Work out your band and Saudization ratio
Work out your entity's Nitaqat band and Saudization ratio using the official Developed Nitaqat formula published in the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development's 2026 procedural guide, and see how many Saudi hires it takes to reach the next band.
Pick your economic activity and enter your headcounts to see your entity's band.
Your trajectory to 2028
The columns are each year's bands at your current entity size, and the line is your Saudization ratio.
Band percentages at your entity size
The highlighted cell shows your entity's band in each year.
| Band | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | From | To | From | To | |
| Red | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· |
| Low green | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· |
| Mid green | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· |
| High green | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· |
| Platinum | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· | ··· |
What your band means
Taken from the 2026 procedural guide for the Developed Nitaqat programme. Each service remains subject to the controls set out in the Labour Law's implementing regulations.
The calculator applies the formula in the 2026 procedural guide for the Developed Nitaqat programme together with the Annex 1 constants for your activity, and derives the Saudization ratio by dividing the counted Saudi workforce by the total workforce. The programme itself works on workforce averages across the Hijri month and re-assigns the band at the start of each month, whereas this calculator reads the numbers you type at that moment, so its result can differ from the Qiwa platform if your headcount moved during the month. The official band is the one Qiwa shows.
This Nitaqat calculator works out your entity’s band and Saudization ratio before you commit to a hiring decision. Nitaqat itself is the regulatory instrument the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development uses to classify private-sector establishments by their Saudization ratio, and it has been running since 2011. Under the current phase, known as Developed Nitaqat, the minimum required ratio is no longer a fixed number for every establishment in an activity. It is a function of entity size, calculated with a logarithmic formula published in the procedural guide.
That means two establishments in the same activity with the same Saudization ratio can land in different bands if they employ different numbers of people. Fixed percentage tables cannot express that, so this calculator works from the official formula itself, using the Annex 1 constants for each of the 41 economic activities across three years: 2026, 2027 and 2028.
What a band is, and what follows from it
Your band determines what your establishment can do in the Ministry’s services, from requesting visas to transferring services, changing occupations and renewing work permits. The yellow band does not appear in Developed Nitaqat, which has five:
| Band | What is available to you |
|---|---|
| Platinum | Visa quota requests, occupation changes for expatriate staff to available occupations, work permit renewal regardless of residency duration provided no more than six months remain on the worker’s permit at renewal, service transfers from any band, and immediate counting. |
| High green | The same services as the platinum band. |
| Mid green | The same services as the platinum band. |
| Low green | New visa requests and occupation-change requests are suspended, while work permit renewal for existing staff and immediate counting remain available. |
| Red | No new visas, no work permits for new hires, no renewal for your existing expatriate staff, no service transfers into your entity, and no occupation changes. |
The practical dividing line is expansion. In low green you keep the staff you have but cannot recruit; in the three bands above it you grow freely. Red is different in kind, because it halts renewal of work permits for people already working for you, which makes it an operational risk rather than a label.
How the Saudization ratio is calculated
The procedural guide defines the Saudization ratio as the sum of the averages of Saudi employees across the entity’s establishments, divided by the sum of the Saudi and expatriate averages together, multiplied by 100. Expatriate workforce means employees who are not nationals of a Gulf Cooperation Council state.
A Saudi employee does not always count as one, though. Each category carries a different weight, and those weights are what make your real ratio differ from a headcount. They are not part of the Developed Nitaqat procedural guide: they are issued by separate ministerial decisions, some of which are amended from time to time.
| Category | Weight | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi paid 4,000 SAR or more | One worker | Aged 18 or over, registered with social insurance under your entity alone, not part-time and not a student. |
| Saudi paid 3,000 to under 4,000 | Half a worker | Counts at half only. |
| Saudi paid under 3,000 | Not counted | Does not enter the Saudization ratio. |
| Saudi on part-time | Half a worker | Social insurance paid on a monthly wage of at least 3,000 SAR, and not counted at more than two entities. |
| Flexible work hours | A full worker per 160 hours | Completed hours are pooled across a single worker or a group of workers, and a full point is earned on completing 160 hours. Source: ministerial decision 153307, amending Article 27 of the Labour Law’s Executive Regulations, published in Umm al-Qura. |
| Saudi with a disability | Four workers | A Mowaamah supportive-workplace certificate and a wage of 4,000 SAR or more, capped at 10% of total headcount. |
| Saudi student | Half a worker | Capped at 10% of total headcount, and 25% in restaurant, cafe and catering activities. |
Confirm these weights on the Qiwa platform before you rely on them for a hiring decision. They are issued by ministerial decisions outside the procedural guide and they do change. The flexible-work weight is the example: it used to be one third of a worker before it was amended to a full point per 160 completed hours.
The disability weight is the largest single lever here, since one employee adds four to the counted figure. Its cap is measured on raw headcount before any weight is applied, rather than on the weighted value, so the multiplier cannot consume its own allowance. The calculator uses the weighted Saudi figure in both the numerator and the denominator, because the sum of Saudi averages appears on both sides of the definition. Employees paid under 3,000 SAR enter neither the numerator nor the total workforce, and leaving them out of the total shrinks X, which lowers the minimum required for every band: a deliberate consequence of this reading.
The official formula for each band’s minimum
The procedural guide calculates each band’s minimum as follows:
Y = M x ln (X) + C
- Y the minimum percentage required for the band.
- M a curve constant, which varies by activity and band.
- C a localization constant, which varies by activity, band and year.
- X the entity’s total workforce.
- ln (X) the natural logarithm of the total workforce.
The formula is applied four times, once each for low green, mid green, high green and platinum, producing four thresholds. The entity is then placed by comparing its Saudization ratio against them: below the low-green threshold it is red, at or above the platinum threshold it is platinum, and in between it takes the highest threshold it has reached.
A worked example
An establishment in general wholesale and retail trade with 8 Saudis and 22 expatriates has a total workforce of 30 and a Saudization ratio of 26.67%. The low-green constants for that activity in 2026 are M = 2.47 and C = 23.25, and the natural logarithm of 30 is 3.4012. So:
Y = 2.47 x 3.4012 + 23.25 = 31.65%
The establishment’s 26.67% is below 31.65%, so it sits in the red band. The calculator shows that three Saudi hires are enough to clear it, because each hire raises the numerator and the denominator together, which moves the required threshold as well.
Micro entities: fewer than 6 employees
Nitaqat classification starts at 6 employees. Entities with 1 to 5 employees are treated as micro entities under a separate rule, where employing a single national, who may be the owner, is enough. The calculator therefore shows no band below that threshold and points you to the separate rule instead.
Why your band can fall without your team changing
The localization constant C is published for three years and rises in most activities year on year. The required minimum climbs while your ratio stays where it is, so your band changes without you hiring or letting anyone go.
For example, a manufacturing establishment with 200 employees and a 28% Saudization ratio. The low-green thresholds for that activity at that size are 23.98% in 2026, 26.98% in 2027 and 29.98% in 2028. It is in low green for the first two years and in red in 2028 with exactly the same team. That is why the chart shows all three years together: so you know the date you have to move before, not only where you stand today.
How to raise your Saudization ratio and your band
- Review anyone near the wage boundary. A Saudi paid 3,900 SAR counts as half a worker; raising them to 4,000 makes them a full one. It is the cheapest available increase in your ratio.
- Review anyone under 3,000 SAR. They do not count at all, so having them on the payroll does nothing for your band.
- Document employees with disabilities and obtain a Mowaamah certificate. The weight is fourfold, the largest lever the rules allow.
- Check that social insurance registration is correct. Anyone registered under another entity does not count for you.
- Run the numbers before you recruit. Every new expatriate hire raises the denominator and lowers your ratio, and can move you down a band.
- Plan against next year’s constants, not the current classification year’s.
Why use Qoyod’s Nitaqat calculator
- The official formula, not a fixed table. Your thresholds are derived from the formula in the 2026 procedural guide for the Developed Nitaqat programme and the Annex 1 constants for your activity and entity size.
- Full weighted counting. Wages under 4,000, part-time, flexible-work hours, employees with disabilities and students, each at its own weight and cap.
- How many Saudis you need. The calculator solves the formula in reverse and tells you the number of hires required for the next band.
- Three years in one picture. A chart and a from-to table for every band across 2026, 2027 and 2028.
- Free, no sign-up, and it keeps none of the figures you enter.
If you are running employee records, attendance, leaves and payroll across scattered files, Qoyod HR is a standalone human-resources product that brings them together, while Qoyod handles the accounting and e-invoicing side. You may also find the end-of-service calculator, the salary calculator and the overtime calculator useful.
Frequently asked questions
Direct answers to what employers ask about Nitaqat and Saudization.
What is the difference between Developed Nitaqat and the old programme?
Under the previous programme each activity and establishment size had a fixed Saudization percentage read off a table. Under Developed Nitaqat the minimum is calculated with a logarithmic formula in the size of the entity, so the threshold changes with headcount within the same activity and is no longer one number for every establishment.
How do I find my official band?
The official band is the one the Qiwa platform shows, and it is recalculated at the start of each Hijri month from workforce averages across that month. This calculator reads the numbers you type at that moment, so it is a planning tool that shows you the effect of a hiring decision before you make it, and its result can differ from Qiwa if your headcount moved during the month.
Does the owner count towards the Saudization ratio?
Yes. The owner of the entity counts as one national worker, provided they actually work there and are not registered with social insurance under another establishment. That is what lets a micro entity, with 1 to 5 employees, meet its requirement with a single national who may be the owner.
Why does my ratio in the calculator differ from my number of Saudi employees?
Because a Saudi employee does not always count as one. Anyone paid under 3,000 SAR does not count, anyone paid 3,000 to under 4,000 counts as half, a part-time employee counts as half, an employee with a disability counts as four, and flexible-work hours count as a full worker for every 160 completed hours. So the counted figure differs from the headcount.
What happens to my establishment in the red band?
In the red band you cannot request new visas, cannot issue work permits for new expatriate hires, cannot renew work permits for your existing expatriate staff, cannot receive service transfers, and cannot change your expatriate staff’s occupations. The renewal freeze is the most serious of these, because it affects people already working for you.
Does this calculator work out each of my branches separately?
No. The entity in the programme is the unit the Ministry deals with for Saudization purposes, and it represents every branch owned by one establishment within the same economic activity. So enter the combined headcount across the entity’s branches, not the figures for a single branch.