Saudization and Nitaqat: the basics

What Nitaqat is

Nitaqat is the Ministry of Human Resources programme that sets how many Saudi nationals a private company must employ. The current rules, a new procedural guide, apply from April 2026 to the end of 2028. Each company is placed in a colour band based on its Saudization rate compared with others in the same activity and size. The band decides which services the company can use on Qiwa, above all visas for expatriate employees.

The bands

• Platinum: the highest band, with the widest access to services.
• Green, split into high, medium and low. High and medium green have normal access to services; under the 2026 rules, low green carries restrictions such as no new work visas.
• Red: not compliant, with most services for expatriate employees blocked.

How your rate is worked out

• The required rate depends on your economic activity and the number of employees, and since 2026 it is assessed across all of the company’s branches in the same activity.
• Saudi employees count when they are registered with GOSI and paid at least the minimum wage set for counting; a Saudi paid below it may count only partly.
• Some groups can count for more than one, for example employees with disabilities, under rules published by the Ministry.
• The rate is averaged over a rolling period and shown on Qiwa, so a resignation or a new expatriate hire can move your band.

What the Red band blocks

• New work visas for expatriate employees.
• Renewal of work permits, and with them iqamas, for expatriate employees.
• Transferring expatriate employees in from other companies, and changing employees’ professions.
• Some other Qiwa services and government certificates.

Staying in your band

• Check your band and your margin on Qiwa before every hire, not after.
• Model the effect of resignations: losing one Saudi employee in a small company can drop a band.
• Pay and register Saudi employees correctly so they count in full.
• Look at HRDF programmes, which can support the cost of hiring and training Saudi nationals.
• Plan Saudization targets into the yearly hiring plan.

How we run it

We review our clients’ band every quarter, check the effect of each hire before it is made, and run the recruitment of Saudi nationals and the HRDF applications that go with it.