The Ministry of Investment license is the legal basis for foreign ownership in Saudi Arabia, and its cost structure confuses almost everyone at first contact: the application fee is trivial, and the real cost is the annual subscription, which differs by license type and recurs every year the license is held.
The figures below are indicative government fees for orientation and budgeting. They move with policy, and your activity can change the classification — treat them as the shape of the cost, and verify the current schedule before committing a budget.
The license itself
Application and registration cost SAR 2,000 as a one-off. The annual subscription is the dominant line: service and trading licenses carry a materially higher subscription than industrial and regional-headquarters licenses, which benefit from promotional pricing tied to the Kingdom's industrial and RHQ strategies.
| License type | Application (one-off) | Annual subscription (indicative) |
|---|---|---|
| Service license | SAR 2,000 | SAR 60,000 |
| Trading license | SAR 2,000 | SAR 60,000 |
| Industrial license | SAR 2,000 | SAR 10,000 |
| Regional HQ license | SAR 2,000 | SAR 10,000 |
| Entrepreneur license | SAR 2,000 | Reduced — tied to accelerator/VC endorsement |
What always comes with it
A MISA license on its own is not an operating company. The incorporation fees that follow are modest but non-optional: name reservation and Articles of Association (roughly SAR 1,700), CR issuance (roughly SAR 1,200, renewing annually), and Chamber of Commerce membership (from roughly SAR 2,000 per year). Foreign shareholders also carry document costs — attestation, certified Arabic translation, and powers of attorney — typically SAR 4,000 to 8,000 for a corporate shareholder and less for an individual.
The items most often missing from competitor quotes are the recurring ones: the MISA subscription renews every year, as do the CR, Chamber membership, and the municipality license. A first-year quote that looks dramatically cheaper than the market is usually quoting one-off fees against other firms' first-year totals.
A realistic first-year picture
For a standard service-licensed LLC with a corporate foreign shareholder, government and document costs alone — before premises and professional fees — land in the SAR 70,000 to 80,000 range, of which the MISA subscription is by far the largest component. Industrial and RHQ entities run materially cheaper on the license line.
Alpha's cost estimator produces a personalised version of this breakdown in about a minute, and a scoping call turns it into a fixed quote. The one number to hold onto: the subscription, not the application fee, is the cost of a MISA license.
Common questions
How much does a MISA license cost?
The application and registration fee is SAR 2,000 one-off. The real cost is the annual subscription: indicatively SAR 60,000 per year for service and trading licenses, and around SAR 10,000 for industrial and regional-HQ licenses. Figures are indicative and should be verified against the current fee schedule.
Is the MISA subscription a one-time fee?
No — it recurs every year the license is held, and the license must stay current for the company to remain validly foreign-owned. It is the single largest recurring government cost for most service and trading entities.
What other government fees come with formation?
Name reservation and Articles of Association (~SAR 1,700), CR issuance (~SAR 1,200, annual), and Chamber of Commerce membership (from ~SAR 2,000, annual), plus attestation and translation costs for foreign shareholder documents.
Why are industrial and RHQ licenses cheaper?
Both carry promotional subscription pricing tied to national strategy — the industrial programme and the Regional Headquarters programme respectively. The entrepreneur license is similarly discounted for startups with an endorsement from an approved accelerator, incubator, or investor.
Does the license cost depend on company size?
The subscription is set by license type rather than headcount or revenue. Size shows up elsewhere — Chamber class, municipality fees, and of course premises and payroll.