According to the Saudi Gazette, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has approved the classification of foreign investors (private business owners) as Saudis under the Nitaqat desertification plan.

The Qiwa platform said that this is a regulation for classifying people who are treated equally with Saudis when calculating the percentage of desertification.

The Nitaqat policy is an important policy implemented by the Saudi government to solve the employment problem of its nationals. Before the implementation of this policy, the employees of Saudi private enterprises were mainly composed of foreign personnel, which squeezed the employment opportunities of nationals. Therefore, the government has proposed a policy of desertification, requiring employers to hire a certain proportion of Saudi nationals, and setting different regulations for employers with different desertification rates.

In the Nitaqat plan, two categories of non-Saudis are considered Saudis. They include non-Saudi sons and daughters of Saudi female citizens, and non-Saudi mothers or widows of Saudi citizens. Saudi citizens working remotely will be treated the same as other Saudi regular employees.

When calculating the desertification percentage, workers from displaced tribes, citizens of Gulf countries, and Gulf players or athletes will be treated the same as Saudis.

Qiwa said that when calculating the desertification percentage, the proportion of some foreign nationals will be reduced. Including Palestinians, Burmese and Baloch people holding Egyptian passports, their proportion will be calculated at 0.25 of the normal proportion of foreign workers.

This means that hiring 4 Palestinians is equivalent to hiring 1 non-Saudi, but the number of employees in these categories must not exceed 50% of the total number of employees. However, Myanmar nationals living in Mecca and Medina are not subject to this restriction.

The Ministry of Investment revealed in its latest report that by the end of 2022, net foreign direct investment inflows reached 105 billion riyals, an increase of 21.4% over the previous year, setting a record for net foreign direct investment inflows in 2022.

The ministry said the new approach will help attract investors from all over the world and achieve Vision 2030.