Foreign Investors Must Register With MISA From Feb 2025
Foreign investors planning to establish a presence in Saudi Arabia must now register with the Ministry of Investment (وزارة الاستثمار) before conducting any investment activity, under the Investment Law that took effect in February 2025. The new framework replaces the former standalone foreign-investment licence with a simpler investor-registration step.
Applications are submitted electronically through the Invest Saudi/MISA portal, and no visit to the Ministry of Investment headquarters is required. Once registration is confirmed, investors can proceed to issue their commercial registration and obtain the activity-specific licences from the competent authorities.
What you need to prepare
Typical documents include a copy of the foreign company's commercial registration and its financial statements for the last fiscal year, both authenticated by the Saudi embassy, along with any documents required for the proposed activity. For a GCC-national individual partner, identification is needed if it is not already recorded in أبشر. Holders of Premium Residency are generally exempt from submitting the foreign commercial registration and financial statements.
Registration is available only for approved economic activities open to foreign investment. There is no fixed, publicly stated fee in ريال سعودي; the Ministry of Investment determines the amount when approving the application. Payment is due within 15 business days of being notified of the assessed amount—otherwise the application or registration becomes void.
Why it matters: the shift to investor registration aims to make market entry faster and more predictable for international businesses operating in the Kingdom. Investors needing help can reach MISA support on 8002449990 inside Saudi Arabia, +966 11 506 5777 from abroad, or by email at investorCare@misa.gov.sa.
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