Saudi Arabia mandates official salary transfers for domestic workers: What it means for employers and workers | World News
Saudi Arabia is taking a major step to protect domestic worker’s rights by making it mandatory for all employers to transfer salaries through official channels starting January 1, 2026. This move, designed to enhance transparency, ensure timely payments, and simplify procedures, builds on a phased rollout that has been gradually expanding over the past two yearsThe Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced that from January 1, 2026, all domestic worker salaries must be transferred through approved electronic channels by their employers. This initiative is designed to safeguard salary related rights, ensure transparency in contracts, and streamline processes for all parties involved.The Musaned platform will be used for electronic salary transfers through official channels, including participating banks and digital wallets. This system protects worker’s rights, ensures regular and secure payments, and contributes to improving the quality of service in the domestic worker sector. It also allows workers to transfer money safely to their families abroad.The benefits of this system are clear. It ensures that domestic workers can verify their salaries, facilitates procedures when ending contracts or traveling, and maintains regular and reliable wage payments. Employers also gain a more streamlined process that reduces errors and improves accountability. If workers prefer, they can withdraw their wages in cash through approved channels using a Mada card.The decision builds on a phased rollout that began on July 1, 2024. The first phase applied to domestic workers arriving in Saudi Arabia for the first time, aiming to reduce cash transactions, improve working conditions, and speed up the payment process. The second phase, launched in January 2025, targeted employers with four or more domestic workers, followed by a third phase in July 2025 covering those with three or more. The fourth phase, effective from October 1, 2025, applies to employers with two or more domestic workers.Under the Musaned program, overseen by the Ministry, employers are required to pay the agreed contractual wage at the end of each Hijri month unless another arrangement is mutually agreed upon in writing. Wages for workers not covered by the Wage Protection System can still be paid in cash, by check with documentation, or through the domestic worker’s salary card unless the worker requests a bank transfer.By mandating salary transfers through official channels, Saudi Arabia aims to enhance trust between employers and domestic workers, ensure timely and secure payments, and modernize the sector’s wage management system.
