MISA Rules: Restricted & Excluded Business Activities

Foreign investors planning to set up or restructure a business in Saudi Arabia must check how their chosen activity is classified by the Ministry of Investment (وزارة الاستثمار) before incorporating or changing ownership. The Kingdom generally allows foreign investment in activities open under the ISIC classification, subject to activity-specific requirements.

Under the current framework, activities fall into two main categories: available and restricted. Restricted activities need prior approval from the Ministry, which refers the request to the competent regulator before any approval is granted. An activity must also not appear on the officially excluded-activities list unless the required prior approval has been obtained.

Examples of excluded or restricted areas include upstream oil exploration, drilling and production; military catering; security and detective services; recruitment offices; international commission-agent services; certain healthcare services; marine fishing and hunting; and poison centres, blood banks and quarantine services. Other sectors limit full foreign ownership or require sector approval — among them land and ground transportation, military-equipment manufacturing, telecommunications, and real estate in Makkah and Madinah.

How to stay compliant

Before starting operations, investors should submit the foreign-investment registration or classification application through the Ministry's electronic services and identify the relevant ISIC activity code. For a restricted activity, the Ministry refers the request to the relevant government authority for approval. Investors should not conduct the activity or change ownership in a restricted activity before that approval is issued.

no registration fee applies, though any service fee set after classification approval must be paid if applicable. There is no fixed fee, universal processing time, or universal validity period for all restricted or excluded activities — these depend on the activity and the competent regulator. The list is published and periodically updated, so investors are advised to verify the exact ISIC code and current conditions before incorporation or ownership changes, and to maintain the sector licences and conditions attached to the classification.

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