Ajeer

What Ajeer is

Ajeer (أجير) is a programme of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development under which an establishment can benefit from the services of workers who are not Saudi nationals and who are already present in the Saudi labour market. Article 1 of Ministerial Decision No. 60339 defines the Ajeer programme as one of the Ministry’s programmes that makes it easier for establishments in the market to reach manpower services inside the Saudi market.

The arrangement runs through the Ajeer platform (منصة أجير). Article 1 of Decision 60339 describes Ajeer contracting (تعاقد أجير) as the electronic service on the platform that documents the contractual relationship between the establishments and issues the regulatory permits. The permit that governs the relationship is the Ajeer permit (تصريح أجير), which Article 1 of Decision 60339 defines as an approved electronic document issued to the worker through the Ajeer programme to establish that the worker’s presence at another establishment’s place of work is lawful.

The rules in force today are the rules governing the outsourcing of services of workers who are not Saudi nationals between establishments through the Ajeer programme. They were issued by Ministerial Decision No. 60339 dated 6/5/1447 AH, and they came into force on 6 Sha’ban 1447 AH, which corresponds to 25 January 2026.

The two Ajeer models: outsourcing of services and outsourcing of manpower

Ajeer covers two different models, not a single one. Article 2 of Decision 60339 states that the purpose of the rules is to focus on the outsourcing of services, by clarifying its terms and distinguishing it from the outsourcing of manpower. Article 1 of Decision 60339 defines both:

• Internal outsourcing of services (التعهيد الداخلي للخدمات). It is a contract between two establishments for a specific service in any economic activity, bounded by a scope of work set out in advance and by a defined period. The providing establishment manages its resources and its workers itself, and payments are tied to outputs and to achieving the results set in the contract.
• Internal outsourcing of manpower (التعهيد الداخلي للقوى العاملة). It is the deployment of a worker who is not a Saudi national at an establishment other than the establishment the worker is attached to (المنشأة التي يتبع لها), for a defined period. Payments are tied to hours or to work rates, and the beneficiary establishment supervises, evaluates and integrates the worker into its operations.

The practical difference between the two Ajeer models is this: in the first an establishment buys a result, and in the second it buys a worker’s time. The scope of work in the first model is a scope of tasks, not a place.

In both models the two parties carry names set by Decision 60339: the service provider establishment (المنشأة مقدمة الخدمة) and the beneficiary establishment (المنشأة المستفيدة). Article 1 of Decision 60339 defines the first as an establishment that meets the regulatory, commercial and contractual requirements to provide internal outsourcing services, and the second as an establishment that meets the equivalent requirements to benefit from them. Both Ajeer models are also examined under contingent workforce and under employee secondment.

Ajeer and the beneficiary establishment’s Nitaqat band

The effect of Ajeer on an establishment’s Nitaqat (نطاقات) band is addressed in Article 11 of Decision 60339, which provides that workers who are not Saudi nationals and are registered in the service contract do not affect the band of the beneficiary establishments.

In other words, workers whose services an establishment receives through Ajeer are not counted among its own workers when the establishment is classified under Nitaqat, so they do not lower its Saudization ratio. The Ministry’s procedural guide to the Nitaqat programme computes that ratio as the average number of Saudi workers, divided by the average number of Saudi workers plus the average number of expatriate workers (العمالة الوافدة), multiplied by 100. Workers registered in an Ajeer service contract therefore stay outside the beneficiary’s denominator. How the band is calculated, and what it governs, is set out in our guide to Nitaqat band classification.

The rule in Article 11 of Decision 60339 has two limits. It concerns the beneficiary establishment alone: Decision 60339 says nothing about removing those workers from the provider’s band. It is also a rule about the Nitaqat band and nothing else, so it does not extend to registration with the General Organization for Social Insurance, to the count of work permits or to the levy (المقابل المالي), and Decision 60339 is silent on all three.

How long an Ajeer permit lasts

• The term of the Ajeer permit. Under Article 6 of Decision 60339, the permit runs from its date of issue and ends after three years at most, or when the service contract ends, whichever comes first. The permit states the end date of the outsourcing as set in the service contract.
• A further permit. Article 6 of Decision 60339 allows a new permit to be requested on or before the expiry of the current one, for a period no longer than the outsourcing period that remains under the service contract.
• Renewal of the service contract. Under Article 7 of Decision 60339, the service contract may be renewed through the Ajeer platform at the request of the beneficiary establishment, for no more than three years.

Two conditions circulate in secondary sources about Ajeer: a cap of 20% on the share of workers that may be outsourced, and a limit of twelve months within two years. Neither appears in the text of Decision 60339, the decision in force. A search of the full text of Decision 60339 finds no percentage sign and no mention of a ratio of any kind. The time limits that Decision 60339 does set are the limit of three years on the term of each Ajeer permit and the limit of three years on each renewal of the service contract. They are not a cap on the share of a workforce that is outsourced, nor on the number of months a worker accumulates in outsourcing.

That finding is confined to the rules themselves. Decision 60339 does not govern the operating settings of the Ajeer platform, so before a staffing decision is built on a condition taken from a secondary source, the reference is the text of the decision or the Ajeer platform itself.

What stays with the service provider under Ajeer

Decision 60339 keeps the following with the service provider establishment:

• The work permit (رخصة العمل). It is issued and renewed by the provider, under Article 11 of Decision 60339. Renewal may not be delayed on account of the outsourcing, and a delay or a refusal leaves full legal responsibility with the provider. The document is explained under work permit, and its renewal has its own guide, on work permit renewal for expatriate workers.
• The worker’s rights and duties. They remain governed by the employment contract, by the Labor Law and by its Implementing Regulation (اللائحة التنفيذية), under Article 4 of Decision 60339.
• The settlement of disputes. Under Article 11 of Decision 60339, any dispute between the worker, the provider and the beneficiary is settled in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Law and the related decisions.

Both establishments must also observe Ministerial Decision No. 145268 dated 23/10/1445 AH. Decision 145268 obliges establishments to update the data of their sites and branches and to link their workers to the premises at which those workers actually work, and it attaches legal consequences to failure to comply. Article 11 of Decision 60339 expressly requires both the provider and the beneficiary to observe Decision 145268, and Decision 60339 contains no article repealing any earlier instrument. The new rules therefore did not cancel Decision 145268; they require it to be observed.

This is an explanation of the concept and of the statutory provisions cited, not legal advice.