Saudi Arabia's Labour Ministry has amended its Nitaqat policy which governs rules regarding Saudisation. Saudi national new hires will only count toward their employers' Saudisation percentage after 26 (instead of the previous 13) weeks of employment.

Employees will still be removed from their employers' Saudisation figure immediately on the end of their assignment. In contrast to the actual adopted policy, it was previously believed employers would be granted a more lenient 26-week period from the end of employment of a Saudi national employee to remove them from the Saudisation calculation.

What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals

Employers operating in Saudi Arabia should note this development makes it difficult to quickly increase Saudisation levels. In addition, employers are not granted any additional time to hire Saudi employees to prevent a downgrade in the event that a Saudi national employee leaves their employment.