LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS
Nitaqat counts 60-year-old expats as two employees
Saudization is the colloquial term used to refer to Saudi
Arabia's official government policy of encouraging the
employment of Saudi Arabian nationals in the private sector. The
policy of Saudization is enforced and implemented through several
programmes and regulations in Saudi Arabia, including the Nitaqat
Program – which categorises employers according to the
industry in which they operate, then ranks them on a colour-coded
scale according to the ratio of their Saudi employees versus
expatriates.
The Nitaqat Program is now counting any expatriate employee over
the age of 60 as two expatriate employees. However, certain
professionals are exempt from this regulation – including
investors and professors and lecturers. Furthermore, medical
professionals, such as doctors, are exempt. However, pharmacists
and medical technicians are not exempt. This recent development
further highlights the need
