and a meeting with your designated advisor for a study plan. Course registration is done with the Graduate Program Student Advisor via the registrar site.

Health: Bupa from arrival day for you and legal dependents under KAUST sponsorship. Use KAUST Health immediately; membership details follow in the first week once Iqama and a Saudi number exist.