The Salary Certificate Template: The Letter a Bank, an Embassy and a Landlord Will Accept

The difference between a letter addressed to a specific party and a general letter

A letter addressed to a specific party names the recipient expressly, for example a particular bank or the embassy of a particular country, and states the purpose for which the employee requested it. A general letter is addressed to whom it may concern, and is used when the recipient does not require its own name on the letter, or when the employee needs to confirm their employment and wage without a specific financial purpose.

• Banks and finance companies: as a rule, address the letter to the bank or the company by name, because many of them do not accept a to-whom-it-may-concern letter for financing applications.
• Embassies: the letter is usually addressed to the embassy of the country concerned, and the embassy may ask for the employee's approved leave and the business's consent to the travel to be stated.
• Landlords and government bodies: a general letter is enough in many cases, but ask the employee which wording is required before issuing.
• If the recipient asks for a certificate issued electronically from an official platform instead of a letter from the business, follow its request and do not substitute a paper letter.

The practical rule is to ask the employee for the recipient's name and the purpose before issuing, and to issue a separate letter for each recipient. A letter addressed to a bank does not work for an embassy, and a to-whom-it-may-concern letter may be rejected in a financing application. Issuing one letter per purpose keeps the business's record clear about how many letters it issued, to whom, and why.

What the letter states, field by field

The recipient reads the letter looking for specific details it can match against its other documents, such as the employee's ID and bank statement. The more complete these details are and the more they follow the expected order, the fewer the questions and the lower the chance of rejection.

• Employer identity: the business's legal name as shown in the commercial register, the commercial registration number, and the address and contact details, on the business's official letterhead.
• Employee identity: the full name as shown on the national ID or iqama, the ID or iqama number, and the nationality.
• Job title: as recorded in the employment contract and on Qiwa, not as it is used informally inside the business.
• Start date: the date the employee actually joined, and preferably the type of contract, fixed-term or indefinite.
• Wage: the basic monthly wage, then each fixed allowance by name and amount such as housing and transport, then the total monthly wage, in riyals, in figures and in words.
• Purpose and addressee: the name of the recipient or the words to whom it may concern, and the purpose the employee requested.
• Date and reference number: the issue date, and an outgoing reference number that lets the recipient verify the letter with the business.
• Signature and stamp: the name, title and signature of the authorized signatory, and the business's official stamp.

Note the difference between the fixed wage and what is not fixed. Commissions and bonuses that change from month to month are not part of the monthly wage stated in the letter unless the contract makes them fixed. If the employee asks for them to be mentioned, state them on a separate line that makes clear they are variable, so the recipient does not read them as a guaranteed part of the employee's income.

How the letter stays consistent with the wage in the employment contract and the Qiwa record

The letter does not create a new wage; it repeats what is fixed in the employment contract. If the letter states a higher wage than the contract, the employee may rely on it later in any dispute over their entitlements, and it may conflict with the contract data documented on Qiwa that the recipient may be able to see. If it states a lower wage, the employee's application may be rejected for no reason. So make the contract your only source for the figures, and do not rely on the latest payroll alone.

1. Open the employee's documented employment contract and any later annex that changed the wage or the title, and use the latest version in force.
2. Match the basic wage, the allowances and the title against the contract record on Qiwa, and if you find a difference, correct the record or the contract first before issuing the letter.
3. Check that the wage actually transferred to the employee's account matches what you will state, because the bank will compare the letter with the account statement.
4. Write the amounts in figures and in words, and make the total exactly equal to the sum of the basic wage and the allowances.
5. Keep a copy of the letter with its outgoing number in the employee's file, so it is easy to answer any verification request from the recipient.

If you have not yet documented your employees' contracts, or the contract is old and does not reflect the current wage, start with the contract before the letter. Our guide to the Saudi employment contract explains the wage and allowance clauses, and template E-02 for the indefinite employment contract is the companion to this letter, so that every salary certificate rests on a clear contract.

The mistakes that cause a bank to reject the letter

Most rejections have nothing to do with the employee, but with a letter that is incomplete or inconsistent. These are the mistakes that recur most often in letters from small businesses, and all of them can be avoided with a short review before signing.

• The employee's name is spelled differently from the ID or iqama, or the ID number is incomplete or wrong.
• The wage in the letter does not match the amount transferred to the employee's account or the wage in the documented contract.
• Stating only the total wage without breaking down the basic wage and allowances, when the recipient asks for the breakdown.
• A to-whom-it-may-concern letter for a financing application where the bank requires its own name on the letter.
• A missing commercial registration number, stamp, or signatory name and title, or a signature by an employee without authority.
• An old letter, since many recipients require a recently issued letter.
• Handwritten changes or crossings-out on the figures after printing, or a difference between the Arabic and the English text in a bilingual letter.

Note that some banks ask the business, alongside the salary certificate, for an undertaking to transfer the employee's salary to that bank or to notify it when the employee's service ends. This is a different document that places an obligation on the business, so do not merge it into the salary certificate, and do not sign it until it has been read and approved by the authorized signatory.

Is a salary certificate an employer obligation or a courtesy?

Many people confuse the salary certificate with the service certificate. The service certificate is issued when the employment relationship ends and proves the length of service and experience, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has made it available to private-sector workers electronically through their individual accounts on Qiwa. The salary certificate, by contrast, is issued while the employee is still in service, for a specific purpose the employee requests.

We do not hold a verified legal reference that sets out an employer's obligation to issue a salary certificate during service or the time allowed to issue it, so we do not cite a specific article here. Sound practice, however, is to treat it as a basic service to the employee, issued promptly and in a standard form, because refusing or delaying it holds up the employee's financial and living commitments and affects their trust in the business.

Remember that the letter carries the employee's personal data, including their ID number and wage. So issue it only at their request, address it to the recipient they named, and do not send it directly to a third party without their consent, in line with the Personal Data Protection Law and your business's employee privacy notice.

Frequently asked questions