….businesses operational for more than two years can hire 50 foreign workers
Saudi Arabian authorities have introduced a visa cap that restricts young businesses or startups that have been operational for two years or less, to hire a maximum of five expatriates only.
The aim is to effectively force early-stage companies to build their foundational workforce using local talent rather than relying on cheaper imported labor.
Under the newly implemented rules, established firms in the other hand, with over two years of operational history can access up to 50 visas.
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The newly instituted regulatory framework is outlined by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development’s Qiwa platform, from the Saudi government.
Beyond standard considerations of salary, job title, and brand reputation, foreign job seekers will now be forced to audit a sponsoring company’s operational history and standing before committing to employment or paying recruitment fees, as newly launched entities face severe legal constraints on their capacity to complete overseas onboarding.
By tying visa quotas directly to corporate longevity and compliance with the national Nitaqat localization framework, the kingdom is restricting cheap overseas labor for young businesses, compelling founders to prioritize Saudi nationals from day one while fundamentally altering how foreign professionals evaluate job offers in the Gulf.
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This new rule will reshape how corporate entities sponsor expatriate labor and will tighten entry requirements for international job seekers across the Gulf kingdom.
The policy marks a total departure from the kingdom’s previous framework, which imposed no specific visa limits tied to how long a business had been operating.
These businesses can only scale their foreign recruitment capacity incrementally as they progress through the programme and achieve a higher classification under Nitaqat, which is Saudi Arabia’s national workforce system that categorizes employers based on workforce composition and Saudi national employment levels.
To access the quota, employers must also fulfill strict workplace regulations.
“Businesses must maintain an active operational status and hold valid work permits for their employees,” as noted in the Qiwa platform, emphasizing that companies are required to “have a valid commercial registration and comply with Saudisation requirements by remaining in the medium green category or higher.”
This structural overhaul introduces immediate strategic friction for foreign professionals and international recruitment pipelines, particularly across high-volume origin markets.
Ngozi Ekugo is a Senior Correspondent at BusinessDay. She holds a Masters in management from the University of Lagos, an undergraduate from University of Lagos, and is in an alumni of Queen's College. Shes currently an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM). She has a brief experience at Goldman sachs, London in its Human Capital Management division. She is interested in human capital development and is leveraging her varied experience across sectors to report labour and global mobility trends for stakeholders to make informed decisions.
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