Probation looks like the simplest clause in the contract. It is also the one most often invalid. The 2025 amendments set the rules: a single 180-day cap, once per employer, stated in the contract. A probation clause that misses any of these is worth nothing on the day it matters, and the day it matters is the day you want to end the contract. Employees lose here too. They serve “probation” that legally never existed, then forfeit rights the law would have given them. This post sets out the probation period rules in Saudi labour law as they stand now: the maximum, the writing requirement, the days that do not count, and what happens when either side ends things early.
Last reviewed: October 2026
Key points
- Probation has a single 180-day maximum, which can be stated outright. It must be expressly written in the contract with its length.
- It applies once per employer. The two Eids and sick leave do not count toward the period.
- Any extension within the 180-day total should be agreed in writing before the original period ends. Never extend verbally.
- No end of service award is due when the contract ends during a valid probation.
1Probation period in Saudi labour law: the rules at a glance
The rules come from Articles 53 and 80, as amended in 2025, and the Executive Regulations:
| Rule | Position |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 180 days in total, per Article 53 |
| Writing requirement | Must be stated expressly in the contract; no clause, no probation |
| How often | Once per employer, with narrow exceptions |
| Days that do not count | The two Eids and sick leave; the Executive Regulations list the others |
| Termination during probation | Either party may end the contract during probation; check the current Article 53 text for any notice requirement |
| End of service | Not due for probation-period termination |
The Bureau of Experts carries the amended text. The 180-day total can be set outright or built up with a written extension, and the difference matters at exactly the moments managers do not expect.
Writing probation terms into contracts? The Saudi Labor Law for Employers course covers contracts from offer to termination.
2The writing requirement
Article 53 requires probation to be “stated expressly” in the contract. This is not a formality. A contract silent on probation has none, whatever the offer email said and whatever the manager believes. The employee on an unrecorded probation is a regular employee from day one, with notice rights and, eventually, end of service accrual.
The fix costs one line in the template and one field in the Qiwa documentation flow. The failure mode is just as cheap to avoid: contracts recycled from old templates, offers that mention a “trial period” without defining it, and probation terms agreed in interviews. Each produces the same legal result: no probation.
One subtlety worth knowing. The probation clause should state the length, not just its existence. A clause saying “the employee shall be subject to probation” without a duration invites a dispute about what the parties meant.
A second subtlety hides in the Arabic text. The Arabic version of a contract generally governs, and a probation clause drafted only in English leaves the Arabic meaning to translation. Write the clause in Arabic, or have it written, and keep the two languages identical. Bilingual contracts that disagree with themselves hand the employee the better reading.
3Can probation be extended? The extension rules
Under the amended rules, probation has a single maximum of 180 days in total, and the employer can now state the full 180 days in the contract from the start. Before the amendment, the usual route was 90 days plus a written extension up to 180. If the contract sets a shorter probation, any extension within the 180-day total should be agreed in writing with the employee before the original period ends. Do not rely on a verbal extension.
A shorter probation, such as 90 or 120 days, still binds both sides until it expires or is validly extended in writing. Choose the initial length deliberately, and document any later extension before it begins.
Probation applies once per employer. The amendment clarifies when a second probation with the same employer may be agreed, so check the current text before putting someone on probation again.
The counting rule surprises people. Probation runs on calendar days, minus the excluded ones. An employee who takes two weeks of sick leave in month three is simply not in probation for those two weeks. The Eid holidays pause the clock the same way. The clock pauses; the end date moves. HR systems that count probation as a fixed date, rather than accumulated qualifying days, will end probations early and hand terminated employees the rights that come after probation.
4Ending the employment contract during probation
Either party may end the contract during probation. It is the cheapest exit the law offers, and the most misused. The employee is paid for the days worked, and no end of service award is due when the contract ends during probation. Confirm any notice requirement in the current text of Article 53 and in your contract.
Two limits keep this from being the free exit it appears. First, the probation must actually exist and still be running, which drags us back to the writing requirement and the counting rules. A termination on day 190, or on day 120 of a probation that legally expired on day 90 under an old contract, is a termination without cause, with everything that follows. Second, terminations during probation still cannot be discriminatory or retaliatory. The freedom to end early is not a licence to end for an illegal reason.
Practically, document the reason anyway. Most probation terminations are performance-based, and a short file at termination time, notes, emails, one warning, is the difference between a clean exit and a claim you settle to make go away.
The employee side deserves the same advice in reverse. A new joiner who senses the role is wrong should not drift for five months hoping it improves. Ending during probation is the cheapest exit either party will ever get. Staying past it, in a role that never fit, costs both sides more than an honest early decision.
5Three scenarios
Extended without written agreement. A manager tells an employee on day 85: “You have another 90 days to prove yourself.” Nothing is signed. The extension fails for one reason: no advance written consent was taken before it began. The law does allow extensions during probation, within the 180-day total, but each one needs the employee’s written agreement in advance. A verbal promise creates no extension at all. If the original clause said 90 days, the probation ended on day 90. The employee is now permanent, and the “extension” is a fiction. Termination on day 150 is termination of a permanent employee without cause.
Terminated on day 175. The probation clause says 180 days. The employer ends the contract on day 175, with the writing in place and the excluded days counted correctly. This is lawful, with no end of service award. Wages for days worked are due, and the final payment follows the Article 88 deadlines. The employee’s recourse is limited to arguing the probation was invalid, which fails when the paperwork was done right from the start.
Rehired in a different role. A company lets an employee go in March and rehires him in September into a different technical role. Whether a new probation is valid depends on the current rules for a second probation with the same employer. The company should check the amended text and put any agreed probation in the new contract in writing, with its length.
6Common mistakes
No probation clause in the Qiwa contract. The signed contract is the evidence. An offer letter’s “three-month trial” does not survive contact with a contract that says nothing.
Extending verbally. The 2025 rules allow extensions only with advance written consent, within the 180-day total. Any extension agreed verbally, or documented after it already began, is invalid, and the employee becomes permanent at the end of the signed period.
Counting Eid days and sick leave. These days do not count toward probation under the Regulations. A 180-day probation that spans Ramadan and both Eids runs longer on the calendar than 180 days. Systems that ignore this terminate people while they are still, legally, in probation, and owe the consequences that follow.
Using probation as a second chance after long service. An employer cannot put a five-year employee “back on probation” after a role change. Once per employer, with narrow exceptions, is the rule.
Terminating on the wrong day. Day 181 is permanent-employee territory. So is day 91, under a contract whose clause says 90. Calendar the actual end date, from the signed clause, with the excluded days removed.
7FAQ
How long can the probation period be in Saudi Arabia?
Up to 180 days in total, which can be stated outright in the contract. It must be expressly written in the contract with its length, and it applies once per employer.
Can probation be extended?
Yes, but only within strict conditions. The total cannot exceed 180 days, and any extension during probation needs the employee’s advance written consent, taken before the extension starts, for a lawful duration. Extension agreed after the fact, or verbally, is invalid. Any extension must be agreed in writing before it begins, and the total must remain within 180 days.
Do I get end of service if dismissed during probation?
No. Termination during a valid probation carries no end of service award. Wages for days worked are due, and they must be paid on time.
Is notice required during probation?
Check the current text of Article 53 and your contract before you act, because the notice position is where drafting mistakes are most common. What does not change is that no end of service award is due on termination during a valid probation.
Does probation apply to Saudi and non-Saudi employees equally?
Yes. The rules are the same for both. The difference elsewhere: non-Saudi contracts are fixed-term, so the probation sits inside a term that also carries renewal and work-permit considerations.
8Next step
Open your contract template and read the probation clause as Articles 53 and 54 would read it. Is the length stated? Is it within 180 days? Does your HR system subtract the excluded days? Three checks, one afternoon. The Saudi Labor Law for Employers course covers probation inside the full contract lifecycle. For the amendment that rewrote these rules, see the 2025 amendments post, and for the payroll side of hiring, read the WPS violations post.
Related reading: how to calculate end of service benefits and Saudi labour law 2025 amendments.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with the official source or a licensed adviser.