Saudi Arabia Bars Foreign Workers From 69 Jobs — Thousands of Kenyans Face October Deadline

Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia — translators, secretaries, human resources clerks, security guards, data entry operators — are staring down an October 2026 deadline that could end their contracts and their income.

On April 5, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development published Circular No. 278, reserving 69 administrative support professions exclusively for Saudi nationals. The decree mandates 100% localisation across roles that have long been filled by foreign workers, part of the kingdom's broader Vision 2030 push to reduce reliance on expatriate labour and create jobs for citizens.

Some roles are immediately restricted; the majority face a six-month grace period, with enforcement kicking in on October 4, 2026. Companies that fail to comply face fines and statutory penalties under existing labour law.

The jobs Kenyans can no longer hold

The list is exhaustive: human resources managers and specialists, recruiters, public relations officers, administrative assistants, receptionists, translators, warehouse clerks, customs agents, procurement officers, and security monitors. These are not niche roles — they span nearly every private-sector establishment in the kingdom.

According to Kenya's National Employment Authority, Saudi Arabia is the top destination for Kenyan workers, with 194,320 placements recorded between 2022 and 2024. The Kenyan Senate's Labour Committee estimates that around 80,000 Kenyans are currently in Saudi Arabia, the majority in domestic work but thousands in administrative and skilled roles now under threat.

The new Saudisation expansion follows similar moves targeting engineering, procurement, marketing, sales, dental professions, and 41 tourism roles announced in April 2025. It is part of a decade-long nationalisation campaign designed to bring Saudi unemployment below 7%.

What it means for workers

For Kenyans occupying these roles, the grace period is a countdown. Employers are expected to terminate or reassign foreign workers and recruit Saudi nationals in their place. There is no repatriation clause in most contracts, and workers who lose their jobs face immediate loss of residency status tied to employment under the Kafala system.

Kenyan embassies and diaspora advocacy groups have yet to issue formal guidance on how affected workers should prepare. Kenya's Ministry of Labour has remained publicly silent on the policy's direct impact.

A test case for Kenya's labour export model

Kenya has aggressively promoted Gulf employment as a solution to youth unemployment, signing bilateral labour agreements with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. But the Saudisation wave exposes the model's vulnerability: workers sent abroad under government-backed schemes now face policy shifts they cannot control and a Kenyan state with limited leverage to negotiate exemptions.

Global Justice Kenya and other rights groups have long warned that Kenya's labour export drive prioritizes placement numbers over worker protection. The current policy shift — affecting administrative workers who are more visible and better paid than domestic workers — may force a reckoning.

What comes next

Kenyan workers in affected roles have until October to find new positions, renegotiate with employers, or return home. Recruitment agencies operating between Kenya and Saudi Arabia are bracing for a wave of early contract terminations and repatriations.

The broader question is whether Kenya's government will advocate for transition support, skills recognition, or alternative placements for workers displaced by Saudisation — or whether the displaced will simply be absorbed into Kenya's already saturated labour market, another cohort of returnees navigating re-entry alone.

The October deadline is five months away. For thousands of Kenyans, the clock is running.

Reporting drawn from Tuko.co.ke, Tuko.co.ke, The Standard, Kenyans.co.ke.