What is Nitaqat, and how does it affect your chances?

Nitaqat is Saudi localisation: it classifies the establishment and can block your visa or the renewal of your work permit. What Article 35 after M/44 actually says, and why a visa cannot be bought from another firm.

Anyone job-hunting in Saudi Arabia will hear "Nitaqat", "Saudisation" or "localisation". Many workers hear the words, then are surprised when a company that liked their file says it cannot recruit right now. Understanding the term saves months waiting on an establishment that cannot hire, and it stops you paying an agent who promises to "get around the band".

The idea: a classification of the firm, not a judgement on you

Nitaqat is a programme of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, launched in 2011. Its current phase is called Nitaqat al-Mutawwar (Developed Nitaqat). It measures the share of Saudi workers in the entity — the branches of the same economic activity owned by one establishment — and places the firm in a band according to that share and the size of the activity. A higher band opens more services: recruitment, permit renewal, transfer. A lower band restricts them.

So whether a company can hire you does not depend only on whether it wants you. It may want you and still be unable, as a matter of the rules, to raise a visa or renew your permit. That is not a personal rejection. The ratios, thresholds and formula are published in the ministry’s procedural guide and they are updated. No figure is stored here — the number in a WhatsApp group may be last year’s.

From outside the firm you do not see the Nitaqat board on Qiwa Business. Do not pay someone who offers to "read the colour". The practical test is one question in writing: can this establishment issue the visa or renew the permit for this occupation now? If the answer is a wait with no date, you are waiting on a classification that is not waiting on you.

Article 35: renewal of your permit is tied to the employer’s localisation

This is not an HR policy without a legal base. Article 35 of the Labour Law — after the amendment by Royal Decree M/44 — says the ministry may, for reasons it assesses, refuse to renew the work permit when the employer has breached the localisation criteria the ministry sets, or any other conditions in the regulation.

The next sentence is about you, not the firm: the regulation shall set out procedures that protect the worker from the non-renewal, including the possibility of transferring the worker’s services to another employer without the consent of the employer in breach. The breach is the employer’s. The text charges the regulation with a path that shields you, including transfer without that employer’s agreement. That is a possibility the regulation and Qiwa define — not a promise that a transfer happens automatically tomorrow. If you are told the permit will not be renewed "because of the band", ask about the lawful transfer path, not about an agent selling you a new sponsor. And if you have already been working for months when the establishment’s classification changes, do not resign under pressure: resignation cuts what you are owed. Transfer is one path; resignation is another.

And before renewal: Article 32 forbids recruitment for the purpose of work except after the ministry’s approval. The establishment’s band is one reason that approval does not issue, even when the offer is genuine. The recruitment steps are in the working-in-Saudi-Arabia guide on this site.

The count itself — who counts as Saudi in the ratio, who counts as an expatriate, and how branches sit in one entity — is set by the ministry in the Developed Nitaqat guide. Do not assume every non-Saudi is counted the same way, or that a small branch is treated as the parent firm. If the agent disagrees with what the establishment says, the source is the current guide on the ministry’s site, not the message.

Article 36: occupations closed to non-Saudis

Article 36: the minister shall specify by decision the occupations and work that non-Saudis are forbidden to perform. Localisation decisions that reserve an occupation or an activity for citizens rest on this article. Some adverts are for Saudis only, and many say so explicitly.

The list expands and changes. Do not rely on a list a friend who travelled two years ago memorised. If your trade sits near a localised field, the early question for the employer is: is a foreign visa issued for this occupation now? If they hesitate, the answer is usually no.

And Article 33 requires, for the permit to be granted, that you hold the competence the country needs, and that no Saudi holds it or that their number does not meet the need — or that you are in the category of ordinary workers the country needs. That is a condition on the person. Nitaqat is a condition on the establishment. Article 36 decisions close the occupation altogether. Three doors, and the result for you is one: the visa may not issue even if the employer wants you.

What the band means for you in practice

A firm in a low band may be unable to raise a visa for you however much it likes your file.
Renewal of your permit may later be refused because the employer breached localisation criteria — Article 35 — not because you erred.
Some occupations are reserved for citizens by ministerial decision — Article 36 — so no foreign visa is issued for them at all.
A long delay with no reason that concerns you may be a firm trying to raise its band before it recruits.
An established registered firm is generally better able to finish the process than a loose trading name on WhatsApp.

You cannot buy your way around the band

A common trick has an agent claiming they can "get around Nitaqat" or buy a visa from another firm — usually a firm whose band allows recruitment, while you will work for someone else. That is not a small shortcut. Article 39 after the amendment forbids — except by the prescribed procedures — working for another employer or on your own account, and forbids an employer from employing someone else’s worker. A visa on one establishment and work on another’s site is the picture inspection is built to catch.

Anyone who goes through that door is unprotected in a dispute: wages, treatment and end-of-service are claimed against the employer you are registered to, not the one you actually work for. If you are told the permit will not be renewed, the path the law names is Article 35, the regulation and Qiwa — not buying a sponsorship. The work-visa and visit-visa guide on this site explains why a residence tied to someone you do not work for is not a solution.

What to ask before you wait or pay

The establishment name as on the register: can they issue a visa for this occupation now?
Is the occupation reserved for Saudis by a decision still in force? Article 36.
If you are already in the Kingdom: is renewal of your permit available to this establishment, or does the band block it?
Any sum for a "visa from another company" or "getting around the band" — refuse it. Article 39.
If renewal is refused because of localisation: ask about the transfer path Article 35 requires the regulation to provide, and read the service on Qiwa, not from an agent.

This is an explanation of the Labour Law as published by the Bureau of Experts — Articles 35 and 36 after the M/44 amendment — and of Nitaqat as a ministry programme whose ratios and guide are updated. Before you act, read those articles at source, and check the current procedural guide and the band calculator on the ministry’s site or Qiwa. This page explains why a delay may have nothing to do with you. It is not a table of this year’s percentages.

Rules and fees change and differ by country and employer. Always check with the official authorities before paying or signing anything.