Saudi National Address Short Code: What the 4+4 Code Means and How to Check Yours

Every registered building in Saudi Arabia has a National Address: building number, street, district, city, a 5-digit postal code and a secondary number. Writing all of that on every parcel is slow and error-prone, so Saudi Post (SPL) issues a short address: the same building, compressed into eight characters. Four letters, four digits, and the courier knows exactly where to go.

The format is simple, but parcels still get held up over it. The common failures are all small: a building number typed with three digits instead of four, letters and digits in the wrong halves, Arabic-Indic digits from an Arabic keyboard, or a letter O where a zero belongs. This guide explains what the code means, where to find your real one, and how to check it before shipping.

Figure 1: The short address lets a courier pinpoint a building without the full written address.

The eight characters, decoded

Take the example code RAGI2929 and split it:

• Letters 1 to 3 (RAG): the region, branch and division codes from SPL's internal tables.
• Letter 4 (I): a unique identifier within that division.
• Digits (2929): the 4-digit building number, exactly as it appears in the full National Address.

The letter tables are not published, so the letters cannot be decoded by hand into a city or district name. Anyone who tells you the first letter names the region is guessing. Copy the code exactly as it appears in your official record instead.

Figure 2: Four letters for the location codes, four digits for the building number.

Where to find your code

Your real short address lives in four official places. Absher shows it under the National Address service. Tawakkalna and Sehhaty each carry it in their address sections. The SPL Online portal and the SPL app show it in your profile. And it is printed on the green National Address plaque fixed at your building's entrance, which is why a photo of the plaque works as a backup when you are away from your phone.

Those four apps and the plaque are the only sources that count. A code copied from a forwarded message, an old screenshot, or a neighbour's guess is how parcels end up at the wrong building. When in doubt, open one of the apps and read it fresh.

Figure 3: The green National Address plaque at your building entrance carries your registered codes.

Why couriers ask for it

Street names repeat across districts, building numbers repeat across streets, and transliterated Arabic names get spelled five different ways on international labels. The short address removes all of that: one 8-character code, one building. That is why logistics guides report that couriers operating in the Kingdom require a valid short address on parcels from 1 January 2026, and why parcels without one risk delays, fees or rejection at the counter.

A note on that date: it comes from industry logistics guides, not from an SPL announcement quoted on this page. Treat it as the working rule, and confirm the current requirement with SPL or your courier before a shipment that matters. Rules change.

Mistakes that get parcels rejected

These are the failures the checker catches, in the order they actually happen:

• Three-digit building numbers: the building number is always four digits. A building numbered 231 must be written 0231.
• Swapped halves: letters first, digits second. A code like 2929RAGI fails the shape check.
• Arabic-Indic digits: typing on an Arabic keyboard can produce ٠١٢٣ instead of 0123. They look right and fail every form.
• Letter O for digit 0: the fourth digit position takes numerals only. An O there is a different character.
• Extra spaces or dashes in the middle: one separator between the halves is tolerated; anything else breaks the 8-character count.

Check your code before shipping

Paste your code into the National Address Checker. It validates the 4-letter + 4-digit shape, converts Arabic-Indic digits, shows what each of the eight positions is supposed to be, and points at the exact character when something fails.

One boundary the tool states up front: a passing format check is not proof the code is registered. A well-formed code can still be wrong. The checker stops your label being rejected for a typo; confirming the code in Absher, Tawakkalna, Sehhaty or the SPL app is what confirms delivery.

Frequently asked questions