"Recruitment debt" is a term many expatriate workers hear — either as a monthly deduction from salary, or as a lump sum demanded from them. But Saudi regulation settles this question with a clear, unambiguous text: this charge is not legitimate.
📜 The Decisive Text
The "Rules for Practicing Recruitment Activity and Providing Labor Services" — Annex 4 of the Labor Law Executive Regulations, approved by Ministerial Decision No. 136241 of 1442H — governs the work of licensed recruitment companies and offices. Article 64 explicitly prohibits charging the worker any of the costs of their own recruitment.
"The licensee may not obtain any amounts from the worker in exchange for recruitment, nor charge the worker the costs of recruitment."
This text is directed at the "licensee" — the licensed recruitment company or office itself — and absolutely prohibits it from collecting any amount from the worker under any label related to their recruitment cost. The rule applies regardless of the form the demand takes (a salary deduction, a loan, a verbal agreement, or otherwise).
🛡️ Additional Protection: The Recruitment Office's Liability for You for 90 Days
Article 71 of the same rules states that the recruitment office or company that mediated your recruitment remains responsible for you for a period of no less than 90 days from the date you are delivered to the employer, in specific cases including: your refusal to work for reasons attributable to the employer himself (provided this is proven by a decision from the domestic labor committees), your lack of the required experience, or an illness preventing you from performing your work.
Article 82 states that if the rate of worker absence and refusal to work at a given employer rises for a reason attributable to that employer, the Ministry may suspend the recruitment mediation service for that client for 100 to 124 days, doubling for repeat occurrences. This means employers who repeatedly cause their workers to leave face real consequences.
✅ What should you do if asked to pay these costs?
- Do not sign any acknowledgment of a "recruitment debt" without legal review.
- Document any deduction from your salary or verbal demand for recruitment amounts (messages, payslips).
- File a complaint via the "domestic labor" platform or the competent labor offices if the demand continues.
- Use Sanad to understand your exact legal steps for recovering any amount wrongfully deducted from you.
- Ministerial Decision No. 136241 dated 19/7/1442H — Annex 4 (Rules for Practicing Recruitment Activity and Providing Labor Services), Article 64
- Same source, Articles 71 and 82 (the office's liability for the worker, and service suspension for violating employers)