Saudi Arabia to consider foreign investor as Saudis

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s authorities approved the Nitaqat Saudisation programme, allowing foreign investors (owners of private establishments) to be formally designated as Saudis, local media reported.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development okayed the Nitaqat Saudisation programme to consider foreign investors as Saudi nationals in workforce calculations.

This is one of the provisions controlling the categorization of people who would be treated equally with Saudis when calculating the percentage of Saudisation, according to the Qiwa platform affiliated with the ministry.

The platform states that two categories of non-Saudis are subject to Saudi treatment under the Nitaqat program. These include non-Saudi mothers and non-Saudi widows of Saudi citizens, as well as the son and daughter of a Saudi woman citizen who are not Saudi nationals.

Saudi nationals working from home or remotely will be treated in the same manner as those in offices.
The platform states that workers from displaced tribes, citizens of Gulf countries, and athletes or athletes from the Gulf shall all be treated equally with Saudis when assessing the level of Saudisation.

It was made clear by the Qiwa that certain foreigners would be included in a lesser proportion when calculating the percentage of Saudisation. These include Palestinians holding Egyptian passports and Baluchis, who will be calculated at a rate of 0.25 of the usual percentage of foreign workers.

This implies that, for the purposes of determining Nitaqat, hiring four Palestinians will be equal to hiring one non-Saudi worker, provided that the proportion of workers from these groups does not surpass 50% of the whole workforce.

Individuals from Myanmar or Burma will also be subject to this law; their proportion will be calculated at 0.25 of the typical rate of foreign workers across the Kingdom.

Burmese nationals who reside in Madinah and Makkah, however, are exempted from this.