Business owners across Saudi Arabia are operating under a new system for commercial registrations. Since 3 April 2025, commercial registration certificates no longer carry an expiry date and are no longer renewed every year. Instead, owners must submit an annual electronic confirmation of their registered data through the Ministry of Commerce.
The annual confirmation is due each year on the anniversary of the registration's issuance. Businesses that fail to submit the confirmation within 90 days after the due date risk having their registration suspended, so staying on schedule is essential.
Fees you need to know
Issuance fees depend on the entity type: SAR 500 for a sole proprietorship, SAR 1,000 for a general or limited partnership, SAR 1,200 for a limited liability company, and SAR 1,600 for a joint-stock company, simplified joint-stock company, or branch of a foreign company. The annual data-confirmation fee is generally the same as the applicable registration fee. Amending commercial-registration data costs SAR 100. On the Ministry's business-start page, the main-registration fee for a new business is listed as SAR 200 and the branch-registration fee as SAR 100.
To register an establishment, owners use the Ministry of Commerce electronic services, logging in via unified national access using Nafath. The process involves selecting the establishment registration service, entering owner and establishment details, the approved address, activities, capital, trade-name information, and manager details, then reviewing the declaration, obtaining required approvals, issuing the invoice, and paying by SADAD or card.
The changes are part of the unified commercial register, which uses a single national register covering business activities throughout the Kingdom and replaces the old system of separate sub-registers. Each establishment now has a unified national number beginning with 7 as its primary identifier, simplifying how businesses are identified and managed nationwide.
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