What changed?

The new Investment Law repealed the old Foreign Investment Law and replaced licensing with registration: a foreign investor registers with the Ministry of Investment before starting, and once registration is confirmed, obtains the commercial registration and the licences from the competent authorities.

The steps in order

1) Define the activity and check it is open to foreign investors and what it requires. 2) Choose the legal form: the limited liability company is the most common, alongside the simplified joint-stock company and the branch of a foreign company. 3) Register with the Ministry of Investment. 4) The commercial registration. 5) Activity licences from the competent authority, and the registrations that follow.

Decisions before the paperwork

Some activities need a special approval, and some require a Saudi partner: professional activities, for example, require at least 25% Saudi participation under the Ministry of Investment's Investor Guide. So the activity, legal form and ownership set the route before any filing.