Saudization: what the rules actually say

Rule one: who owns the company

This one is settled before you hire anyone, and it is not negotiable at the counter. The ministry's activity table gives a minimum Saudi participation percentage for the activities that carry one, and leaves the column empty for those that do not. Where the percentage exists, it is a condition of registering the activity at all.

Professional activities add a second test on top: a non-professional partner's share must not exceed 30%, and both partners must be licensed in the same field. The Ministry of Commerce applies its own version at incorporation, requiring 25% licensed Saudi, 70% licensed.

Rule two: who is on the payroll

This is the one usually meant by Nitaqat. It is administered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and its requirements arrive as ministerial decisions aimed at particular activities rather than as a single national percentage. The ministry's decisions list includes localization percentages for operation and maintenance contracts, and its guide to localizing outlets covers 12 economic activities.

That structure matters for planning. Your obligation depends on what your establishment does and how many people it employs, so a percentage a peer quotes you from their own sector may simply not be your percentage.

What this site will not tell you

We are not publishing band names, colour tiers or the percentage attached to each one. Those figures move by sector and by year, and we could not open an official page stating the current set on 12 September 2026. A cost site that invents a compliance threshold is worse than no cost site.

Get your establishment's current band and target from your own Qiwa account, where it is shown against your actual headcount, and put the date on it.

Why the two rules get confused

Because both are answered with a percentage, and because a consultant selling company formation naturally talks about the ownership rule while a consultant selling HR services talks about the payroll rule. If someone tells you "you need 40% Saudi", establish which of the two they mean before you redesign your cap table or your hiring plan.

A practical order of operations

• Confirm your exact activity code, since both rules hang off it.
• Check whether that activity carries an ownership floor, and settle your shareholding around it.
• Register, then open the labour file and read your localization target from your own account.
• Plan the first Saudi hires against that target, not against a figure from an article.