How Much Does It Cost to Register a Company in Saudi Arabia as a Foreigner?

Search for the cost of registering a company in Saudi Arabia and you will find wildly different answers. Some guides put the total cost in the tens of thousands of Saudi riyals; others put it several times higher. One source says the MISA licence is currently free; another describes an annual renewal charge. Minimum capital is reported anywhere from "none required" to tens of millions of riyals, depending on the activity.

Most of these figures are not wrong. They describe different activities, different years, or an adviser's fee bundled with government charges. This page splits what you need before a discovery call: what the government charges, and what a service like Taajeel charges to run the process for you. Where the market genuinely disagrees, we say so, and we cite where each figure comes from. Government fees and thresholds change, sometimes without notice, so treat every figure below as indicative. Confirm the current number with a licensed adviser before you budget, as of 2026.

What you actually pay for: government fees vs. our service fee

Government fees go to MISA, the Ministry of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce, for the investment licence, trade name, commercial registration (CR), and later the GM visa and government-account activations. These are set by regulation; no formation agent controls them.

Service fees are what you pay a firm such as Taajeel to run the whole path for you: filing the MISA application, reserving the trade name, drafting and notarising the articles, obtaining the CR, and activating your accounts, so you can sign from abroad. Some agencies quote one bundled number that hides which part is a government charge and which part is margin. We would rather you see the split.

The MISA investment licence fee: what's current, and why sources disagree

This is the most contested figure in the market. Some 2026 guides say the MISA application fee is currently waived to zero, and has been for roughly two years (Ibtdara; InvestRiyadh). Others quote around SAR 2,000 upfront plus an annual renewal of SAR 10,000 to as much as SAR 60,000-62,000 depending on licence type (InvestRiyadh; Incorp KSA).

Both can be true at once. Saudi Arabia has used fee waivers as a temporary incentive before, and several sources describe today's waiver as a window rather than a permanent rule. Separately, amendments to the Investment Law that took effect in February 2025 replaced the previous investment-licensing procedure with an Investment Registration Certificate, the kind of change that dates older fee guides fast (Centuro Global). Confirm the live position on your call rather than trusting one published figure.

Minimum capital by activity (services vs. trading vs. industrial)

Saudi Arabia's Companies Law, effective 19 January 2023, removed the general statutory minimum capital for limited liability companies (LLCs): capital now just has to be "sufficient to achieve the company's objective" and stated in the articles (Sovereign Group). Joint stock companies still carry a separate SAR 500,000 minimum.

Despite that reform, MISA sets practical minimum-capital conditions for specific licensed activities, and this is where most of the big numbers online come from. The clearest documented case is 100%-foreign-owned retail and wholesale trading: a 2016 cabinet decision requires SAR 30 million in capital, plus a presence in at least three international markets (Saudi Gazette). Several 2026 guides still cite this figure; some note it may be under review for reduction, unconfirmed.

For services and industrial activities, the numbers you see are largely advisory benchmarks, not statutory floors: guides commonly cite around SAR 500,000 for a services LLC and SAR 1,000,000 or more for industrial activities, closer to what MISA or a receiving bank expects to see than a figure written into the law (InvestRiyadh).

Activity type	Commonly cited figure	Legal status
LLC, general (post-2023 law)	No fixed minimum	Must be "sufficient for the objective," set in the articles
Joint stock company	SAR 500,000	Statutory minimum
Services LLC (foreign-owned)	~SAR 500,000	Practical benchmark, not a fixed floor
Industrial LLC (foreign-owned)	~SAR 1,000,000+	Practical benchmark, varies by scale
Retail/wholesale trading, 100% foreign-owned	SAR 30,000,000	Documented MISA/cabinet condition (2016), still cited in 2026

Commercial Registration and trade-name fees

Trade name reservation is commonly quoted around SAR 200-500 for a 90-day hold, sometimes split between Arabic-only (~SAR 200) and one that also secures an English name (~SAR 500) (Motaded); other guides simply cite a flat SAR 100 (Incorp KSA).

CR issuance for an LLC is most often quoted around SAR 1,200, sometimes plus a one-time e-publishing fee of around SAR 500. One guide also cites an initial-registration fee said to reduce to SAR 1,000 for companies with capital up to SAR 500,000 from 1 January 2026, a claim not yet confirmed elsewhere (Motaded; Incorp KSA). Chamber of Commerce subscription adds a further annual cost, commonly cited in the low thousands of riyals. Confirm the live schedule for your activity.

Notarisation, translation and document-attestation costs

Foreign-issued documents, such as a parent company's incorporation papers or a power of attorney, usually need certified Arabic translation and, often, attestation before Saudi authorities accept them. Guides commonly quote translation at roughly SAR 100-300 per page and notarisation at roughly SAR 100-200 per document, though neither is set centrally (Incorp KSA). Standalone articles-of-association drafting is sometimes quoted at SAR 5,000-15,000 (EnterpriseHub). If a parent company abroad is a shareholder, budget time to get its documents notarised and, where required, legalised at home before translation, since this has to finish before the Saudi filing clock starts.

Ongoing costs after registration (renewals, subscriptions)

Registration is not one-time. Expect annual CR renewal, Chamber of Commerce subscription, national address registration (often cited around SAR 200 a year), and platform fees such as Qiwa and Muqeem, around SAR 1,000-4,000 a year (EnterpriseHub). Expatriate staff add the annual work-permit levy, iqama costs and medical insurance per person. This pattern, similar but rarely identical figures, holds across almost every public cost guide on the topic.

How Start Saudi prices its 15-working-day service

Taajeel's job is to remove the guesswork from this list. Once your documents are complete, Taajeel runs the path to a registered company in 15 working days: the MISA investment licence and trade name reservation run in parallel, followed by articles of association and notarisation, then commercial registration, then government account activation. Each stage has its own turnaround, and because government offices set that pace, individual timings can shift even when the 15-day total holds. Your GM visa and bank account are tracked separately, since banks and immigration run on their own schedules. Every stage can be signed from abroad.

Taajeel has formed companies for clients across a range of sectors, helped bring foreign investment into the Kingdom, and delivered a large volume of services in total. Ask for the current, published figures on clients served, investment attracted and services delivered when you speak with us; we would rather you see the live numbers than a figure that may already be out of date on this page. What a service fee buys you is one point of accountability across MISA, the Ministry of Commerce, notarisation and government-account activation, instead of you coordinating several offices yourself. We do not publish a flat service-fee number here, since it depends on your activity and capital structure, the same variables that make the government fees above hard to pin down. You get an itemised quote on your call, government fees and service fee shown separately.

Get an exact, current quote on your free 30-minute call

Every figure on this page is a market range, not a quote. The fastest way to get an exact number for your activity and capital plan is a 30-minute call with Taajeel, where we walk through the current MISA fee position, the minimum capital your activity actually needs, and government fees versus our service fee. See if we're a fit.

Frequently asked questions

Is the MISA licence fee really waived, or does it still cost money?

Some guides report the fee as waived; others quote SAR 2,000 upfront plus an annual renewal. Saudi Arabia has used fee waivers as a temporary incentive before, so the answer depends on your licence category and the month you apply. Confirm the live position with your adviser.

What's the minimum capital to register a company in Saudi Arabia?

Since the Companies Law took effect on 19 January 2023, LLCs have no fixed statutory minimum; the amount must simply suit the company's stated objective, set out in the articles of association.

Does the minimum capital requirement change by business activity?

Yes. Services and industrial activities generally have no fixed legal minimum after the 2023 reform, though guides cite practical benchmarks around SAR 500,000 and SAR 1,000,000 respectively. Retail and wholesale trading with 100% foreign ownership is the documented exception, at SAR 30 million.

What's included in a formation agency's service fee versus what I pay the government directly?

Government fees go to MISA, the Ministry of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce for the licence, trade name, CR and related registrations. A service fee, like Taajeel's, covers filing every application and managing the process so you can complete it from abroad. Ask any provider to show these two lines separately.

Are there recurring annual costs after the company is registered?

Yes: CR renewal, Chamber of Commerce subscription, national address registration, and platform fees such as Qiwa and Muqeem. Staff add the annual work-permit levy, iqama costs and medical insurance. Ask for a first-year and a steady-state estimate separately.