Saudi Nitaqat Wage Thresholds Are Not an Expat Minimum Wage

If you work in Saudi Arabia or have an offer there, don’t treat social-media posts about a SAR 5,000 or SAR 6,000 “minimum wage” as a new salary rule for expats. The reported amounts concern how Saudi employees count toward an employer’s Saudisation requirement.

Gulf News and Saudi Gazette report that a Saudi private-sector employee will need to earn at least SAR 5,000 a month to count as one full worker under Nitaqat from April 25, 2027. The threshold will rise to SAR 6,000 on April 25, 2028.

What the Nitaqat Threshold Actually Means

Nitaqat measures an establishment’s compliance with Saudisation requirements. Its classifications consider factors including the company’s economic activity and its numbers of Saudi and non-Saudi employees.

The reported change covers five Saudi worker arrangements: full-time employees, part-time employees, flexible workers, part-time students and employable people with disabilities.

This is not an announced general minimum wage for foreign workers. No direct change to expat salaries or existing foreign-worker contracts has been identified. Your salary remains a separate matter from the amount needed for a Saudi employee to count fully toward the company’s Nitaqat requirement.

Detailed rules explaining partial or zero counting below the new thresholds for each worker arrangement are not yet confirmed. Be careful with unofficial charts or messages claiming to show exactly how every salary will be counted.

Could This Affect Expat Hiring?

The effect on foreign recruitment can be indirect. Saudi labour regulations require an establishment that wants to recruit non-Saudis to achieve its required Saudisation percentage.

A company close to its required Nitaqat percentage may therefore review its Saudi hiring, wages or workforce plans before the first phase starts. That could influence how many foreign workers it can recruit, but the effect will depend on the individual employer.

No particular sector or occupation has been named as uniquely affected by this threshold change. It would be misleading to say that construction, hospitality, healthcare, retail or any other specific field will automatically stop hiring expats. The employer’s registered activity, workforce numbers and Nitaqat position all matter.

If you’re applying from outside Saudi Arabia, ask whether the employer is able to complete foreign recruitment rather than relying on a verbal promise. You can also check current openings through GluJob’s Gulf jobs page, but confirm the contract and job details before making travel or resignation decisions.

Check Your Qiwa Job Classification

Since April 15, 2026, Nitaqat calculations have been based on employment contracts documented electronically through Qiwa. This makes the information in the documented contract especially relevant to the employer’s records.

Expat work permits are separately classified as high-skilled, skilled or basic. These classifications appear through the employer’s Qiwa account, and a correction can be requested if a worker’s skill level is inaccurate.

Ask your employer to check whether the profession and skill classification connected to your contract and work permit match the job you actually do. For example, if your documented profession does not match your real technical role, request a review rather than assuming the new Saudi wage threshold has changed your pay.

The official HRSD skill-classification guide explains that workers can request correction when their skill level is not classified accurately.

What You Should Do Now

1. Do not resign based on a social-media post. The confirmed change is about counting Saudi workers for Saudisation, not setting a new expat minimum salary.
2. Read your documented contract. Check your profession, salary and actual duties rather than relying only on an offer message.
3. Ask your employer about classification errors. The employer can view the work-permit skill category through its Qiwa account, and a correction can be requested if the category is inaccurate.
4. Wait for detailed calculation rules. Don’t act on claims about partial Nitaqat counting that have not been officially confirmed.

Today, compare your actual job with the profession shown in your documented Qiwa contract.