Working in Saudi Arabia

Legal ways to work there

• Employer sponsored work visa after a written job offer. Private sector contracts are documented on the government's Qiwa platform.
• Domestic workers (housemaids, drivers, caregivers) are recruited through Musaned, the ministry's platform for contracts and recruitment offices.

Your rights

• Passport confiscation is prohibited by law.
• The Wage Protection System requires wages to be paid electronically through a Saudi bank, and contracts must state the job, salary, duration, working hours and annual leave.
• Contracts for non Saudi employees must be written and fixed term (a contract with no end date counts as one year); annual leave is 21 days, rising to 30 after five years with the same employer; overtime is paid at your normal hourly wage plus 50% of your basic hourly wage.
• End of service award: half a month's wage for each of the first five years and a full month's wage for each year after. If you resign, you get nothing under 2 years' service, a third of the award after 2 to 5 years, two thirds after 5 to 10, and all of it after 10.
• Domestic workers: at least 8 hours of continuous rest a day, one day off a week as agreed, a ticket home every two years paid by the employer, and keeping their own passport and iqama. Since 1 January 2026 every employer must pay domestic workers' salaries electronically through Musaned.
• Employers may not charge domestic workers any recruitment, work permit, transfer or profession change fees.

Pay floor

There is no statutory minimum wage for foreign workers in the private sector; your pay is what your registered contract says.

Red flags

• Anyone asking you to pay for a job, a "visa slot" or a medical test booking before you have a real written offer.
• An offer without an interview, or a contract sent only by WhatsApp.
• An agent who is not registered with TaESA, or who asks to keep your passport.
• A contract that is not registered on Qiwa (or Musaned for domestic work), or wages promised in cash.
• A domestic job offered to anyone under 21: Saudi law does not allow it.

Where to get help

• Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) and its Musaned platform.
• The Tanzanian embassy in Riyadh.
• TaESA before you travel.

Tanzanian embassy contacts

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (official list) and each mission's own website, checked 5 November 2026. Call before you visit.