Number of Indian workers will be limited to only 40% in Saudi Arabia

Update (November 2026): This news dates from July 2021, when Qiwa emailed some employers about nationality caps (reported by Saudi Gazette). In November 2021 Qiwa revised the rule (reported by Okaz): small establishments with 19 or fewer workers and health-sector establishments were exempted; establishments with 20–49 workers (plus cleaning contractors and Haramain construction contractors) may have up to 70% of their expatriate workforce from one nationality; establishments with 50 or more workers are capped at 40% per nationality. The caps are counted against the expatriate workforce, not total staff. Qiwa still enforces “nationality diversity” limits in 2026 (for example, it blocks business-activity changes that would breach them), but it has not published the current percentage for each nationality, so check your establishment’s limits in Qiwa.

Maximum Limit of Indian Workers Set

The Qiwa online portal of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has set maximum limit of workers for 4 nationalities including India.

It means that the number of workers from that particular nationality in a company cannot exceed the prescribed percentage of the company’s workers (later clarified as its expatriate workforce).

The maximum limits Qiwa announced in July 2021 were as follows:

1- Maximum Limit for Indian Workers: 40%.
2- Maximum Limit for Bangladeshi Workers: 40%.
3- Maximum Limit for Yemeni Workers: 25%.
4- Maximum Limit for Ethiopian Workers: 1%.

This means (based on the original July 2021 rule, before the November 2021 revision)

The Qiwa portal has notified the business owners about the percentage system through emails.

What if the number is already exceeded?

The Qiwa portal has clarified that the companies who already have more than the maximum limit of workers for these nationalities can still renew the work permit and Iqama of their employees. However, they would not be able to;

1- Transfer new employees of the same nationality.
2- Issue visa for the same nationality.

Error Message In Qiwa Upon Transferring Employees

The establishments that have been trying to transfer new employees through Qiwa are receiving the following error message.

“You have exceeded the permissible limit of the number of workers for this nationality. So you can request one visa for this nationality in the event that there is no employee of this nationality with you.”