Saudi Arabia will progressively raise the minimum monthly salary required for Saudi nationals to be counted as full-time employees under its Nitaqat Saudisation programme, increasing the threshold to SR5,000 from April 2027 and SR6,000 from April 2028.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced the changes on 25 October, 2026, outlining a two-phase implementation to give private-sector employers time to prepare for the revised requirements.
The first phase will take effect on 25 April, 2027, when the minimum salary threshold for an employee to count fully towards a company’s Saudisation requirements will rise to SR5,000 a month. From 25 April, 2028, the threshold will increase further to SR6,000.
The revised threshold concerns how Saudi employees are counted under the Nitaqat programme, which governs private-sector workforce nationalisation requirements. It does not mandate that employers directly raise the salaries of Saudi employees to the new levels.
Instead, the change will affect the extent to which employees earning below the specified thresholds contribute towards an employer’s Saudisation calculations. Private-sector establishments will need to account for the revised criteria when planning their workforce composition and compliance.
The phased approach gives businesses time to review their staffing arrangements ahead of each implementation date, as Saudi Arabia continues to use workforce nationalisation policies to increase the participation of its citizens in private-sector employment.
