Hire and pay employees in

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, hassle-free

Hire and pay employees in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is 20 days with Deel.

Currency

Saudi Riyal

Capital

Riyadh

Official Language

Arabic

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Onboard, pay and manage employees in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Deel.

Usually, to hire in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Deel lets you hire employees in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more. For your existing direct employees, we can manage your entire payroll operation from end-to-end.

Download the Guide

All the necessary benefits for The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • Health Insurance
  • Private Healthcare - UCA

Our quickstart guide to hiring in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Minimum Wage Requirements

In Saudi Arabia, the minimum wage will depend on the nationality of the employee. For Saudi Nationals it will be SAR 4,000 and there won’t be a minimum wage for employees with visas.

Individual Income Tax

There is no income tax in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Payroll Cost

The monthly employer cost will depend on the employee’s nationality, the health insurance category selected, and gender and marital status of the employee and their dependents. 

Estimated employer cost percentage

1.8% + fees for expat employees

Cost Type

Condition and Amount

Gosi Contribution

Expat employees: 

  • 1.80% of the employee’s monthly gross salary or 
  • 2% of the employee’s basic pay and housing allowance, capped at SAR 45,000

Saudi Nationals: 

  • 10.575% of the employee’s monthly gross salary or 
  • 11.75% of of the employee’s basic pay and housing allowance, capped at SAR 45,000

GCC national employees: 

  • The contribution varies based on the employee’s nationality

Fixed Ajeer Fee

Expat employees: SAR 46

Nationalization Fee

Expat employees: Estimated SAR 3,000. This fee can vary between USD 400 to USD 800 depending on the employee's designation. 

 

Additional notes about costs

  • The cost of mandatory health care insurance vary from SAR 3,795 to SAR 20,700 based on several factors, including the insurance category selected, the gender and marital status of the employee and their dependents.
  • The monthly employer costs do not include visa fees.
  • Expat employees are entitled to one return air ticket to their home country every year and a one-way exit air ticket to their home country in case of resignation, expiration, or termination of the contract.
  • On each exit-entry in Saudi Arabia an expat employee fee of USD 54 is applied, a fee may vary up to USD 615 for multiple exit-entry requests for 1 year.
  • In case the employee is an engineer, a Saudi Council of Engineering fee of SAR 800 yearly will apply.
  • If Deel assists with a local bank account opening of an employee, a charge of USD 27 will be applicable.

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week with a standard work week from Sunday to Thursday. However, depending on the business requirements employees can have an extended working week from Saturday to Thursday working 8 hours per day, 48 hours per week. 

The working hours during Ramadan are 6 hours per day

Overtime payment is mandatory for employees in non-managerial positions. 

All working hours performed during holidays and Eids are considered overtime hours. 

Employees can work a maximum of 10 hours a day and 60 hours per week including overtime, for a maximum of 481 hours of overtime in a year. For overtime hours, employees are paid 150% of the hourly rate computed on basic pay.

For employees to work overtime, the employer must grant written consent beforehand. 

Employees in managerial positions are entitled to a day off in lieu of overtime payment. Overtime payment for employees in managerial positions is not mandatory, but it can be granted with the employer’s approval. 

Maternity Leave

Employees who have worked for 90 consecutive days are entitled to 10 weeks of paid leave. 4 weeks can be taken before the child's birth. The employee will receive 100% of the salary during this period, and the employer will be responsible for this pay.

Paternity Leave

Employees who have worked for 90 consecutive days are entitled to 3 days of paid paternity leave that must be taken after the child's birth. The employee will receive 100% of the salary during this period, and the employer will be responsible for this pay.

Parental Leave

In Saudi Arabia, no law covers parental leave. However, employees may be entitled to maternity leave and paternity leave.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to paid sick leave for up to 60 days. This leave is paid at different rates and by different payers depending upon length:

Period Pay Payer
0 - 30 days 100% Employer
30 - 60 days 75% of the base salary Employer

 

Termination Requirements

Terminations in Saudi Arabia can be complex and can include the termination of visa sponsorship.

Compliant terminations include:

  • Voluntarily by the employee
  • By mutual agreement
  • Unilaterally by the employer based on:
    • probation period
    • objective grounds
    • disciplinary dismissal
    • performance due to unsuitability for the job
  • By expiration of the contract

Notice Period

The minimum notice period is 60 days and can change according to the type of employment.

Severance for Employees

The mandatory severance in case of termination is half a month salary. 

The severance amount at Deel is accrued monthly throughout 12 months as 4.167% of the employee’s monthly salary per month. In case of termination, the amount accrued will be used to pay for the required severance. If the severance due is higher than the amount accrued, an additional invoice for the difference will be generated, if the severance due is lower, the difference will be refunded. 

Paid Time Off

Full-time employees are entitled to 21 working days of paid time off (PTO) a year. PTO accrues monthly at 1.75 working days per month.

Employees who have been with the company for more than five years of service are entitled to 30 days of annual leave.

Public Holidays

Saudi Arabia celebrates 4 national holidays. National public holidays include:

  • Founding Day
  • Eid al-Fitr Holiday (4 days)
  • Eid al-Adha Holiday (4 days)
  • National Day

Onboarding

The onboarding timeline will depend if the employee requires a visa and the type applied: 

  • Saudi Nationals: 15-20 business days after MSA signature and deposit payment
  • Visa in-country (Iqama transfer) 20 business days after MSA signature and deposit payment
  • Visa out of country: 60-120 business days after MSA signature and deposit payment

Employment Contract Details

Contracts must be in Arabic and can be bilingual. They must be signed by both parties in the governmental portal. There will be a contract followed by an amendment:

  • Document from the government to submit the application for visas, or sign in the QIWA portal
  • Amendment to cover additional clauses (non-competition, privacy policy, among others).

A contract must include:

  • name
  • start date
  • length of employment (no more than three years for all employment contracts)
  • job description
  • termination conditions

    Please note:
  • For employees on a visa: the contract can be for 1 year (duration of the visa) and up to 3 years. Visas will be renewed yearly.
  • For Saudi nationals: if a fixed-term contract is renewed, it becomes an indefinite contract

    Deel doesn’t support part-time contracts in Saudi Arabia. 

Probation Period

Probation periods last 90 days and can be increased up to 180 days. During the probation period, there is no notice period.
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Hiring in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with our EOR solution. If you have an entity, our Global Payroll solution takes care of payroll and compliance for your direct employees. Our 250+ in-house experts handle everything from managing local laws, complex tax systems, or your payroll in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 150+ countries.

Group (8)

Starting at 999 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

1.8%

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

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