Attesting Employment Contracts on Qiwa and Its Effect on the Establishment’s Nitaqat Classification

Royal Decree M/44, in force since 19 February 2025, added to Article 51 of the Saudi Labor Law a rule that was not in it: the duty to attest the employment contract.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development carries out the attestation of employment contracts through the Qiwa platform. Since 15 April 2026, Saudization percentages in Nitaqat have been reckoned from contracts attested electronically on Qiwa.

This guide sets out the documented information it has established on this subject, and stops there.

1. Where the duty to attest came from

Article 51, in its operative wording, provides that the employment contract is written in two copies, and must be attested in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions and in light of what the regulation determines.

This obligation is new in the 2025 text: before the amendment the article required the contract to be drawn up in two copies and contained nothing about attestation.

So in the operative text, writing and attesting are two distinct obligations, and discharging one does not dispense with the other.

2. Where attestation takes place

The Ministry manages the attestation of employment contracts through the Qiwa platform, via the “Contract Management” service.

This is the channel this guide has established. As for the detail of what the regulation determines regarding attestation, refer to the implementing regulation and the competent authority on that.

Note that Article 51 did not name a particular channel; it referred to “the relevant statutory provisions” and to what the regulation determines. So the text lays down the obligation, and determining the channel falls outside it. It follows that what is stated here about Qiwa is a description of what exists, not a citation of the article’s text.

This is a distinction worth preserving in every internal document: the obligation has its source in Article 51, and the channel has its source in what the competent authority adopts.

3. How the process runs

According to what the Ministry sets out for this service, the attestation process goes through the following steps:

1. The establishment creates the contract and attests it electronically on the platform.
2. The worker approves, rejects or requests an amendment through “Qiwa Individuals”.
3. Once the two parties agree, the Ministry certifies the contract.

The second step is the one that leaves the establishment’s hands: attestation is not completed by its act alone. It passes through the worker’s account, and the worker has three options there, not one: approval, rejection, or a request to amend.

What follows is that between creating the contract and certifying it there is a period that depends on the worker’s action, and it is a period that has to be allowed for when planning joining dates.

Note that requesting an amendment is an option available to the worker alongside approval and rejection. As for the procedure that follows from it on the platform, refer to the competent authority and the Qiwa platform on that.

It also follows that the worker has actual sight of what was attested, because their approval is a step in the process itself, not a procedure subsequent to it. So the contract that reaches certification has passed before both parties.

4. The contract exists even if it is not attested: two different questions

Article 51 itself provides that the contract is deemed to exist even if it is not written, and that the worker may in that case prove it and the rights arising from it by all means of proof.

This may appear to contradict the duty to attest, and it does not. The article answers two different questions:

• Does the relationship exist? Yes, even if there is no written contract.
• Has the establishment discharged its obligations? Another matter, involving writing in two copies, and involving attestation.

What follows is that the absence of attestation is not read as a denial of the relationship, but as a shortfall in discharging what the text laid down. Conflating the two questions leads to misplaced reassurance: “the relationship exists in any case” is a correct answer to the first question and does not touch the second.

As for the effect of not attesting in a particular case, that is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

5. The effect on the establishment’s classification in Nitaqat

Since 15 April 2026, Saudization percentages in Nitaqat have been reckoned from contracts attested electronically on Qiwa, on the basis of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 195 dated 4/4/1443 AH.

The effect of this is direct: an establishment that does not attest its contracts on Qiwa puts its Nitaqat classification at risk.

This is what turns attestation from a paper procedure into a matter with an effect on the establishment’s position: a contract that is not attested may exist and be valid between its two parties, and still not appear in the reckoning on which the classification rests.

Note that the effect the source states is an effect on the basis of the reckoning: Saudization percentages are reckoned from attested contracts. So an establishment with Saudi employees on unattested contracts may find its reckoned position differs from its actual one. As for effects or penalties beyond that, this guide has not established them; refer to the competent authority on that.

This difference between the actual and the reckoned is what makes periodic follow-up of attestation status an operational matter rather than an administrative one.

6. What does not dispense with attestation

A downloaded contract template in Word or PDF form, however complete and however signed by both parties, performs one function: that the two parties agree on the terms and sign them.

It does not discharge the attestation obligation laid down in Article 51, and it does not bring the contract into Qiwa.

This point deserves clarity because it is a place of confusion: a template satisfying the mandatory particulars is one matter, and its entry into attestation is another. The first does not produce the second.

The templates in circulation are useful in their place: they help with drafting the terms, they are a reminder of the particulars Article 52 requires, and they serve as a basis for understanding before the procedure. But they do not move the contract onto the platform, they do not stand in for the worker’s approval, and they do not produce certification by the Ministry.

It follows that any internal policy ending at “signing the template” ends before the step on which the text based its effect.

7. The limits of this guide

The Nitaqat programme has its own rules and details, and this guide has established nothing of them beyond what is stated above. Accordingly:

• Nitaqat is a programme and Qiwa is a platform, and it is not sound to use one in place of the other.
• The required Saudization percentages and their variation by activity and establishment size are outside the scope of this guide, and it is not sound to state a figure.
• The classification bands in Nitaqat and the effects of each band are outside the scope of this guide.
• The effect of not attesting on the contract itself in the relationship between its two parties is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.
• The attestation procedures, their deadlines and their detailed requirements are to be referred to the competent authority and the Qiwa platform.

8. What your system should record

• The attestation status of each contract: created, awaiting the worker, or certified.
• The date the contract was created on the platform and the date it was certified, because between them is a period that depends on the worker’s action.
• Unattested contracts as a work list, not as a normal state.
• The date of joining work as against the date of certification.
• A copy of the contract with each party, because Article 51 provides for two copies.
• Contracts the worker requested an amendment to and the reason for the request, because it is one of the worker’s three options.

9. Checklist

• Does the system distinguish between a signed contract and an attested contract?
• Does the establishment know how many contracts in force are unattested today?
• Does the hiring plan allow for the time the worker’s action takes on the platform?
• Is the downloaded template treated as the end of the procedure, when it is not?
• Does every employee have their copy of the contract?

10. Why this turns into a problem

Attestation is a procedure that falls after the moment when the establishment feels the work is done: the offer was accepted, the contract was written, and the two parties signed. So what comes after signing is treated as an administrative detail to be completed later.

This exact point is what changed twice in a short span: attestation became an obligation in the 2025 text, and Nitaqat classification came to be reckoned from attested contracts as of April 2026. So the procedure that used to be deferred came to have a twofold effect.

The question that reveals the establishment’s real position is a single one, and it is a question about a number rather than a policy: how many contracts in force today have not reached certification? It cannot be answered unless attestation status is a recorded field on every contract, rather than information extracted by manual review.

The difference between the two situations is not in accuracy but in timing: manual review reveals the shortfall when it is asked for, and a recorded field reveals it while it can still be remedied. On a matter that an external reckoning basis depends on, the difference between the two disclosures is the difference between handling something and being surprised by it.

This is where it pays to have an employee’s facts in a single file. That is what Qoyod HR provides: a single employee file holding the contract, the documents and their expiry dates with an alert before them, an attendance record for each employee, and their leave, salary and end-of-service entitlements. End-of-service, overtime and leave-balance calculations are built into the system. It is a standalone HR system with its own subscription, and the link with Qoyod accounting is available now.

For the contract’s mandatory particulars and its unified template, see The mandatory particulars in the employment contract.

For more guides and templates, browse the HR Resource Centre.

Frequently asked questions

Is attesting the employment contract mandatory?

Article 51, in its operative wording, provides that the contract is written in two copies and must be attested in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions and in light of what the regulation determines. This obligation is new in the 2025 text, and it was not in the article before the M/44 amendment.

Where are employment contracts attested?

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development manages the attestation of employment contracts through the Qiwa platform, via the “Contract Management” service.

What are the steps to attest a contract on Qiwa?

The establishment creates the contract and attests it electronically, then the worker approves, rejects or requests an amendment through “Qiwa Individuals”, and once the two parties agree the Ministry certifies the contract.

What is the relationship between contract attestation and Nitaqat?

Since 15 April 2026, Saudization percentages in Nitaqat have been reckoned from contracts attested electronically on Qiwa, on the basis of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 195 dated 4/4/1443 AH. An establishment that does not attest its contracts puts its Nitaqat classification at risk.

Is a contract template signed by both parties enough?

No. A downloaded, signed contract template serves for the two parties to agree on the terms, but it does not discharge the attestation obligation laid down in Article 51 and it does not bring the contract into Qiwa.

What Saudization percentage is required of my establishment?

Saudization percentages vary by activity and establishment size, they are outside the scope of this guide, and it is not sound to state a figure for them. Refer to the competent authority on that.

References

This guide is based on the Saudi Labor Law: Article 51 (writing and attesting the contract), with reference to Article 52 (the mandatory particulars), and on two official sources:

• The “Contract Management” service page of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, regarding the attestation steps on Qiwa.
• The Saudi Press Agency, regarding the reckoning of Saudization percentages in Nitaqat from contracts attested electronically as of 15 April 2026, on the basis of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 195 dated 4/4/1443 AH.

On the effect of the amendments made by Royal Decree M/44 of 1446 AH, in force since 19 February 2025: Articles 51 and 52 were amended by it. The addition of the duty to attest to Article 51 is the subject of the first section of this guide, and section four returns to it in distinguishing it from the existence of an unwritten contract.

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