Hire a Japanese Chef in Saudi Arabia: Nitaqat, Qiwa and Skill Levels

In Saudi Arabia the question is rarely whether a Japanese chef can get a visa. It is whether your establishment is in a position to request one. Visa issuance runs through the Qiwa platform and depends on your Nitaqat (Saudisation) band, and since 2025 every work permit also carries a skill classification. This guide explains both, from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development's own documents, and what they mean for a Japanese restaurant.

1. The market

• MAFF's 2025 survey lists 170 Japanese restaurants in Saudi Arabia, up 20 on 2023. The Middle East as a whole grew about 20% to roughly 1,600, which MAFF links to interest in healthy eating.
• MOFA recorded 718 Japanese nationals in Saudi Arabia on 1 October 2025.

MAFF's figures only include restaurants identified through listings, associations, Japanese community bodies or embassies, rounded to the nearest ten. They are an indicator, not a count of every outlet. The more useful number for hiring is the second one: with about 700 Japanese residents, there is effectively no local pool of Japanese chefs, and senior hires will come from abroad.

2. Nitaqat: check your band before you recruit

Nitaqat is the Saudisation programme that measures each establishment's share of Saudi employees against a required rate for its activity and size. The ministry's procedural guideline for the current version, Nitaqat Mutawar, sets out how it works:

• There are five bands: Red, Low Green, Medium Green, High Green and Platinum.
• The required Saudisation rate is calculated with a formula of the form y = m × ln(x) + c, where x is your total workforce and m and c depend on your activity. In plain terms, the required percentage rises smoothly as you grow rather than jumping at fixed headcount lines.
• The guideline's annex treats "Restaurants (excluding Fast Food)" and "Fast Food and Ice Cream" as separate activities, each with its own parameters. Check which one your licence falls under.

The band matters because of what a Red establishment cannot do. According to the guideline, it cannot apply for new expatriate work visas, cannot renew the work permits of existing expatriate workers, and cannot transfer workers' services or change their occupations. For a restaurant planning to hire a chef from Japan, a Red band stops the project before it starts.

The programme keeps moving. In January 2026 the ministry announced a new three-year phase of Nitaqat Mutawar, aimed at localising more than 340,000 private sector jobs. The ministry described the new rates as based on studies of each sector's activities, market conditions and available national talent. If your current band was comfortable under the old rates, recheck it under the new ones.

3. The skill classification and the chef job title

The ministry introduced a classification of work permits by skill level, applied to existing workers from 5 July 2025 and to new workers from 3 August 2025. There are three levels, mapped to the major groups of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO):

This is where the job title starts to matter. In ISCO-08, chefs are unit group 3434, under "artistic, cultural and culinary associate professionals" in major group 3. Cooks are unit group 5120, under personal service workers in major group 5. A head chef who designs menus and runs the kitchen fits the first description; a line cook fits the second.

The ministry's guideline does not publish the wage thresholds in riyals, and says they are set per economic activity. So the practical advice is: register the occupation that honestly matches the job, check in Qiwa which level it produces, and confirm the salary you plan to offer clears the threshold for that level before you make the offer. Registering a cook as a chef to reach a higher level is a false declaration, and the ministry's rules tie the permit to the stated profession.

4. The permit and visa, via Qiwa

The Labor Law sets the framework. Article 32 requires the ministry's approval before recruiting from abroad, and Article 33 requires a work permit, which is specific to a profession. The ministry's summary is blunt: the employer may not employ the worker in a profession other than the one stated in the work permit.

Visa issuance is handled on Qiwa. The ministry's visa issuance service page describes an immediate, free service for establishments that achieve high nationalisation rates and comply with labour regulations. The page does not give timings for establishments outside that group, so ask Qiwa support what to expect for yours.

In broad terms, once the visa is issued the candidate completes the visa formalities with the Saudi mission, travels, and the employer then obtains the residence permit (iqama) and work permit. The detailed document list changes, so take it from Qiwa at the time you apply rather than from a checklist someone used last year.

5. What the employer must pay

Article 40 of the Labor Law, as the ministry summarises it, is clear that the employer bears:

• the fees for recruiting non-Saudi workers;
• the fees for issuing and renewing the iqama and work permit, and fines for delay;
• fees for change of profession and for exit and re-entry visas;
• the return ticket to the worker's home country at the end of the relationship.

The worker pays their own way home only if found unfit for work or if they choose to leave without a legitimate reason. Since the law puts these costs on the employer, do not plan to recover them from the chef's salary. Put them in the hiring budget alongside salary, housing and flights. Our guide to relocation packages lists the other items to cost.

6. Planning around Saudisation

Three planning points for a Japanese restaurant in Saudi Arabia.

1. Headcount planning comes first. Your right to request visas depends on your Saudi share. Build the Saudi front of house and kitchen roles into the opening plan, not as an afterthought.
2. The chef's first job is training. A Japanese head chef who can teach Saudi cooks the fundamentals protects your band and your menu at the same time. Ask about training experience at interview. Our guide to training local staff in Japanese cuisine covers how to structure it.
3. Settle the sake and mirin question early. Both are staples in Japanese cooking. If your market or your halal requirements rule them out, the chef needs to be comfortable building flavour without them, and you need to know that before you hire. The questions in our halal Japanese kitchen guide apply here too.

If you are comparing sites across the Gulf, see our guides to Dubai and Qatar.

7. Step by step

1. Check your Nitaqat band and activity classification in Qiwa, under the 2026 rates.
2. Plan Saudi hires so the chef's permit will not push you into a lower band.
3. Choose the occupation that matches the real job, and check its skill level and wage threshold.
4. Search and interview, including a practical test and questions about training local cooks.
5. Issue the offer, listing salary, housing, flights and who pays which fees.
6. Request the visa on Qiwa, then complete the mission, entry, iqama and work permit steps.
7. Plan the chef's first months around training the Saudi team.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Nitaqat rates, skill thresholds and Qiwa procedures change; confirm in Qiwa and with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development before acting.