What is Red Zone? And How Does It Affect You?

The Nitaqat program in Saudi Arabia aims to improve the employment of Saudis by classifying businesses based on how many Saudis they employ. This classification happens every 26 weeks and includes five levels:

1. Platinum
2. High Green
3. Medium Green
4. Low Green
5. Red

The Red range is the lowest and means the business is doing the worst in hiring Saudis.

Three factors determine the classification:

1. The type of business activity.
2. The size of the business (number of workers).
3. The ratio of Saudis to non-Saudis.

Hiring or firing workers affects this classification because it changes the ratio of Saudis to non-Saudis.

If a business is in the Red range, it faces several restrictions:

• Cannot transfer foreign workers to their company.
• Cannot change the jobs of their foreign workers.
• Cannot request new visas for workers.
• Cannot issue new work permits for foreign workers.
• Cannot renew work permits for existing foreign workers.
• Cannot open new branches.

If you are an expatriate worker and your employer is in the Red range, you cannot transfer to a new employer unless your iqama or work contract expires. Once it does, you can transfer to a new employer.