Qiwa Contract Authentication: Why Unverified Contracts No Longer Count Toward Saudization

Qiwa Contract Authentication: Why Unverified Contracts No Longer Count Toward Saudization

Effective 15 April 2026, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) changed how Saudization is calculated. Saudi employees now count toward your Nitaqat percentage only if their employment contract is electronically documented and authenticated on the Qiwa platform. GOSI registration, which used to be sufficient on its own, is no longer enough.

What changed and why

The update is based on Cabinet Decision No. 195 (4/4/1443 AH), which assigned MHRSD responsibility for regulating contractual relationships in the labor market. The ministry's stated goal is to unify the source of contract data, improve labor market transparency, and reduce disputes by making digitally authenticated contracts the single source of truth. More than 12 million employment contracts have already been created or renewed electronically through Qiwa.

The compliance targets employers must hit

• 85% of Saudi employee contracts documented on Qiwa by 30 April 2026

• 90% documented by 30 June 2026

• Falling short of these targets risks an automatic Nitaqat downgrade and restricted access to government labor services

How a contract becomes "authenticated"

The contract must be generated by the employer directly on Qiwa, then digitally counter-signed by the employee through their own personal Qiwa account. A contract that exists only on paper, or that was uploaded as a scanned document without the employee's digital counter-signature, does not meet the authentication requirement.

What happens if you don't comply

• Immediate Nitaqat downgrade — a company can drop from Platinum or High Green straight to Yellow or Red overnight, since the calculator now treats an unauthenticated Saudi employee as a null point, not a partial one

• Visa freezes — inability to issue new work visas for expatriate staff

• Service suspensions, including blocks on renewing existing work permits

• Automated compliance alerts — Qiwa now flags establishments falling below the documentation threshold without manual inspection

Why this matters even if you're already GOSI-compliant

This is the detail most employers miss: GOSI registration remains mandatory, but it is no longer sufficient on its own. A Saudi employee can be fully registered and contributing to GOSI and still be excluded from your Nitaqat headcount if their Qiwa contract isn't authenticated. For companies sitting close to a band threshold, even a handful of undocumented contracts can trigger a downgrade.

What to do now

• Pull your full Qiwa contract dashboard and identify every Saudi employee without an "Active" and "Authenticated" digital contract status

• Generate and send authentication requests for any outstanding contracts immediately — the employee must counter-sign through their own Qiwa account

• Re-run your Nitaqat calculation using the updated Qiwa data, not your last quarter's figures

• Build authentication into your onboarding process going forward so new hires are never left undocumented

How Inclusive Solutions helps

We audit your full Qiwa contract base, identify unauthenticated employees before they affect your Nitaqat band, and manage the documentation process end to end. See our GRO services or talk to our team.