Expat vs National Hiring Cost Calculator

It depends on the salaries. On top of salary, an expat hire costs the MOHRE work permit fee (AED 250, 1,200 or 3,450 by company category), end-of-service gratuity of 21 days' basic salary for each of the first five years, and visa, Emirates ID, medical and insurance costs. An Emirati hire adds the employer's pension contribution instead, and can save the Emiratisation contribution if your company has a gap. Enter both salaries to see which costs more in year one.

The expat levy (SAR 800 a month, or SAR 700 when expats don't outnumber Saudis), the SAR 100 annual work permit, the iqama fee (SAR 650 a year, secondary source) and the 2% GOSI occupational hazards contribution on basic + housing. Licensed industrial establishments don't pay the levy. A Saudi hire costs the employer's full GOSI share instead — annuity, SANED unemployment insurance and occupational hazards.

MOHRE confirmed AED 108,000 per missing Emirati for the 2025 targets. The 2026 amount hasn't been officially confirmed, so switching on 'This hire closes an Emiratisation gap' subtracts AED 108,000 as an estimate. Check your gap with our Emiratisation calculator.

We only use rates we've verified against official sources, and the employer pension rate for Emiratis isn't in our verified rules yet. Enter the rate your pension fund charges you and the calculator applies it to the salary you entered. Until you do, the result warns that pension is missing.

A Saudi paid at least SAR 4,000 a month generally counts as one worker for Nitaqat; below that, as half. Nitaqat's full counting rules and bands aren't fully published, so treat this as an estimate and confirm on Qiwa. Check which roles must be filled by Saudis on our Saudized jobs list.

Some costs are one-off or yearly — the UAE work permit fee, the Saudi work permit and iqama fees — and gratuity builds up over the year. Comparing the first 12 months puts every cost on the same footing.