News

ABANA at excellent category in new Nitaqat system

6/21/2011

ABANA is proud to announce that it has fully complied with the new Nitaqat system bringing the company to excellent category.

Nitaqat (Saudization) is an initiative by the Ministry of Labor to evaluate private companies based on their achieved percentage of Saudi employees in relation to their size and type of economic activity.  Ultimately, it aims to improve employment opportunities for Saudi nationals.

Under the program, companies will be classified into excellent or green, yellow and red categories according to their level of compliance with the Nitaqat system.

Companies in excellent or green category will enjoy a number of benefits, such as expedited services for foreign workers’ visas, and the ability to  change the job categories of foreign workers into job categories reserved for Saudis, except for human resources managers, liaison officers,  cashiers, receptionists or security guards.

Companies in yellow category will be given a grace period of nine months to improve their status.  In this category, companies will not be able to apply for new visas.  The change of sponsorship and profession of companies under this category will also be placed on halt and Iqama renewals will only be allowed if an employee is less than six years in the Kingdom.

Companies in the red category will be banned from change of profession, transfer of sponsorship, issuance of new visa, and renewal of Iqama even for the newly hire.

ABANA is committed to supporting the Saudi government initiatives to open more employment opportunities for Saudi nationals.