1. Students at their own expenses must obtain prior approval to study abroad from the ministry of higher education.  This approval does not constitute a commitment from the ministry to equalize awarded certificate(s) after graduation.

2. The educational institution or the programs that students graduated from must be on ministry list of recommended universities and education programs.  If the awarded certificate was from an institution that is not listed then this case is considered separately according to Non-Saudi recommendation regulations applied by ministry's Non-Saudi educational institutions committee.

3. The certificate leading to the one to equalize must be issued from a Saudi educational institution or already-equalized by certificate equivalency committee.

4. It is necessary that not less than 75% units of the degree awarding requirements must be conducted at a university, college or institution that is recommended or accepted by the ministry's certificate equivalency committee.

5. Students transferring from an educational institution to another must complete 25% of the graduation requirements in the educational institution awarding the certificate.

6. As a rule, a student must conduct study regularly and as a full-time resident in the country of study.  Student may pursue a doctoral or master's degree granting studies part-time as per regulations governing each stage of study.

7. A certificate must be authenticated by the cultural mission at the country where such certificate was issued prior to equalization.  When there is no cultural mission at this country then authentication can be applied at nearest Saudi embassy or cultural mission in the neighboring country.

8.  As a rule, a non-Saudi certificate is equalized to its counterpart under Saudi higher education system.  In cases where the certificate submitted for equalization does not meet minimum requirements for granting the degree, equalization may yield a requirements-meeting certificate that is lower on the qualifications ladder.

9. A master's or doctorate students' duration of transferred accredited units of study at another country is not considered as regular, instead, student must conduct regular study duration at current educational institution as per regulations of each study level.

10. Academic trips duration is not included in the minimum required duration for residency at country of study.

11. Complementary courses duration is not included in the minimum duration required to reside in the country of study, except of studying the complementary courses required for the degree in conjunction with the requirements of the same degree.