Nitaqat

Definition of Nitaqat

Nitaqat (نطاقات, Arabic for “bands”) is the programme of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development that classifies private sector establishments by their Saudization ratio. Each entity is placed in a band, and the band determines which services are available to it and which restrictions apply to it.

The version in force today is the developed Nitaqat programme (نطاقات المطور). It rests on Ministerial Decision No. 182495 dated 11/10/1442H, which approved the restructuring of the programme and took effect from 26/4/1443H, corresponding to 1 December 2021. That is the date on which the first phase of the developed programme came into force. Under that programme the required Saudization ratios are applied gradually over three years.

The procedural guide in force today is the 2026 edition. That edition is a republication of the guide under the same decision, not a new decision. It publishes the constants for each economic activity for 2026, 2027 and 2028, so the minimum required of an entity is set for each of those years rather than fixed once.

The five Nitaqat bands

The programme places an entity in one of five bands. From lowest to highest, they are:

1. Red: the entity’s Saudization ratio is below the minimum required for Low Green. Red has no formula of its own; it is defined by falling short of the band above it.
2. Low Green
3. Medium Green
4. High Green
5. Platinum: the highest band.

A point worth noting: there is no yellow band in the developed Nitaqat programme. Yellow belonged to the earlier version of the programme, which has been retired, and the word does not appear in any of the sixteen pages of the 2026 procedural guide. Some secondary sources, including search engine answer boxes, still describe a yellow band. They are describing the earlier programme, not the one in force.

How the Saudization ratio is calculated in Nitaqat

The Saudization ratio is the average number of Saudi workers, divided by the sum of the average number of Saudis and the average number of expatriate workers, multiplied by 100. The procedural guide refers to averages without naming the period over which they are taken. In the sources we reviewed, which include the guide, the programme’s published questions and answers and the Ministry’s announcement, we found no definition of that period. The weekly update of the bands, described below, is the schedule on which the classification changes. It is not the averaging period.

Expatriate workers, in the programme’s definition, are workers who are not nationals of the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council and who work for an employer in the Kingdom. Because the definition turns on Gulf nationality, a worker from another Council state is not counted as an expatriate.

The minimum required for each band is not a fixed number. Instead, the Ministry calculates it with a formula that combines the number of workers in the entity with constants specific to each economic activity, published in Annex (1) of the procedural guide. In the guide’s formula, the natural logarithm of the entity’s total headcount is multiplied by a curve constant for the activity, and a second constant for the activity and the year is added to the result. Low Green, Medium Green, High Green and Platinum each have their own pair of constants for every activity.

The direction of the relationship varies by activity. In some activities the required ratio rises as the number of workers rises. Others, including construction and building contracting and cleaning and laundry contracting, have a negative curve constant in the Low Green and Medium Green bands, so the required ratio for those two bands falls as the number of workers grows. For a third group the constant is zero, and headcount has no effect on the minimum at all. To find your current or expected band, use the Nitaqat calculator.

Nitaqat measures the entity, not the branch

The entity (الكيان) in the programme brings together all branches of the same economic activity owned by a single establishment. An establishment that runs five branches in one activity is therefore measured as one entity with one band, not as five branches with five bands.

The headcount that enters the measurement is the total actual workforce of the entity, not the number of Saudi workers alone. Measuring the entity as a whole changes how hiring is distributed across the branches, because every branch in the activity counts towards the same ratio.

What a Nitaqat band means in practice

• The band sets the ceiling on the work visas an establishment can have issued, and in the Red and Low Green bands the intake of new visa requests stops altogether. How the band limits visas is set out under work visa. The band also governs other services, such as changing the occupations of expatriate workers and transferring their services. In Low Green, requests to change expatriate workers’ occupations to available occupations stop being accepted, while the transfer of services remains available. In Red, changing occupations is not permitted, and neither is the transfer of expatriate workers’ services to the establishment. The full list of services granted and withheld by band is in our guide to what depends on an establishment’s Nitaqat band classification.
• The band classification is updated weekly. A worker’s weight is counted as soon as the worker is registered, and the effect appears in the programme’s weekly update.
• Since 15 April 2026, Saudization ratios have been calculated from employment contracts documented electronically on the Qiwa platform, on the basis of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 195 dated 4/4/1443H. An entity that does not document its contracts on Qiwa therefore puts its classification at risk. The documentation duty and its steps are covered in our guide to attesting employment contracts on Qiwa.

The difference between Nitaqat and Saudization

Saudization is the policy: localising jobs and replacing expatriate staff with Saudi staff. Nitaqat is the instrument of measurement and incentive that turns that policy into a classification for each entity, and ties concrete services and restrictions to it. Saudization is the goal, and Nitaqat is the measure.

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