Nitaqat Planning for a New Company: A Worked Saudisation Example

An illustrative Saudisation calculation for a growing company, showing how each hire moves its Nitaqat position and why the order of hiring matters.

Nitaqat classifies private companies into colour-coded bands based on how many Saudi nationals they employ relative to their workforce, with the required level depending on activity and company size. A revised version of the programme was introduced in 2021. Band thresholds are set by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and change, so the example below uses an invented threshold purely to show the arithmetic of planning.

The situation

A new engineering services company plans to reach 20 employees in its first eighteen months. It needs specialist expatriate engineers but wants to stay in a band that lets it obtain visas. For illustration only, assume its activity and size require a Saudisation rate of at least 25% to sit in an acceptable band. The real threshold for any company must be checked on Qiwa.

Assumptions (illustrative)

• Illustrative required Saudisation rate for the acceptable band: 25%.
• Starting team: 4 expatriate staff, 0 Saudi nationals.
• Planned year-one hires: 6 expatriate engineers and 4 Saudi nationals.
• Planned additions in the following six months: 4 expatriates and 2 Saudi nationals.
• For simplicity, every employee counts as one full unit in the calculation.
• The owner-manager is counted within the expatriate staff.

Step 1: Starting position

Saudi staff 0 / total staff 4 = 0%.

Below the illustrative 25%, the company would sit in a weak band from the start, which can block visa requests for the engineers it needs.

Step 2: Hiring expatriates first

If the 6 engineers come first: Saudi 0 / total 10 = 0%.

The company grows but its rate does not move, and the visa requests that would bring the engineers may not be approved in that band.

Step 3: Hiring Saudi staff first

If the 4 Saudi hires come first: Saudi 4 / total 8 = 4 / 8 = 50%.

The rate clears the illustrative threshold with room to spare, which creates capacity to add expatriates.

Step 4: Adding the engineers after

Then add 6 expatriates: Saudi 4 / total 14 = 0.2857, or about 28.6%.

Still above 25%, so the order of hiring, not the total headcount, decides whether the plan works.

Step 5: Growing to 20

Add 4 expatriates and 2 Saudi nationals: Saudi 6 / total 20 = 30%.

The company ends above the threshold even after growth, because Saudi hiring kept pace with the expatriate hires.

Step 6: Room for further expatriate hires

At 25%, total staff can be at most Saudi 6 / 0.25 = 24. So the company could add 24 minus 20 = 4 more expatriates before falling below the threshold.

Planning this headroom tells you when the next Saudi hire must happen.

What changes the answer

• The real required rate depends on activity and size, and may be higher or lower than 25%.
• Some categories of employee, such as part-time staff or particular groups, may count differently; the platform rules decide.
• Averaging methods over time can mean that a hire made late in a period counts less than one made early.
• Losing one Saudi employee in a small company moves the rate sharply: 5 / 20 is 25%, exactly at the illustrative threshold.
• Occupation-specific localisation rules can apply on top of Nitaqat for some jobs.

What the numbers tell you

• Hire Saudi staff early, before the expatriate hires that depend on visas.
• Calculate headroom after each hire so you know when the next Saudi hire is needed.
• In small teams, one resignation can change the band, so build a buffer above the threshold.
• Use the Qiwa calculator for the actual thresholds and counting rules of your activity.

Limits of this example

Every figure above is an illustrative assumption used to show the method, not a quote, valuation or market rate. Costs, rates, fees and regulations change and must be confirmed with the relevant authority, lender or supplier before you commit.

Domira works with foreign investors on the property side of entering Saudi Arabia: finding land or premises, due diligence, design, construction and asset management. For licensing, tax and legal steps, work with a licensed adviser; we coordinate with yours so the property decision fits the structure you choose.