Writing, Attesting and the Mandatory Particulars of the Saudi Employment Contract

The form and particulars of the employment contract under the Saudi Labor Law are governed by two consecutive articles: Article 51 on the form of the contract, proving it and attesting it, and Article 52 on the unified template and the particulars it must contain.

Royal Decree M/44, in force since 19 February 2025, amended both articles. What it added to Article 51 is a rule that was not previously in it: the duty to attest the contract.

1. The contract is written in two copies

Article 51 provides that the employment contract shall be written in two copies, each party keeping one.

So the text says two copies, not a single copy kept by the establishment.

2. The duty to attest: a new rule

In its operative wording the article provides that it must be attested in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions and in light of what the regulation determines.

This rule is new in the 2025 text: before the amendment, Article 51 required the contract to be drawn up in two copies and contained nothing about attestation.

The effect of this is practical and direct: writing and attesting are two distinct obligations in the operative text, and discharging the first does not dispense with the second. A contract template signed by both parties satisfies the writing requirement; attesting it is another matter, governed by the relevant statutory provisions and by the regulation.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development carries out the attestation of employment contracts through the Qiwa platform, which is a separate subject with its own rules and its own effect on the establishment’s classification in Nitaqat.

3. The contract exists even if it is not written

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

This rule is not symmetrical between the parties: the standing to prove an unwritten contract is granted to the worker.

The article further provides that either party may request that the contract be put in writing at any time.

What this means is that the absence of writing does not extinguish the contract, nor does it extinguish what arose from it; it changes the two parties’ position on proof.

What follows from this rule in practice

A further consequence is that the right to request writing is granted to either party and at any time, as the text provides.

4. The case of government-entity employees

Article 51 provides that the appointment decision stands in place of the contract for workers of the government and public institutions.

5. The language of the contract: Article 9

Article 9 provides that Arabic is the adopted language in data, records, files and employment contracts.

A foreign language may be used alongside Arabic, not instead of it. Where the two texts differ, the Arabic text alone is adopted.

The effect of this on templates is direct: an Arabic contract, or a contract led by Arabic, conforms to the text. A contract drawn up in English alone does not satisfy what this article provides.

It is a question that recurs in establishments employing non-Arabic speakers, where the contract is prepared in English for ease of understanding; the flaw then lies not in its substance but in the absence of the Arabic text that the article makes the one adopted where the two differ.

6. The unified template in Article 52

Article 52 provides that the Ministry shall set a unified template for each type of employment contract, having regard to what is stated in Article 37.

This is one of the things M/44 changed: before the amendment the text provided for a unified template for the employment contract, and after it a template for each type of contract.

Note that Article 52 is the unified-template article, and that Article 37 is a separate article whose subject is the contracts of non-Saudis, even though the former opens by having regard to the latter.

7. The nine particulars

Article 52 provides that the template shall contain, as a minimum, the following particulars:

1. The employer’s name and place
2. The worker’s name and nationality
3. What is required to prove the worker’s identity
4. The worker’s address of residence
5. The agreed wage, including benefits and allowances
6. The type of work and its location
7. The date of joining
8. The term of the contract, if it is of fixed term
9. The essential rights and obligations of each party

The wording in the text is a minimum, not a closed list, which is what the article’s second paragraph builds on.

Two items that deserve attention

Item 9 was added by M/44, so it is not present in templates prepared before 2025. It is also a broad item: the essential rights and obligations of each party.

Item 4, the worker’s address of residence, is in the text, and it is a particular that is easy to overlook when preparing the template.

M/44 also changed the wording of item eight from “its term” to “the term of the contract”.

8. Adhering to the template and the limits on adding to it

The second paragraph of Article 52 provides two rules together:

• That the contract shall adhere to this template.
• That the parties may add other clauses, provided they do not conflict with the Labor Law, its regulation and the decisions issued in implementation of it.

So the freedom to add is provided for in the text, but it is restricted by three sources, not one: the Law, its regulation, and the decisions issued in implementation of it.

What follows is that reviewing any added clause is not complete by matching it against the text of the Law alone.

This restriction joins another one laid down in Article 8, which provides that any condition contravening the provisions of the Law is void. So the second paragraph of Article 52 defines the scope of what may be added, and Article 8 lays down the rule for what falls outside it.

As for characterising a particular clause and whether it contravenes within the meaning of these two articles, that is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

9. What the text does not address

• The attestation procedures and their details, which Article 51 referred to the relevant statutory provisions and the regulation. Refer to the implementing regulation and the competent authority on these.
• The effect of failing to attest on the contract. The particular case is to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.
• The content of the unified templates for each type of contract. On these, refer to what the competent authority issues.
• The effect of a missing particular out of the nine on the contract. The particular case is to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

10. What your system should record

• A copy of the contract for each employee, because the text provides for two copies, not one.
• The attestation status of each contract, because it is an obligation distinct from writing in the operative text.
• The nine particulars as separate fields rather than free text, so that their completeness can be verified.
• The worker’s address of residence specifically, because it is a particular that is easy to overlook.
• The clauses added to the template, because they are what needs reviewing.
• The date the contract template was last reviewed, because anything predating 19 February 2025 does not carry the ninth item.

11. A checklist for the contract template

• Is the contract drawn up in two copies, each party keeping one?
• Is there an established procedure for attesting the contract, distinct from signing it?
• Does the template contain all nine particulars?
• Does it contain the worker’s address of residence?
• Does it contain the item on the essential rights and obligations of each party, the item M/44 added?
• Have the added clauses been reviewed against the Law and its regulation and the decisions issued in implementation of it?
• Is the template in Arabic, or led by Arabic if it is bilingual?
• Has the template itself been reviewed after 19 February 2025?

12. Why this turns into a problem

The contract template is one of the fixed documents in any establishment: it is approved once and used for years. The 2025 amendment touched it in two places at once: it added an item to it in Article 52, and it added an obligation on the establishment in Article 51 that did not previously exist.

An establishment that has not reviewed its template since that date does not necessarily know that it is behind, because the old template does not show any shortfall: it is a complete document in itself, deficient only by comparison with a text that changed.

The practical question that reveals this is simple: how many contracts in force today were issued from the previous version of the template? That question cannot be answered unless every contract has a date and a template version on record.

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 attestation steps on the Qiwa platform and their effect on Nitaqat, see Attesting employment contracts on Qiwa.

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

Frequently asked questions

Must the employment contract be written?

Article 51 provides that the contract shall be written in two copies, each party keeping one. Even so, the contract is deemed to exist even if it is not written, and in that case the worker alone may prove it and the rights arising from it by all means of proof, and either party may request that it be put in writing at any time.

What is the difference between writing the contract and attesting it?

In the operative text they are two distinct obligations: writing in two copies, and attestation in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions and in light of what the regulation determines. The duty to attest is a new rule added by M/44, and it was not in Article 51 before the amendment.

What are the mandatory particulars in a Saudi employment contract?

Article 52 provides for nine particulars as a minimum: the employer’s name and place; the worker’s name and nationality; what is required to prove the worker’s identity; the worker’s address of residence; the agreed wage, including benefits and allowances; the type of work and its location; the date of joining; the term of the contract if it is of fixed term; and the essential rights and obligations of each party.

What did M/44 add to Article 52?

It added the ninth item: the essential rights and obligations of each party. It also made the unified template one for each type of employment contract, after it had been a single template for the employment contract, and it changed the wording of the term item from “its term” to “the term of the contract”.

May clauses be added to the unified template?

Yes. The second paragraph of Article 52 provides that the contract shall adhere to the template, and that the parties may add other clauses provided they do not conflict with the Labor Law, its regulation and the decisions issued in implementation of it.

Does the worker lose their rights if there is no written contract?

Article 51 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. So the absence of writing does not extinguish the contract; it changes the two parties’ position on proof.

Statutory references

This guide is based on the Saudi Labor Law: Article 51 (writing, attesting and proving the contract), Article 52 (the unified template and the mandatory particulars), Article 8 (the nullity of what contravenes the provisions of the Law), and Article 9 (the language of the contract). It refers to Article 37 (the contracts of non-Saudis) because Article 52 opens by having regard to it.

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, and their amendments are the subject of sections two, six and seven of this guide. Article 37 was also amended by it, and this guide does not address that amendment. As for Articles 8 and 9, this guide has not established an express instance of amendment for them, so it is not sound to assert either that they were or were not amended; refer to the updated statutory text on that.

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.