The regional-headquarters programme has moved a lot of companies to Riyadh in the last three years, and with them a lot of engineers who had never budgeted for the Kingdom. The founders’ spreadsheets tend to cover the licence and the salaries and miss three lines that decide whether the team is still there in a year: the per-hire compliance stack, the connectivity bill for staff housing, and a question every hire asks within the first month about gold. All three are knowable in advance. Here is what a relocated hire costs in 2026 beyond salary, and the two answers to have ready.
The per-hire cost stack
Every expatriate employee carries a set of recurring costs, most of which fall on the employer by law and all of which key on the iqama, the residence permit. The professional tier the role is classified under on Qiwa, the labour ministry’s platform, sets the visa fees and the qualifications the system expects, so the job title on the contract is not a formality.
| Item | Frequency | Indicative cost (SAR) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work visa and issuance | Per hire | 2,000 to 4,000 | Block-visa quota by profession; fees set by tier |
| Expatriate work-permit levy | Annual | Several thousand per expatriate; varies by company status | Some categories reduced or waived; regional HQs have had relief; check the current schedule |
| Iqama | 3, 6, 9 or 12 months | About 163 per 3 months; about 650 a year | Flexible renewal periods |
| Health insurance | Annual | 1,500 to 6,000 basic; 8,000 to 20,000 for the plans senior engineers expect | Mandatory before issuance and renewal |
| GOSI | Monthly | 2 percent of wage (occupational hazards) for expatriates | Employer-paid |
| Dependent fee | Monthly, paid annually | 400 per dependent | Usually passed to the employee; say so in the offer |
| Wafid medical, attestation, Enjaz | Per hire | 1,000 to 2,000 equivalent | Home-country costs |
| Relocation and first-month housing | One-off | 10,000 to 30,000 | Whatever the offer promises |
Add it up and a mid-level engineer costs roughly SAR 25,000 to 60,000 in the first year before salary, with the health plan and the housing support accounting for most of the range. Iqama renewal is cheap but easy to block: unpaid traffic fines, lapsed insurance or an inactive GOSI record stop it, and the flexible three-month option is useful for hires on probation.
Visa tiers in practice
Qiwa classifies each role into a professional tier, broadly high-skilled, skilled and general, and the tier the job title lands in decides the fee schedule, the qualification checks and whether an attested degree is required. Software roles generally classify as high-skilled if the degree is attested through the home-country channel before the visa is drawn; a role registered under a generic title to save time will classify lower, cost more later and complicate a transfer. Register the real title with the real degree, and budget two to four weeks for attestation.
The connectivity line most spreadsheets miss
Riyadh’s fibre is good and priced by household, which matters because relocated staff will expect the company to know what to buy. Budget connectivity per household, not per office: the STC fiber packages sold under the Baity name start at 300 Mbps for SAR 287.5 a month, and the Basic, Plus and Premium names still quoted in older guides no longer exist. Mobily and Zain sell comparable fibre where their networks reach, and 5G home routers cover the compounds the fibre does not. For a team that works remotely part of the week, the fibre line is a legitimate allowance item at roughly SAR 300 a month, and it is cheaper than the office desk it replaces.
The question every hire asks: gold
Within the first month, someone on the team will ask how gold works here, because it is the savings instrument the country runs on. The answer is short and worth having ready. The metal price is set nationally from the world price at the riyal’s fixed rate of 3.75 to the dollar, so every shop charges the same for the metal and only the making charge differs. Expect the question within the first month: certified gold bars in Saudi Arabia of 99 percent purity or higher are zero-rated for VAT and carry a small fabrication premium, where jewellery carries a making charge of roughly 8 to 25 percent plus 15 percent VAT on the total. People who buy to save buy bars; people who buy to wear buy 21K. The sizes run from one gram to a kilogram, the premium per gram falls as the bar gets larger, and a bar kept in its sealed packaging sells back without re-assaying.
For a finance team the relevant point is that this is a legitimate, tax-efficient savings channel that staff will use, and that a salary paid on time through the Wage Protection System is what makes it possible; late payroll is the single most common reason a relocated hire starts looking around.
What to put in the offer
- The Qiwa job title and tier, and the salary split between basic and allowances, which sets both the visa fees and the end-of-service accrual.
- Which health plan, by name, and whether dependents are covered.
- Who pays the dependent fee (SAR 400 a month each) and the iqama renewals after the first year.
- The housing or fibre allowance, sized to the district the person will actually live in.
- Exit and re-entry visa policy for staff who travel; multiple-entry visas are cheap and save a request every trip.
The retention variable
Riyadh rents have risen sharply since the headquarters programme began, and the districts engineers want, the north of the city near the offices, are the expensive ones. A housing allowance that was right in 2023 is short in 2026. The teams that stay are the ones whose founders re-check the allowance annually, pay on the day, and can answer the gold question without looking it up.
Fees checked September 2026 against MHRSD, Muqeem and operator tariffs; levy and visa fees vary by company classification and change with the budget cycle.
