Article 53 of the Saudi Officers Service Law

المادة 53 من نظام خدمة الضباط · الفصل الأول: الرواتب

The Article provides that an officer is entitled to his actual salary from the date of his appointment.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

يستحق الضابط الراتب الفعلي من تاريخ تعيينه.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 53 explained in plain English

This Article sets when an officer's entitlement to his salary begins: the date of his appointment. The officer is entitled to the actual salary from the date of his appointment.

In practice, entitlement to the salary is tied to the date of appointment itself; under this text it is not postponed to a later date of taking up duty or to the start of the following month. If payment of the salary is in fact delayed for procedural reasons, the entitlement still runs from the date of appointment.

The text uses the phrase "actual salary" and does not define it here. The Article does not detail its components.

This provision is linked to Article 2, which defines an officer as one who holds a military rank under the provisions of this Law; once appointed as an officer, he is entitled to his salary from that date.

The Article does not address cases where the salary is stopped or suspended during service. An officer whose first salaries were delayed, or paid from a date later than his appointment, may take the matter up with his unit, or consider consulting a lawyer specializing in administrative cases and military service matters.

Practical example

The appointment decision for Second Lieutenant Abdulaziz was issued in the middle of the month of Safar, but his first salary was not paid until the end of Rabi al-Awwal. Under the Article, he is entitled to his actual salary from the date of his appointment in mid-Safar, so he is paid for the whole period from that date.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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