100% Foreign Ownership in Saudi Arabia: 2026 Rules

Saudi Arabia allows a foreigner to own 100% of a company, with no Saudi partner and no sponsor. That sentence is correct, and it settles less than it seems to.

Three things decide whether it holds for you: what the company does, who files the application, and who runs the company on the ground. Only the first is an ownership rule.

This page takes them in that order. It covers whether you may own and on what conditions. The filing sequence is in how to register a company in Saudi Arabia.

SAR 30,000,000minimum capital for a 100% foreign owned trading company, with a presence in at least 3 markets

SAR 26,666,667minimum capital for a trading company with a Saudi partner holding at least 25%

2 of 8lines of the official activity table that carry any capital figure, both of them trading

What the Investment Law says about foreign ownership

The Investment Law, issued by Royal Decree M/19 and in force since February 2025, replaced the Foreign Investment Law of 2000. It treats ownership as open by default and lists the exceptions separately.

• Freedom to invest (Article 3). An investor may invest in any sector or activity available for investment, subject to the excluded list and national security.
• Equal treatment (Article 4). Local and foreign investors are treated equally "under similar circumstances".
• Registration first (Article 7). A foreign investor registers with the Ministry of Investment before engaging in any investment.
• A list of exceptions (Article 8). Activities where foreign investment is prohibited or restricted sit on a list of excluded activities.
• A sanction (Article 11). A fine of up to SAR 300,000, doubled for a repeat violation, or cancellation of the registration.

The qualifier in Article 4 matters. The Implementing Regulations say similarity is judged on the goods or services, the sector, the size of the investment and its effect on the local economy, and the ministry keeps its right to regulate.

Decision one: what the company does

Equal treatment has room in it, and a table fills that room. The ministry publishes it in its Investor Guide, at section 5.1.1.

Read against a founder's plan, the table sorts businesses into three groups.

• Services, consulting, software and industry do not appear. No capital figure and no Saudi shareholding is published for them.
• Trading appears twice, and both lines carry a capital figure in the tens of millions.
• Regulated professions and telecoms require a Saudi shareholder, so full foreign ownership is not available there at all.

The SAR 30 million line for trading

This is the figure that changes plans. A company that buys and resells goods in the Kingdom under full foreign ownership needs SAR 30,000,000 of capital, and the capital is the smaller part of what it signs up to.

Section 5.1.3 of the guide adds a five year investment commitment, with two ways to meet it.

Cash capital of the companySAR 30m

Five year investment, option 2SAR 200m

Five year investment, option 1SAR 300m

Option 2 is cheaper because it comes with a local commitment. The company must meet at least one of three tests in its first five years.

• Manufacturing: 30% or more of the products it distributes locally are made in Saudi Arabia.
• Research and development: 5% or more of total sales go to R&D programmes in the Kingdom.
• Logistics: a unified centre for distribution and after-sales service.

Both options also require training 30% of Saudi employees each year and a plan to place Saudis in senior management.

A Saudi partner does not lower the bar in any useful way. With 25% Saudi ownership the published capital is still SAR 26,666,667.

For an importer, a distributor or an online retailer below that scale, the published alternative is not a company at all. A foreign company with a Saudi agent or authorised distributor may register a scientific and technical office, which supports the product and may not sign contracts or trade.

Whether your activity is classified as trading depends on its ISIC code. Confirm the code before you assume you are outside this line.

Minimum capital outside trading: where sources disagree

This is the most quoted number in the market, and the positions do not agree.

The official position is the last row. Neither the Investment Law, nor its regulations, nor the guide publishes a floor for services, consulting, software or industry.

An empty cell is not a guarantee. Three reasons to treat it with care.

• The application discloses capital. Article 11 of the regulations requires every applicant to state its capital and its expected contribution, so the ministry sees the figure before it approves.
• Sector regulators set their own conditions. A licence from another authority can carry a capital test the investment table does not show.
• Banks have their own view. Agencies report that banks expect a demonstrated capital before opening the account, which is covered in business bank account in Saudi Arabia.

Ask for the capital expectation for your exact activity code in writing before you fix a figure in the articles.

The excluded list: prohibited and restricted are different things

The regulations split the excluded list in two, and the difference decides what you can ask for.

Article 15 of the regulations says the ministry publishes the list in the Investor Guide. The table in section 5.1.1 is the restricted half.

We could not find the prohibited half. As of 5 October 2026, neither 2026 edition of the guide contains a list of prohibited activities, and no such list appears on the ministry's laws, resources or circulars pages. The ministry's FAQ describes two tracks only, available and restricted.

Lists do circulate in agency guides, with 7 to 11 lines depending on the page. The lines that recur are below, and none is tied to a current official document.

• Upstream oil exploration, drilling and production.
• Military equipment and civilian explosives.
• Private security and investigation services.
• Services tied to Hajj and Umrah.
• Real estate in Makkah and Madinah, which now has its own law.

Some of those pages also list telecommunications as prohibited. The official table treats it as restricted, with a 40% Saudi minimum, so the lists are at least partly out of date.

The portal classifies each activity code as available or restricted when you apply. That classification, not a published list, is the check that counts today.

Decision two: who files the application

The second question is about the applicant, and it is where a solo founder is most often surprised.

The ministry's FAQ states that it issues registration for "legal entities, foreign companies, and individuals who hold Premium Residency". The document list for a regular registration matches: it asks for the foreign company's commercial register and its financial statements for the last fiscal year, both certified by the Saudi Embassy.

An individual abroad with no operating company and no Premium Residency does not appear in that table. The regulations do provide for natural person applicants, so the door is not closed in law, but the published paths run through a company, a residence status or a sponsor institution.

Premium Residency is a paid status. Sovereign Group reported in October 2025 a one-off SAR 800,000 for the permanent version and SAR 100,000 a year for the renewable one. Check current terms before budgeting.

Decision three: who runs the company on the ground

"No sponsor needed" is true of the shares. It says nothing about the person who manages the company, and that is where remote plans stop.

No article of law was found for the resident manager rule. Article 160 of the Companies Law says an LLC is managed by one or more managers "appointed from among the partners or others", and sets no residence or nationality condition.

What exists is a circuit that assumes a resident. The Investor Guide lays it out service by service.

• The manager's iqama is issued on a commercial register carrying the manager's name, plus an electronic work permit.
• The labour platform requires a registered Saudi authorised representative listed as a user of the establishment's account.
• The ministry's data update service covers the general manager's details.

Formation firms say the same, one of them "in practical terms", and none cites a legal text. Treat it as a documented rule of practice: until the manager holds an iqama, expect the labour platforms and hiring to wait. The bank account is the one place where a rule is written: the central bank accepts the manager's passport at opening, with the iqama due within 90 days, though many banks are reported to ask for it first.

1. 1
   Is the activity available, restricted or prohibited?Trading at 100% needs SAR 30,000,000. Telecoms and regulated professions need a Saudi shareholder.
2. 2
   Who is the applicant?A foreign company with last year's accounts, a Premium Residency holder, or an entrepreneur backed by a Saudi university or incubator.
3. 3
   Who is the general manager?The shareholder can stay abroad. The manager is expected to hold an iqama, or to be Saudi or already resident.
4. 4
   Only then: registerInvestment registration first, then the commercial register.

The usual answers are to relocate a founder, to hire a manager who is Saudi or already resident, or to appoint one through a service provider. Each gives real authority to that person, because a manager's appointment binds the company toward third parties once it is on the commercial register.

Two things full ownership does not buy

A registered, wholly foreign owned company still meets two separate regimes.

A regional headquarters is a tool for a multinational, not for a founder. It is not a condition of registering a company, only of selling to the state above the threshold.

A foreign company that only wants to hold property, without operating, has its own registration with the ministry: no fee and an announced 10 working days.

The Saudi nominee and the foreign holding

Two structures are regularly proposed to get around the limits above. They are not equivalent.

A Saudi nominee who holds the shares for you is the response sometimes offered to the SAR 30 million line. It is concealment, known as tasattur, and Saudi Arabia has dedicated legislation against it.

• Under the investment regulations, giving false or misleading information to the ministry is a serious violation.
• So is investing in an excluded activity without approval, or changing ownership in a restricted one without it.
• The shares belong to the nominee on every register. Your claim against that person rests on a private paper you may not be able to enforce.

A holding company abroad is lawful and common. Check what it does and does not change.

• It gives you a corporate applicant, which is what the regular registration path expects.
• It must show last fiscal year's financial statements, which a company formed last month does not have. Ask how the ministry treats a new holding.
• A Gulf holding does not make you local. A GCC investor is treated as local "unless there are foreign investors within the ownership structure".
• It does not change the activity test. The 30 million line follows the business, not the shareholder.

The tax effect of putting a holding between you and the Saudi company is covered in Saudi Arabia withholding tax for non-residents.