Saudi launches service to start business from outside country in just 3 steps

Those wishing to start a business in Saudi Arabia while outside the Kingdom will find the task easier following the streamlining of the licensing procedure.

Setting up a business in the Kingdom now will require only three steps, reducing the legwork that investors have to go through.

The Ministry of Investment on November 15 launched a new service to establish and start a business from outside the Kingdom, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, to enable companies and investors to issue investment licenses quickly and easily per international best practices.

Under the new service, new investors will only need to do three steps to authenticate the agency and attestation of the establishment contract, starting with visiting the website of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and applying for “adding a request for attestation of a contract” at the Kingdom’s missions abroad.

The second step requires the investors to visit the electronic services portal on the Ministry of Investment website where they can apply for the license issuance.

The final step requires the investor to visit the Ministry of Commerce website to authenticate the establishment contract of the business and issue the commercial register, reports state news agency SPA.

The new step contributes to strengthening the Kingdom’s reforms implemented to do business in the Kingdom for investors and companies.

It also comes as a result of integration and partnership between government agencies to address the challenges facing investors and contributes to raising the competitiveness of the Kingdom’s investment environment regionally and globally, which enhances the Kingdom’s position as an attractive investment destination for ease of starting businesses in the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Investment confirmed that the new service, which was inaugurated in a number of the Kingdom's embassies, will bring about fundamental changes in the investor's journey, facilitate the establishment and start of foreign companies' businesses, and overcome the obstacles they faced in the past, including, for example, the need for companies to visit the Kingdom to document incorporation contracts with the multiplicity of documents that must be submitted and redundancy of requests, and visits to various government agencies for verification, which used to be attributed to the lack of electronic connectivity between the Ministry of Investment and the Ministries of Trade and Foreign Affairs.

The ministry added that there will be a broad marketing campaign in several languages to ensure that the largest possible segment of foreign investors and companies can benefit from the new service.