How the Ministry’s Ajeer programme works after Ministerial Resolution 60339, what it costs you compared with recruiting your own workers, and when each route is the right one for a project in the Kingdom.
Ajeer is the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development’s platform for temporary work. It lets an establishment that needs labour use workers who are sponsored by another licensed establishment, under an electronic service contract documented on the platform. The Ajeer permit issued for each worker is the formal proof that the worker is lawfully present at your site, which is what a labour inspector asks for at the gate.
The rules were consolidated by Ministerial Resolution 60339 of 25 October 2025, in force from 26 January 2026. The resolution distinguishes outsourcing of services from outsourcing of labour supervised by the beneficiary, requires both parties to hold valid commercial registration and activity licences, and requires the worker to perform the same licensed profession at the beneficiary as at the provider. Permits run for a maximum of three years or until the contract ends, and renewals need fresh approval on the platform.
The provider remains the legal employer: work permits, iqama renewals, wages, insurance and employment law compliance stay with it.
The beneficiary supervises the work on site, keeps the worker inside the approved scope, and stops the work when a permit expires or is cancelled.
Using a worker before the permit is issued, assigning tasks outside the approved scope, or hosting a worker after expiry are explicit violations.
Recruiting your own foreign worker means a visa quota, a Nitaqat band that allows the visa, recruitment abroad, a medical, the entry visa, the iqama, insurance and GOSI registration, and then housing, transport and end-of-service liability for as long as the worker stays. For a trade you need for the life of your business that is the right investment. For a project headcount that rises and falls, every one of those steps becomes a cost you carry after the work has gone.
Question | Ajeer manpower | Direct hiring |
|---|---|---|
Time to site | Days for workers already under the provider’s sponsorship; about two weeks for a fresh mobilisation with permits, PPE and induction | Typically months: quota, recruitment, visa, medical, travel, iqama |
What you pay | An hourly or monthly rate on an approved timesheet | Wages plus visa, recruitment, iqama, insurance, GOSI, housing, transport and end-of-service |
Nitaqat effect | Workers count against the provider’s quota, not yours | Every visa consumes your own quota and can move your band |
Employer obligations | Stay with the provider as legal employer | All yours, including disputes and repatriation |
Flexibility | Scale up for a shutdown and down after it | Headcount reductions mean termination costs and notice |
Proof of legality | Ajeer permit per worker, checkable on the platform | Your own iqama and work permit records |
Best for | Project peaks, shutdowns, hospitality and camp operations, trades needed for one to three years | Core staff you will keep for many years |
If a role is permanent, central to your licence or sensitive enough that you want the employment relationship in your own name, hire directly. Supervisors you intend to promote, operators of plant you own and staff who hold your client relationships belong on your own payroll. Ajeer is for the workforce that moves with the project.
BICC is a Platinum Nitaqat establishment and seconds hospitality, oil and gas and construction trades under its own sponsorship, with an Ajeer permit for every worker, accommodation in BICC camps, transport to site and a BICC supervisor. Rates are quoted per hour on a 208-hour month or per month, from an approved timesheet, with one invoice.
Yes. Permits are issued for up to three years or the length of the contract and can be renewed through the platform with fresh approval.
The provider, as legal employer, pays wages through the Wage Protection System. You pay the provider’s rate on an approved timesheet.
No. The worker remains on the provider’s establishment for Nitaqat purposes.
No. The worker must perform the licensed profession stated on the permit; assigning work outside that scope is a violation for both parties.
Workers already under BICC sponsorship can start within days. A new mobilisation with permits, PPE and induction takes about two weeks.
Work must stop until it is renewed. BICC tracks expiry dates and renews ahead of time; the beneficiary’s obligation is to stop the work if a permit lapses.
We reply with availability, a rate sheet and a mobilisation date within 48 hours.
