The Minister of Labor and Social Development, Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi, issued a directive to cancel the yellow category of Nitaqat system and transmit all establishments in yellow to the red category.

The new decision will take effect from January 27, 2020.

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According to the Ministry, the new move aims to encourage establishments under the yellow category to move to the green category or higher, which increases Saudization and provides more job opportunities to Saudi nationals.

Nitaqat program of Saudization was introduced in 2011 by the Ministry of Labor. Under the program, private firms were classified into Premium, Green, Yellow and Red categories based on their percentage of Saudization.