By Saudi Arabia will progressively raise the minimum monthly salary required for Saudi nationals to be counted as full-time employees under the Nitaqat Saudisation programme, according to HR Katha and employeehappinessdaily.com. The threshold will rise to SR5,000 from 25 April 2027 and SR6,000 from 25 April 2028.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced the changes on 25 October 2026. Deputy Minister for Labour Affairs Abdullah Abuthnain said the revised thresholds are intended to “improve job quality, strengthen employment stability, raise incomes and encourage greater participation by Saudi nationals in the labour market.” The change affects how Saudi employees are counted under Nitaqat; it does not mandate that employers directly raise salaries.
What the threshold actually changes
Nitaqat classifies private-sector employers into bands based on the proportion of Saudi nationals in their workforce. The wage threshold determines which Saudi employees count toward that proportion. An employee paid below the threshold does not count as a full Saudi employee for Nitaqat purposes, which can push an establishment into a lower band.
The five worker categories covered are full-time employees, part-time employees, workers under flexible work arrangements, students working part-time, and people with disabilities who are capable of working. The ministry has indicated that detailed regulatory rules governing each category will be announced separately. This matters because the counting method for a part-time student may differ from that for a full-time employee, and employers cannot assume one uniform rule applies across all five categories.
How the phase-in works
The timeline gives employers a six-month preparation period before the first increase and a further 12 months before the second phase.
| Date | Threshold | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Before 25 April 2027 | Current threshold | Existing Nitaqat counting rules apply |
| 25 April 2027 | SR5,000 per month | Saudi employees below this no longer count as full-time |
| 25 April 2028 | SR6,000 per month | Threshold rises again for the same five categories |
Employers should not wait until the final date to act. A Saudi employee paid SR4,800 in early 2027 will stop counting toward Nitaqat from April 2027, not April 2028. The intermediate threshold is the first compliance event.
Payroll and platform implications
Saudi payroll compliance runs through three connected government platforms. Qiwa holds the digital employment contract and salary structure. Mudad executes the Wage Protection System, which requires private-sector employers to pay wages through licensed banks. GOSI collects social insurance contributions. The contract on Qiwa, the salary transferred through Mudad, and the wage declared to GOSI must match. If they do not, the system flags a violation automatically, according to Infinity Horizon Saudi Arabia.
For the Nitaqat threshold, the practical question is which figure the system reads. Employers should confirm whether the SR5,000 and SR6,000 thresholds refer to basic salary, gross salary including housing and transport allowances, or the total package recorded on Qiwa. The announcement does not state this, and the detailed rules are still to come. Payroll teams should prepare by auditing current Saudi employee records across all three platforms and identifying any mismatches before the April 2027 date.
What HR and payroll teams should do now
The first step is a payroll audit. List every Saudi employee, their current monthly wage as recorded on Qiwa, their Mudad transfer amount, and their GOSI declared wage. Flag anyone below SR5,000, because those employees will drop out of the Nitaqat count in April 2027 unless their recorded wage changes.
The second step is modelling. For each employee below the threshold, calculate the cost of raising the recorded wage to SR5,000 and then to SR6,000. Consider whether the raise should be a genuine salary increase or a restructuring of allowances. The announcement does not specify whether allowances count, so employers should wait for the detailed rules before changing contract structures.
The third step is recruitment planning. If raising wages is not feasible for some roles, employers may need to recruit additional Saudi employees above the threshold to maintain their Nitaqat band. This has knock-on effects for workforce planning, expat visa renewals, and dependent fee exposure, since Nitaqat rating affects those processes.
The ministry has said detailed regulatory rules for each worker category will be announced separately. Employers should monitor those announcements and update Qiwa contracts, Mudad records, and GOSI declarations in a coordinated way. A mismatch across platforms could trigger a compliance flag even if the underlying wage is above the threshold.
Sources: employeehappinessdaily.com, HR Katha
Photo: Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia by Ali Mansuri, CC BY-SA 2.5
