Setting up a company in Saudi Arabia as a foreign investor

A foreign investor can own a Saudi company, but must first register the investment with the Ministry of Investment (MISA). Under the updated Investment Law the old investment licence was replaced by registration: MISA issues an investment registration certificate, and only then can the company be set up and given its commercial registration.

Two questions shape everything that follows: what activity the company will carry out, and who the shareholders are. Some activities have their own conditions. Trading (commercial) activity in particular has high capital requirements in MISA's Investor Guide — for example SAR 30 million for a 100% foreign-owned trading company, with a presence in at least three regional or global markets. Check your activity first.

For a foreign company that will be a shareholder, MISA's Investor Guide asks for:

• The foreign shareholder's commercial registration, certified by the Saudi embassy in its home country
• Its financial statements for the last financial year, authenticated by the Saudi embassy
• Any extra requirements of the chosen activity
• The ID of any Gulf (GCC) partner

MISA states that documents submitted to it do not need to be translated, and that its review takes up to 10 working days. The registration fee is set by MISA on approval and must be paid within 15 business days, or the approval lapses.

With the investment registration certificate in hand (it must still be valid for at least 30 days), the company is set up on business.sa through the service "Establishment of Company Under Investment Registration Certificate", with a draft of the company's articles. The platform states the service is completed within 72 hours. Its published government fees for a limited liability company are SAR 1,200, plus SAR 500 for publication, plus VAT.

The result is the commercial registration (CR). Under the Commercial Register Law of 2024 there is one CR for the whole Kingdom, and it no longer has an expiry date — instead it must be confirmed every 12 months.

The Ministry of Commerce states that a new CR is linked automatically with the Ministry of Human Resources, ZATCA, GOSI, Saudi Post (National Address) and the Chamber of Commerce. Linked does not mean finished: each file still needs to be completed.

• ZATCA: a taxpayer number is created with the CR, and the company completes its zakat and income-tax registration. VAT registration is mandatory once annual taxable supplies pass SAR 375,000, and optional from SAR 187,500.
• Chamber of Commerce: every company in the CR must subscribe to the chamber of its area. The law makes the fee payable only after three years from registration.
• National Address: from 1 January 2026 its use is mandatory for every individual and entity, so register the company's address with Saudi Post.

Before the first hire, the company needs its employer files:

• Qiwa: the Ministry of Human Resources' "Open Establishment File" service, free and immediate, opens the company's labour file. Work permits for expatriate staff are then issued through Qiwa.
• GOSI: the establishment and each employee are registered with the General Organization for Social Insurance, and contributions are paid every month.
• Muqeem: the platform through which a company issues and renews the iqamas (residence permits) of its expatriate staff, starting with the general manager.
• Mudad: each month's wage file is uploaded under the Wage Protection programme.

If the company will open premises, it also needs a commercial licence from the municipality on Balady, issued together with a Civil Defense safety permit.

• Start with the documents. Embassy certification of your home-country papers is usually the slowest part, and it happens before anything is filed in the Kingdom.
• The official times above are each authority's own processing time. They do not include time spent fixing a missing or inconsistent document.
• Government fees are set by each authority and can change; the figures here are the ones published on 19 October 2026.
• Setup does not end with the CR. The confirmations, filings and renewals that follow are covered in our guide to staying compliant.

Mohla Start runs your setup as one case: we check your activity and documents first, then handle the MISA registration, the company and its CR, and the ZATCA, Chamber, National Address, Qiwa, GOSI and Muqeem files, up to the general manager's iqama. You see each stage, what is next and what we need from you in your Mohla account.

Government fees are paid at cost. Mohla's own fee is in the written quote you receive before any work starts.