Saudi Arabia’s Qiwa platform, operating under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, has issued updated guidelines placing firm limits on employment contracts for Saudi nationals and tightening residency-linked work permit requirements for non-Saudi employees, Okaz/Saudi Gazette reported.
What Expats Need to Know
The Qiwa platform stated that the registration of non-Saudi employees must be cancelled if their work permits have expired, or if they have remained without a valid work permit for more than three months after June 30, 2026 — regardless of their residency status.
Seven-Job Cap Introduced for Saudi Employees
Saudi nationals are now prohibited from entering into more than seven employment contracts within any 365-day period, calculated from the date of the first contract in that cycle.
An employee who reaches the seven-contract threshold will not be permitted to begin an eighth contract until a full year has passed from the date of the first contract in the relevant period.
Two Simultaneous Contracts Maximum
Separately, the platform clarified that a Saudi employee may hold a maximum of two valid employment contracts at any one time, in accordance with existing labor regulations and service requirements.
If an employee holding two active contracts wishes to take on a third, one of the existing contracts must first be terminated before a new one can be concluded.
Nitaqat Eligibility Conditions for Employers
For a business to count a Saudi employee toward its Nitaqat (Saudization) quota, the platform outlined the following conditions: the employee must be at least 18 years old according to the Hijri calendar; receive a basic salary of no less than SAR 4,000, plus a housing allowance; work full-time rather than part-time; and must not be enrolled as a student.
Nitaqat is Saudi Arabia’s workforce nationalization program, which sets sector-specific targets for the proportion of Saudi nationals in a company’s workforce.