Manpower Supply in Saudi Arabia: What the Law Actually Requires
"Manpower supply" is a licensed activity in Saudi Arabia, not a service description. What separates it from recruitment and outsourcing, how to check a supplier is licensed, and what you carry as the receiving company.
In short: in Saudi Arabia, "manpower supply" is not a way of describing a service. It is a specific licensed activity — placing workers under another company's supervision — governed by Ministerial Decision No. 60339 and documented through the Ajeer platform. Recruitment and service outsourcing are different activities with different licences. Since 26 January 2026, the company receiving the workers carries obligations too, which means picking the wrong structure is now your exposure, not only your supplier's.
Most companies searching for "manpower" in Saudi Arabia do not actually need labour supply. They need one of two other things, and the difference decides who employs the worker, who directs them, and who answers when something goes wrong.
The three structures, and how to tell them apart
The distinction is not what the contract is titled. It is determined by who supervises the worker day to day and who employs them.
1. Recruitment
You describe the role. A licensed recruiter sources and screens candidates. You employ the person directly — your sponsorship, your iqama, your payroll, your Qiwa contract. The recruiter's involvement ends at the hire, though the visa, iqama and onboarding steps that follow still have to happen.
This is what most companies mean when they say they need "manpower". If the person is going to be on your payroll and take direction from your managers, this is recruitment.
2. Service outsourcing (تعهيد الخدمات)
You buy a defined outcome, not people. The provider employs and supervises its own workforce to deliver a scope — a cleaned building, a maintained plant, a staffed reception — and carries the delivery obligation. You hold the provider to the scope; you do not direct its employees.
The test is simple and it is the one that matters in an inspection: if your manager is assigning daily tasks to those workers, it is not service outsourcing, whatever the contract says.
3. Labour outsourcing (تعهيد القوى العاملة) — "manpower supply"
Workers employed by one establishment work under the supervision of another. This is the activity people mean by manpower supply, and it is separately licensed. It has to be documented on Ajeer through an electronic Ajeer Contract before work begins, permits are capped at three years tied to the underlying service contract, and the worker must perform the same profession recorded on their work permit.
What changed in 2026, and why it is now your problem
Ministerial Decision No. 60339 was issued on 25 October 2025 and took effect on 26 January 2026. Before it, Ajeer was widely treated as an administrative formality — a permit that let a worker from one establishment work at another.
The decision turned that into a compliance framework. The change with commercial consequences is that it places obligations on the beneficiary — the company receiving the workers — and not only on the provider.
Under the previous approach, a company buying labour could treat compliance as its supplier's problem. It cannot now. If you are using workers who are on someone else's sponsorship, under your supervision, without a documented Ajeer arrangement, the exposure is yours as well as theirs.
The penalties are set out separately, in the MHRSD schedule under Resolution 112377, and they escalate for repeat findings and scale with establishment size.
"Is manpower a recruitment company?"
No — and the confusion is worth clearing up, because it is the source of most mis-structured contracts.
Manpower is also a global staffing brand, which is part of why the term is ambiguous in search. But as an activity in Saudi regulation, manpower supply and recruitment are distinct:
| Who employs | Who supervises | Licence | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruitment | You | You | Recruitment licence |
| Service outsourcing | The provider | The provider | Commercial registration for the activity |
| Labour supply | The provider | You | Separate labour-supply licence, via Ajeer |
A company can hold more than one of these. Many hold only one. The relevant question is never what the supplier calls itself — it is which licence covers the arrangement you are about to sign.
How to check a manpower company is actually licensed
This is the most useful thing on this page, and it takes about ten minutes.
- Ask for the Commercial Registration number and the MHRSD establishment number. A supplier who hesitates at this has answered the question.
- Check the activity on the CR. The CR lists the activities the company is registered for. Labour supply is a named activity — it is either there or it is not.
- Confirm the Ajeer arrangement before work starts, not after. Under Decision 60339 the electronic Ajeer Contract has to exist before the worker begins. A supplier proposing to "sort the paperwork later" is proposing that you both operate outside it.
- Check the profession codes match. The worker's permit records a profession, and they must perform that profession. A welder supplied against a cleaner's permit is a finding waiting to happen — and increasingly, a blocked transaction on Qiwa.
- Ask who supervises. If the answer is "you do", you need a labour-supply arrangement. If the supplier is offering that under a service-outsourcing contract, the contract is mis-titled and it is you who will be asked to explain it.
Where SCPL sits, plainly
SCPL provides licensed recruitment — sourcing candidates you employ directly — and scoped service outsourcing, where SCPL employs and supervises its own workforce to deliver a defined scope such as facility management or plant operations and maintenance.
SCPL does not offer internal labour outsourcing, and will say so rather than take the work. If what you need is genuinely labour supply under your own supervision, you need a provider licensed for that activity, and you should verify the licence using the steps above regardless of who you use.
In practice, most enquiries that arrive asking for manpower turn out to need one of the other two. We will tell you which before quoting, including when the answer is that you do not need us.
Looking for a job rather than hiring?
This page is written for employers, but a lot of people searching these terms are looking for work.
SCPL recruits on behalf of its client companies. We do not accept applications or CVs by WhatsApp or phone — those channels are for companies. If you are looking for work in security, facility management, technical, industrial, hospitality or administrative roles in the Eastern Province or Riyadh, register as a candidate and you will be in the list we search when a client role opens. We never charge a candidate a fee.
The short version
If you are buying workforce services in Saudi Arabia in 2026:
- Decide who will supervise before you decide what to sign. That single answer selects the structure.
- If the workers take direction from your managers and are employed elsewhere, you need a documented Ajeer arrangement and a supplier licensed for labour supply.
- If you want an outcome delivered and supervised by someone else, you want service outsourcing — and you should stop directing the workers.
- If you want people on your own payroll, you want recruitment.
- Since January 2026, getting this wrong is your exposure too. Verify the licence, and keep the documentation.