Check Your Iqama Fees for based on your number of dependents in your family living along with you the Saudi Arabia. Quickly check Iqama Expiry Date, Red Green Yellow Status of nitaqat, Iqama Validit, Funds, Fees, renewals, Sponsor and other details from Absher.

Most of the Expats working in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia are checking their Iqama Fees Online as this fee was levied from 2017 and is continuing till now and may be even after that.

Dependent Fees & Expat levy Fee were also imposed in the year 2018 for companies based on the Nitaqat status.

Nitaqat color system refers to the rate of Saudization or % of Saudization in any company operating within Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The Nitaqat colour of a company can be checked on the Official website of Ministry of Labour (www.mol.gov.sa) using the border number, Iqama number or passport number. After entering any of these three, you can see the Iqama colour status, the company’s legal status along with other details, such as your full name, work permit number and employment status.

Check Iqama Nitaqat Status

Please follow the steps to know Iqama Nitaqat Status of your Company or Kafeel is in Red, Green, Yellow, Blue

Step 1 – Open Official website of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Labor website (mol.gov.sa)

Step 2 – Input Iqama number in the second option provided

Step 3 – Enter the Captcha code shown in the Image and submit the details

Once submitted you will be able to see the result with all the information such as Work Permit Number, Your Employment Status and Nitaqat Color of your Company or Kafeel.

Check your Iqama Nitaqat Color status Online (Red, Yellow, Green & blue) on the Official website of Ministry of labor & social development on mol.gov.sa

Iqama status red green blue is an indicator under the Nitaqat system in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Nitaqat Status Check Online

Nitaqat Colours (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue)

Red – Low Saudization Rate
Yellow – Mid Saudization Rate
Green – High Saudization Rate
Blue – Very High Saudization Rate

Meaning of Above colors as per Nitaqat Status are given below :

Red Color Status means that a company has very low Saudization % (4%-6%) (Less number of Saudi nationals and higher number of Expatriates)

Yellow color means that a company is having 6% – 11%  Saudi Nationals out of 100% employees and the rest are Expatriates

Green color means that a company has 12% – 39% Saudi Nationals in the company and the rest are Expatriates

Blue color means that a company has greater than 40% Saudi Nationals in the company

For more details about Nitaqat and its status here

An updated version of the Nitqat programme is set to be introduced from 1 December 2021. Iqama Status Color of Red, Green, Yellow is important for every expat for checking Saudization rate of his employer

Why Nitaqat is important for Expats?

Nitaqat colour is extremely important for all the expats working in the Saudi Arabia (KSA), it represents the health of the company that employs them. Nitaqat color can be a decisive factor in getting a job in a company in the Saudi Arabia, renewing your Iqama status at the soonest, amount of fees you pay or being able to transfer your Iqama.

The Nitaqat colour of a company can be checked on the Official website of Ministry of Labour (www.mol.gov.sa) using the border number, Iqama number or passport number. After entering any of these three, you can see the Iqama colour status, the company’s legal status along with other details, such as your full name, work permit number and employment status.

Here’s what the colours actually mean

Nitaqat Red

If your company Nitaqat show Red colour then it means that either you have been banned from change profession, VISA transfer, Issuance of New VISA

–  Cannot Renew Iqamas of Employees
–  Cannot change their professions
–  Cannot open New Branches in KSA
–  Cannot get new Visa for new expats
–  Cannot transfer sponsorship from other sponsors /Kafeels

Nitaqat Yellow:

If your company is in Yellow Colour then you have the below conditions:

– Yellow category was abolished from the Nitaqat program and all the companies who were in Yellow Category were moved to ‘Red Category’ on Jan 26 2021.

Nitaqat Green:

If your company is in Green Colour then rate of Saudization is high

– New VISA can be applied once in 2 months
– Can change profession except which are restricted to Saudis
– 6 months grace period after expiry of Zakat & Revenue certificates
– Work Permit can be renewed

Nitaqat Blue or Platinum:

If your company is in Blue or Platinum Colour then rate of Saudization is very high

– Company can hire anybody from any part of the world
– Visa processing is really easy
– Will be able to get VISAs Online
– Able to change professions, even which are restricted to Saudis
– Condition Free VISA transfer

Excluded:

If your company is found to be in the Excluded category while checking Nitaqat Status online. It means the following:

– Company is less than 6 months
– Nitaqat requirements do apply to him
– Will be considered as Green

This decision stated the abolition of activities in the program of incentivizing companies to localize jobs, Nitaqat as of March 4 2021.

Under the Nitaqat Saudization program, seven major activities will be regulated as shown below:

– IT operations & Maintenance
– Operations & Maintenance of communication
– Infrastucture of IT
– Infrastructure of Communication
– Telecom Solutions
– Information technology solutions
– Postal Mail Activities

Seven major activities under the Nitaqat Saudization program

As per the above Nitaqat table, the new regulations will come into effect starting 14th March 2021 which will be implemented as part of the existing cooperation between the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HR & SD) with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (CIT) and the Human Resource Development Fund, Human Rights Watch, and the Council of Saudi Chambers, represented by the National Committee for Communications and Information and Technology.

This will be imposed on Communication & Information technology profession in pvt (private) organizations.

MOL imposed 25% Saudization for 36 IT Professions in KSA

As per the decision the effective date of making 25% Saudization in these professions is set to 27th June 2021.

Below are the 36 Professions in IT & Communications where 25% Saudization will get into effect.

Application development & Software Programming:

Software Engineer
Software development
Program and systems documentation specialist
Software engineering Specialist
Business Analyst
Computer programmer
Data bank systems programmer
General system Analyst

Communication and Information Technology:

Computer engineer
Communications engineer
Network Engineer
Satellite network engineer
Radio and television engineer
Transmission broadcast engineer
Aircraft radio and radar engineer

Technical support:

Electronic Communications Technician
Computer network technician
Internet administrator
Network administrator
Electronic maintenance of public communication devices
Wired communication operator (radio)
A wired communication technician
Communications Engineering Technician
Telephone technician
Technical support office specialist
Technical support specialist
Systems operation specialist
Technical services specialist
Computer technician
Technical support office technician
Support technician
Computer operator
Electronic computer operator
Electronic Maintenance Calculator
Car phone technician
Electronic ٌRadio technician
Electronic phone maintenance

Along with that the decision have also asked to set minimum Salaries for Saudis in these professions.

Salaries in Saudi (Technical support): 5000 SAR (Saudi Riyals) per month
Salaries in Saudi (Technical support): 7000 SAR (Saudi Riyals) per month
Salaries in Saudi (Technical support): 7000 SAR (Saudi Riyals) per month

This means that all Contract Jobs which are of Public & Government companies and maintenance sectors should be given to Saudi Nationals only. So 100% Saudization to be done on contract Jobs.

100% Saudization to be maintained in below Supervisory Jobs where state is having 51% stake :

• Information Technology
• General Services
• Administration & Support Services
• Maintenance

40% Saudization to be maintained in below Supervisory Jobs:

• Mechanical
• Electrical
• Equipment
• Civil
• Safety

50% Saudization to be maintained in below Administrative Jobs:

• Mechanical
• Electrical
• Equipment
• Civil
• Safety
• Information Technology
• General Services
• Administration & Support Services

30% to 50% Saudization to be maintained in Engineering, technical and Specialized jobs

70% Saudization to be maintained in vocational and operational Jobs

Additionally, Ministry of Labor has given freedom to determine Saudization % for low skilled jobs from govt agencies based on localization opportunities and it also said to maintain diversity ratio (Male & Female).

King Salman has approved a scheme to reimburse few companies who are struggling to pat expat work permit levy & waive fee hikes for some who weren’t able to pay.

The government is allocating SR 11.5 billion out of SR200 billion for reimbursements under the decision.

“This initiative will support private sector companies, help them overcome the obstacles and achieve their goals and encourage them to expand employment of Saudi citizens,” Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi tweeted on Friday.

Companies are only eligible if they have a higher number or equal number of Saudi employees when compared to no of expats to get reimbursement or Fee waiver.

A document issued by the Labor Ministry said that 6 months after the beginning of the reimbursement initiative companies that have not settled their collective invoice and are in the yellow or red category will be deprived of some services.

New Nitaqat Rule to be counted as Saudi Citizen

Dr. Ali Al Ghafis from the Ministry of Labor & Social development issued an order in this regard and said that all the old orders in this matter will be null and void.

So, Employing anyone in this category will be counted as one Saudi Employee while calculating % for Nitaqat and even the companies can benefit by Hiring Expatriates mother of Saudi Nationals or Children of Saudi mother & Expat father.

Good News is that in New Nitaqat system they will be treated as Saudi Nationals

Learn More about Nitaqat System in Saudi Arabia

In the year 2016 it was 0.75 Million establishments which were removed from operations and 0.25 million were in risk according to the Saudization Law.

Nitaqat system in Saudi was created to motivate companies in the kingdom where 10 employees were Saudi to recruit more Saudis. Low Saudi in the companies will have low Saudization rate and will be in red & yellow color based on the Nitaqat system.

Higher Saudization rate will be in Green and Platinum colors.

Nitaqat system is totally based on the number of total employess and no of Saudi employees working in it.

Small enterprises where 9 or less employees will have a different classification and they can only have only 1 Saudi Employee. This is just to eradicate expatriates and employ more Saudi’s in every company and a step towards Saudization Vision 2030.

Ministry of Labour has classified the Nitaqat into four categories with colors (Red, Green, Yellow, Blue). Colors are defined as per high saudization rate based on the colors.

Saudization means giving employment to Saudi Residents over Expatriates. So every company in Saudi Arabia is classfied into Nitaqat categories as follows.

Nitaqat Colours (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue)

Red – Low Saudization Rate
Yellow – Mid Saudiation Rate
Green – High Saudization Rate
Blue – Very High Saudization Rate

Its important to know your Company or Sponsor Nitaqat Category and in which color it falls.

Check your Iqama Nitaqat Status (Red Green Yellow Blue)

Ths revised system will improve the market situation and will increase the quality of employment for all Saudi’s with a better working environment, which is a vision of Saudization 2030.

Mawzoon System targets for quality improvement of Saudization by improving the employment and helpng Saudis getting better Jobs and higher Salaries.

With the New Maznoon System in Place it will bring the following things in Saudi Arabia:

– Improvement in quality of employment
– Improved Job Market for Saudi Men and Women
– Higher Salaries & Better Jobs
– Increase no of firms in Yellow Category

Mawzoon system will be categorized into 3 groups as follows:

– Firms having 50 – 99 workers
– Firms having 100 – 199 workers
– Firms having 200 – 499 workers

Ministry will be cancelling all the old regulations with this new Nitaqat (Mawzoon) System.