The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) announced yesterday that it has launched a package of new procedures to facilitate the issuance of licenses for foreign investors in the Kingdom. Dr. Ayedh Al-Otaibi, the Director General of the System Development and Investment Procedures Administration, said the new steps included expediting the procedure for all kinds of license, reducing them to three requirements and obtaining them in not more than five working days. He said investors planning to do business in the field of contracting will have a variety of options to establish sustainable entities with an initial three years license to probe the market before entering into practical business. He added that the authority, in a concerted effort with the Ministry of Labor and other relevant governmental bodies, has stipulated a number of conditions for supporting the profession of investor and director general for individual, small and medium businesses, in accordance with the foreign investment system and international agreements. Casting light on those conditions, he said individual investors should meet one of four conditions: that his company is a patented innovative one, an exporter of its products, has an at least medium classification with no less than 50 workforce, and its capital is no less than SR37.5 million. He said the current conditions will apply to current and future licenses as the current licenses have given a grace suffice to each adapt itself with the new investor or director general profession privilege. He concluded that commercial visit visas would remain applicable according to Saudi Arabia's regulations and international obligations.
