On December 31, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced a rule that within six months, 30 to 46 percent of engineers must be Saudi citizens.
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As Saudi Arabia has started strictly implementing its policy of mandatory employment of its own citizens in various sectors (Saudization), the employment of migrant workers, including Nepalese who have reached high positions, has started to face a crisis. Their visas have stopped being renewed.
Saudi Arabia has adopted a policy of hiring Saudi citizens at high and specialist levels in private sector companies. Raman Shah, a Nepali engineer working in an engineering company, said that a Saudi citizen has got the opportunity to replace him. ‘I had been working in this company for 8 years. The company has informed me that it will not be able to continue. Our company is obliged to mandatorily hire 30 percent Saudi engineers,’ he said, ‘After that, there is pressure from Indian engineers.’
On December 31, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development had made public the rule that 30 to 46 percent of engineers should be Saudi citizens within 6 months. Companies have started implementing this. ‘There is no exact data on how many Nepali engineers there are in Saudi Arabia. But where there are fewer Saudi engineers, the foreign engineers there will have to leave,’ said Shah.
Saudi Arabia has a policy of Saudiization not only in the technical sector but also in the administrative and health sectors. There is 100 percent Saudiization in the administrative sector and human resources as well. Human Resources Manager, Human Resources Assistant, Company Representative (PRO), Security Guard must be Saudi.
There is a mandatory rule to keep at least 30 percent of civil engineers, architects, power generation engineers, industrial engineers, electrical/mechanical engineers, technical engineering technicians.
There is a policy to keep up to 80 percent Saudi citizens in the health service and pharmacy sector. Of which 70 percent in medical laboratories, 80 percent in physiotherapy, 65 percent in radiology, 55 percent in dentistry and 65 percent in pharmacy and 100 percent in tourism and hospitality sectors. A policy has been adopted to keep 30 percent in safes by January 2027.
A policy has also been introduced to keep 70 percent in the procurement sector. Various retail sectors including car spare parts, clothing, electronics have been limited to Saudi citizens only. Accountants have also been reduced.
Employment expert Yubaraj Basnet says that if attention is not paid to the skills of Nepali workers, employment opportunities will shrink. ‘The Saudization policy seems to have given its citizens first priority. This shows that Saudi citizens are now becoming more prominent in the Saudi labor market,’ he said, ‘Now, foreign workers, including Nepalis, will only find opportunities in certain professions and sectors.’
Saudi Arabia has adopted a policy of taking skilled workers even in the unskilled market. It plans to take only workers with skill certification. Saudi Arabia is taking 80,000 to 100,000 workers from Nepal every year. The labor agreement to be signed between Nepal and Saudi Arabia in the last week of January is also focused only on general workers. According to the Labor Report 2024 of the Ministry of Labor, 67.7 percent are in the general labor category, 8.7 percent in the service and sales sector, and 12.2 percent in the driver/machine operator sector.
