Saudization of Administrative Support Professions: Decree 132249 and 100% at Entity Level

The Saudization of administrative support professions is set by ministerial decision number 132249, dated in its procedural guide 17/10/1447 AH · 5 April 2026. Its percentage is 100%, worded in the guide as restricting the work in the targeted professions to Saudis, measured at entity level.

What concerns an HR reader here is that HR professions themselves are among the professions this decree targets, alongside public relations, secretarial work, translation, security, warehousing and customs clearance. The decree reaches the job the reader is reading from, not a job in some other department.

This article covers this decree alone: its percentage, its denominator, its level of measurement, its scope threshold and its two dates. The architecture this family of decrees shares, its relationship to the Nitaqat programme, the definition of the entity and the rounding rule are covered in profession Saudization decrees and how they differ from Nitaqat, and are not repeated here.

1. What the decree sets: 100% in the targeted professions, at entity level

The percentage set in this decree’s guide is 100%, worded in the guide as restricting the work in the targeted professions to Saudis, and its level of measurement is the entity, not the branch. The entity in the ministry’s guides is the capacity the ministry deals with for the purposes of calculating localisation, representing all branches in the same economic activity owned by a single establishment.

So multiple branches in a single economic activity under a single owner are measured together under this decree, and no branch is measured on its own.

2. The professions the decree reaches

The professions in this decree are administrative support professions that work inside an establishment whatever its activity, not professions tied to one particular activity. Among those it covers:

• HR professions
• Public relations
• Secretarial work
• Translation
• Security
• Warehousing
• Customs clearance

This is a presentation of what this guide found of the decree’s professions, not a closed list of its tables. The table of targeted professions and their codes is read from the decree’s procedural guide, and the codes rest on the Saudi Unified Classification of Occupations issued by the General Authority for Statistics.

3. Scope of application: one worker or more

The scope of this decree in its guide covers all private-sector establishments operating in the Saudi market that employ one worker or more in the targeted professions.

The effect is direct: a single employee in one of this decree’s professions brings the establishment under it. This threshold is not measured by the size of the establishment or by its total headcount, but by the presence of a worker in the targeted professions.

The threshold here is not the other decrees’ threshold

The threshold is not uniform across this family:

Anyone who reads the three-worker threshold in the procurement decree and then carries it over to this decree reads himself outside a decree he is inside. An entity with one employee in secretarial work and no procurement function at all falls under 132249 and does not fall under 77050. Each decree’s scope of application is read from its own procedural guide and is never carried across.

4. Table (2) and Table (3): two dates, not one

This decree has two application tracks on two dates, not one:

• Table (2): binding from the date the decision was issued.
• Table (3): binding six months later, on 4 October 2026.

Which professions sit in Table (2) and which sit in Table (3) was not found by this guide, and is read from the decree’s own procedural guide. No conclusion is built here on either table, and it is not assumed that any particular profession is in one or the other.

The grace period in these decrees is counted from publication of the ministerial decision. The guides define it as the period between the date of publication of the ministerial decision and the date of its application and enforcement. It starts from publication of the decision, not from the establishment’s awareness of it.

5. The denominator in this decree

This decree is one of the cross-cutting decrees, and in that family the denominator is the workers in the professions the decree names, not the establishment’s total headcount.

That denominator is not a general rule across every localisation decree. Some activity decrees calculate on total headcount: the decree on the retail outlets of seven economic activities (208819) sets its percentage at 70% of the total workers in the outlet, and the decree on real-estate activities and professions sets its percentage at 70% of the total number of workers. Each decree’s denominator is read from its own guide.

6. Monitoring is automated, and its source is the GOSI registration

Supervision of this decree is not a report the establishment files. The administrative support guide states that the system applies the formula based on the occupational titles in the Social Insurance database, and then verifies wages and professional accreditation through a technical link with the supervisory bodies.

The effect is that the title that is read is the one registered with GOSI, not the title in your internal file. The gap between the two is a gap in the number the ministry sees. The social insurance registration is therefore the record to reconcile against.

7. The job title and the actual work, together

Applying the decree does not stop at the registered title: the decree is applied to the occupational titles and to the worker’s actual work.

The trigger for breach as stated in the guides reaches assigning any task belonging to a localised profession to a non-Saudi directly or indirectly under any other job title. Changing the title alone does not take the work out of the decree.

8. The wage floor: what is not in this guide

A number of localisation decrees make counting a Saudi worker toward the percentage conditional on a floor for his contribution wage registered with GOSI, such as the engineering professions (SAR 8,000) and the marketing professions (SAR 5,500). The components of that wage are set out in the contribution wage at GOSI.

This guide did not find a wage floor in the administrative support professions guide. That is an absence from the reading, not a denial that a condition exists. It may not be said that this decree carries no wage condition, nor may another decree’s floor be carried over to it. The detail is a matter to be referred to the procedural guide and the competent authority.

9. Professional accreditation: a place where nothing is said

The monitoring mechanism stated in this decree’s guide mentions professional accreditation among the things the system verifies. Seven of the guides read name the body the accreditation is taken from in their decrees, and this decree is not among them.

It does not follow that this decree carries no accreditation condition. A decree in which no body was named in the guides read is not said to be without a condition, just as conditions this guide did not find are not described for it. This is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

10. The decision is an update of its predecessor

This decision is framed as approving an update of the procedural guide, and it names in its preamble the decision it updates: ministerial decision number 52764 dated 11/3/1443 AH.

Its repeal wording is: what conflicts with the provisions of this decision in previous decisions is repealed, save for what is stated in paragraph (third), and paragraph (third) here is the higher-percentage rule. This is a qualified form, differing from the unqualified form in the sales, marketing and procurement decisions.

The text of decision 52764 was not obtained by this guide. It was read as a reference, not as a text, so nothing is said about its content.

11. When two decrees overlap: the higher percentage

A single profession may be reached by two decrees: this decree and an activity or regional decree. The guides and the signed decisions state that where localisation percentages differ, the higher percentage is applied.

Which of the two decrees reaches a particular establishment is read from each decree’s scope of application, not from this rule.

12. Breach: the trigger is settled, the amount is not published here

The trigger for breach as stated in the guides is two things: failing to reach the required percentage, or assigning a task belonging to a localised profession to a non-Saudi directly or indirectly under any other job title.

The amount of the fine is not published here. The decisions do not carry their penalties in their own texts; they refer to a schedule of violations and penalties, and this decision refers to decisions 75913 and 44558, while the schedule of violations and penalties page published by the ministry today carries decision 112377 alone, with no mention of those two. The relationship between the reference and the schedule published today was not found in any source for this guide. So no fine amount is attributed to this decree, and it is not said that its reference to an older schedule has weakened its effect.

What this guide does not settle

• The wage floor for counting under this decree: this guide did not find it in its procedural guide, and no other decree’s floor is carried over to it.
• The contents of Table (2) and Table (3): which professions sit in each, which is what decides which professions bind from the date of issuance and which bind on 4 October 2026.
• The professional accreditation condition in this decree: no body was named for it in the guides read, and the absence of a name is not a denial of the condition.
• The content of decision 52764, which this decision updates: read as a reference, not as a text.
• The fine amount arising from breach of this decree, and what becomes of its reference to decisions 75913 and 44558.
• The text of Article 11 bis and Article 36 of the Labor Law, on which the decision rests, and what they authorise.
• The effect of meeting this decree on the establishment’s Nitaqat classification: this guide found it in no source, so it is asserted neither positively nor negatively.

Each of these is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

What your system should record

The number the ministry sees is read from the GOSI registration, not from your file. So what is useful to hold in your own employee file is whatever you can reconcile against that registration:

• The occupational title registered with GOSI for every worker, and its code in the Saudi Unified Classification of Occupations.
• The actual work the worker performs, where it departs from his title.
• The number of workers in administrative support professions at entity level, not at branch level.
• The branches inside the entity: which are in the same economic activity and which are outside it.
• The contribution wage for every Saudi in a targeted profession, not the basic wage.
• The date 4 October 2026 and the end of the grace period attached to it.

Checklist

• Do you have one worker or more in one of this decree’s professions, even a single one?
• Did you count these professions at entity level across the branches in the single economic activity, or at the level of one branch?
• Did you read the decree’s two tables to find which of your professions sit in Table (2) and which in Table (3)?
• Do the titles registered with GOSI match the actual work the worker performs?
• Do you have a profession reached by this decree and by an activity or regional decree, and did you apply the higher percentage?
• Did you confuse this decree’s threshold with the three-worker threshold in the marketing, sales and procurement decrees?
• Are you watching 4 October 2026, or waiting for the effect of a breach?

Why this turns into a problem

The effect of this decree shows up late. An establishment is not notified on the day it falls below the percentage. Monitoring is automated from social insurance data, and the breach is known when it happens.

Some sources of error are not revealed by the number alone. One is carrying one decree’s threshold over to another: anyone who applies the three-worker threshold to this decree reads himself outside it while a single employee puts him inside. Another is counting at branch level rather than entity level, so a branch is read on its own while it sits inside the entity with others. Another is stopping at the registered title without the actual work, when the decree reaches both together.

This is where having the facts of an employee in a single file starts to pay. That is what Qoyod HR provides: one employee file holding the contract, the documents and their expiry dates with a reminder before them, an attendance record for every employee, his leave, his salary and his end-of-service entitlements. End-of-service, overtime and leave-balance calculations are built into the system. It is a standalone HR system on its own subscription, and the connection to Qoyod Accounting is now available.

For more guides and templates, browse the HR resource centre.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Saudization percentage for administrative support professions in decree 132249?

The percentage set in the guide to decree 132249 is 100% of the workers in the targeted professions, worded in the guide as restricting the work in those professions to Saudis, and the level of measurement is the entity, not the branch. The entity in the ministry’s guides is the capacity the ministry deals with for the purposes of calculating localisation, representing all branches in the same economic activity owned by a single establishment.

Which professions does the administrative support Saudization decree cover?

Among the professions this decree targets are HR professions, public relations, secretarial work, translation, security, warehousing and customs clearance. This is a presentation of what this guide found, not a closed list of the decree’s tables; the table of professions and their codes is read from the procedural guide, and the codes rest on the Saudi Unified Classification of Occupations issued by the General Authority for Statistics.

Which establishments does the administrative support Saudization decree apply to?

Its scope in its guide covers all private-sector establishments operating in the Saudi market that employ one worker or more in the targeted professions. So the threshold is the presence of a single worker in the targeted professions, and it differs from the threshold in the marketing (101319), sales (101278) and procurement (77050) decrees, which is three workers or more in the targeted professions. Each decree’s scope of application is read from its own procedural guide and is never carried across.

What is the difference between Table (2) and Table (3) in decree 132249?

They are two application tracks on two different dates: Table (2) binds from the date the decision was issued, and Table (3) binds six months later, on 4 October 2026. Which professions sit in each table was not found by this guide, and is read from the decree’s own procedural guide.

Does decree 132249 set a wage floor for a Saudi to count toward the percentage?

This guide did not find a wage floor in the administrative support professions guide. That is an absence from the reading, not a denial that a condition exists: it may not be said that this decree carries no wage condition, nor may another decree’s floor be carried over to it, such as SAR 8,000 in the engineering professions or SAR 5,500 in the marketing professions. The matter is to be referred to the procedural guide and the competent authority.

How does the ministry monitor compliance with this decree?

Monitoring is automated and is not a report the establishment files. The administrative support guide states that the system applies the formula based on the occupational titles in the Social Insurance database, and then verifies wages and professional accreditation through a technical link with the supervisory bodies. So the title that is read is the one registered with GOSI, and the decree reaches the title and the actual work together.

Statutory references

This article rests on the procedural guide for the administrative support professions localisation decree (132249) published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, on the signed ministerial decision attached to it, and on the FAQ sections in this family’s guides concerning the definition of the entity, the grace period and the higher-percentage rule. The percentages, denominators and scopes of application of the other decrees cited for comparison are read from their own guides. Decisions 52764, 75913, 44558 and 112377 are named here as references and not read as texts, so nothing is asserted about their content.

And on the schedule of violations and penalties page published by the ministry, for the fact that the schedule carried there today is decision 112377.

Dates are taken from the sources without conversion in either direction, in both calendars where both exist. Hijri dates are printed as the sources print them; Gregorian dates are written out in full. No wage floor not read from this decree’s guide is published in this article, no fine amount attributed to it, and no content of either of its two tables. Decrees that are updated from year to year should have their dates re-checked from their page at the ministry before anything is built on them.

Subjects that border this decree and are not settled in this article: the contributions recorded against a worker with the General Organization for Social Insurance, and the contribution rates applied to a registered wage; the Saudi Unified Classification of Occupations, from which the profession codes are drawn; and the Nitaqat calculation, which is the subject of the Nitaqat calculator. None of these is read from this decree’s guide, and none of them is a source for the localisation percentage stated here.

This article is a regulatory explanation and not legal advice. In a live dispute or a particular case, the statutory text and the competent authority remain the reference.