COUNTRY · SAUDI
Payroll & EOR in Saudi.
Statutory Saudi payroll on one engine — Bureau, Managed, or Direct EOR. UK-incorporated supplier; UK contracting; sterling invoicing on request. Country lead available on day one.
Global Kinect is the workforce control surface for businesses operating across MENA; the Saudi layer runs on the same eleven-country MENA engine. Global Kinect runs your Saudi payroll on the dual-tier GOSI structure — Saudi nationals on the full 21.5% schedule, expatriates on the 2% occupational-hazard line only, both on basic + housing capped at SAR 45,000. EOSB accrued every cycle at the half-month and full-month thresholds. WPS file generated in the Mudad-mandated format. Saudization (Nitaqat) band visible per CR every cycle. Bureau when you submit through your own Mudad access; Managed when we run the cycle and submit on your behalf.
For UK and Irish buyers
What this means for a UK or Irish business
For UK and Irish businesses with people in Saudi Arabia, the operating model sits behind a UK supplier relationship. Global Kinect Ltd (Companies House 16852789) contracts as the supplier of payroll services. The management fee is supplied from a UK supplier under standard B2B place-of-supply rules; Saudi statutory pass-through is denominated in Saudi riyals at the cycle rate.
- Production payroll data is hosted on Oracle Cloud in Jeddah, in scope of Saudi PDPL — your Saudi data stays inside the Kingdom while the contractual relationship sits with a UK supplier.
- GOSI sits where UK National Insurance Contributions sit — a statutory-funded social protection scheme, calculated and accrued every cycle. Maps cleanly to UK GAAP cost categories.
- EOSB sits where UK statutory severance and service-related termination payments sit — accrued as a continuous liability on every cycle, settled at exit.
- Saudization quota visibility surfaces as a banding line per cycle — UK HR teams can fold it into their global headcount and nationality reporting without a separate process.
- Management fee can be invoiced in sterling on request. We agree the invoicing structure during onboarding.
Hiring in Saudi Arabia: Overview
Global Kinect runs Saudi Arabia payroll on one engine for employers who already operate here — GOSI on the dual-tier schedule, WPS in the Mudad-mandated bank format, EOSB accrued every cycle, and Saudization (Nitaqat) band visible per commercial registration. If you currently reconcile a local bureau's output against your own records each month, Bureau replaces that with one submission in and one pack out. When entity ownership and authorised-agent standing are in place, Managed adds GOSI, Mudad, and WPS submission on your behalf — you keep sign-off, we handle the regulator. For new hires where you have no Saudi entity, Direct EOR is the secondary route. Production data is hosted in-Kingdom on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in Jeddah, aligned to Saudi PDPL.
Payroll routes for Saudi Arabia
Two delivery models for payroll. Add EOR when you don’t have an entity.
Employment law & employer costs
GOSI contributions for Saudi nationals total 21.5% — 11.75% employer (9% pension, 2% occupational hazard, 0.75% SANED) and 9.75% employee (9% pension, 0.75% SANED), calculated on basic + housing capped at SAR 45,000. Expatriates carry 2% employer occupational hazard only. We calculate both tiers per employee every cycle.
EOSB accrues as a continuous liability: half a month's wage per year for the first five years, a full month per year thereafter. We track and accrue it cycle by cycle so the exit figure is never a surprise.
Salary is typically structured as basic (50–65%), housing (25%), and transport (10%). The split drives GOSI and EOSB, so we hold the structure per employee rather than working from a single gross.
Saudization (Nitaqat) sets minimum Saudi-national percentages per commercial registration. We surface your band — Platinum, Green, Yellow, Red — every cycle so the line feeds your headcount planning before it affects Iqama issuance.
CCHI-compliant medical insurance is mandatory for every employee. Where we run immigration, the Iqama, GOSI registration, and CCHI cover are handled in the onboarding sequence.
Key compliance notes
Statutory regimes
What we calculate in Saudi Arabia
The statutory stack we run every cycle. Headline rates are shown where they are settled; elsewhere the regime is named and the mechanism described — figures are confirmed in scoping.
GOSI (Saudi nationals)
Social insurance on basic + housing, capped SAR 45,000/mo
11.75% legacy / 12.75% new entrants · employee 9.75% / 10.75%
GOSI (expatriates)
Occupational-hazard line only; no employee contribution
2% employer
End-of-service (EOSB)
Accrued on basic — half-month/year to five years, full month/year after
WPS / Mudad
Salary file lodged in the Mudad-mandated bank format every cycle
Saudization (Nitaqat)
National-ratio band per commercial registration; affects Iqama issuance
CCHI medical cover
Compliant medical insurance mandatory for every employee
Sample calculation
Indicative employer cost in Saudi Arabia
An indicative estimate for a national employee, driven by the same engine behind our calculators — not a quote. Real numbers depend on salary structure, worker type, visa items and benefits. Book a Demo for a figure scoped to your workforce.
Statutory employer contributions
Excludes onboarding, visa and medical items, end-of-service accrual, and any benefits — these are scoped per engagement.
Frequently asked questions
Employment Cost Calculator
Use the calculator for indicative employer costs in Saudi Arabia. It is useful for budgeting, not final pricing. For final EOR pricing, visa items, benefits, and service scope, request a full proposal.
Estimate CostsRelated guides
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Setting up in Saudi?
Talk to the Saudi country lead. Country mix, headcount, delivery model — scoped proposal inside one business day.