First 90 Days After Your Saudi Company Is Registered: What to Do and When
Getting your Saudi LLC registered is not the finish line. The 90 days after MISA approval are the most operationally demanding. Here is the exact sequence of what needs to happen.
Getting your MISA Investment Registration Certificate and your Commercial Registration number is the moment most companies treat as the finish line. It is not. It is the start of the operational phase — the 90 days in which you need to complete a series of registrations, open accounts, hire people, and establish the physical presence that makes your Saudi entity real rather than just a certificate sitting in a drawer.
This is also the phase where the most mistakes happen. Not because the tasks are technically complex, but because the sequence matters and because the consequences of getting it wrong — employees who cannot get work visas, operations that cannot invoice, Saudization requirements that start accruing from day one — become apparent before they can be corrected.
I have guided several companies through this phase. The guide below reflects the sequence I recommend and the reasons behind the timing. Not every company's situation is identical, but the underlying logic of why certain registrations need to precede others is consistent.
The First 2 Weeks: The Foundation You Cannot Skip
Register on Qiwa — Immediately
Qiwa is the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources' platform for all employer-employee relations. Once your Commercial Registration is issued, you are an employer in Saudi Arabia — even if you have no employees yet. Your Qiwa account needs to be active before you hire anyone, because work visas, Iqama renewals, and Saudization compliance all flow through Qiwa.
The Qiwa registration itself is straightforward — it uses your CR number and the Absher account of your authorised representative in Saudi Arabia. What catches companies is the assumption that this can wait until the first hire is imminent. It cannot — the platform takes time to fully activate and your Saudization quota (which determines how many foreign employees you can hire) is calculated from your Qiwa profile. Waiting until you are about to hire means you may not have a quota ready when you need it.
Register on Qiwa in the first week. Confirm that your establishment appears correctly with the right activity code and the right company size classification. Errors in these fields affect your Saudization quota calculation and are easier to correct before your first employee than after.
Register with GOSI
GOSI — the General Organization for Social Insurance — is Saudi Arabia's social insurance system. Every employer must register with GOSI and contribute monthly payments based on employee salaries. GOSI contributions cover workplace injury insurance for all employees, and pension contributions for Saudi employees specifically.
For foreign employees, GOSI contributions are for workplace injury insurance (hazard insurance) only. For Saudi employees, the contribution covers pension. The combined contribution rate as of 2026 is 9.75 percent employer contribution for Saudi employees and 2 percent for foreign employees, calculated on basic salary and housing allowance.
Register with GOSI immediately after the CR is issued. GOSI registration is linked to your CR and is required before the Ministry of Human Resources will process your work visas. A company that tries to apply for work visas without GOSI registration will find the application blocked at a platform level.
File for VAT Registration with ZATCA
ZATCA — the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority — handles VAT registration in Saudi Arabia. The mandatory VAT registration threshold is SAR 375,000 annual revenue, but most foreign companies register voluntarily from the outset regardless of revenue, because issuing a VAT-compliant invoice to a Saudi business partner requires a VAT registration number.
The practical reality: your first Saudi client will ask for a VAT invoice. If you do not have a VAT number, you cannot provide one, and some Saudi procurement systems require a valid VAT number to process a supplier. Register with ZATCA early. The registration is done through the ZATCA portal and typically takes 1 to 2 weeks if documentation is complete.
Note: VAT registration is separate from corporate income tax registration. Foreign companies are also subject to Saudi income tax on Saudi-source income (at a standard rate of 20 percent for foreign-owned entities). Your corporate tax registration with ZATCA should be confirmed at this stage as well.
Weeks 2-6: The Bank Account and Physical Presence
The Bank Account — Start Now, Not When You Need It
I covered the bank account process in detail in a separate guide. The key point here is timing: the bank account process takes 6 to 10 weeks in most cases, which means if you start it at week 2, you may have an operational account by week 10 to 12. If you wait until you need the account to pay your first employee, you will be paying late — which creates its own compliance problems.
Start the bank account application in parallel with the Qiwa, GOSI, and ZATCA registrations. Do not wait for these to complete before beginning the bank process. The applications run in parallel, not sequentially.
The detailed guide on what the bank account process actually involves covers the documentation, which bank to approach first, and what causes applications to fail.
Establish the Physical Office
Saudi company registration requires a registered address, but a registered address is not the same as an operational office. MISA and the CR can be completed with a virtual office address. At some point — typically within 3 to 6 months of registration, and sometimes required sooner for certain licence types and sector approvals — you need a physical office.
The physical office matters for several reasons beyond the regulatory requirement. Saudi business counterparts, government entities, and banks all place weight on physical presence. A company that cannot be visited is a company whose commitment to the Saudi market is ambiguous. A physical office, even a small one, removes this ambiguity.
In Medina specifically, office rental in business districts runs SAR 800 to SAR 2,000 per square metre annually for properly fitted commercial space. For a company starting with 3 to 5 employees, a 40 to 80 square metre office is typically sufficient and costs SAR 40,000 to SAR 120,000 per year depending on location and quality.
Sign a lease, register it on the Ejar platform, and obtain a municipal licence (Baladiya permit) for the office premises. The municipal licence is separate from the commercial registration and is required for the address to be used as a business premises.
Weeks 4-12: Your First Hire and the Saudization Question
Hiring your first Saudi employee is both a legal obligation and a strategic decision. The Nitaqat (Saudization) system requires that a percentage of your workforce be Saudi nationals. The required percentage depends on your business activity classification (USOC code) and your company size. Our Saudization compliance guide covers how Nitaqat bands work in practice.
For a company with 1 to 5 employees, the Saudization requirement is specific to the USOC code. In many professional services categories, a company with fewer than 5 employees is in the 'Small' band, and the Saudization requirement may be 0 at this size. This changes as you hire beyond certain thresholds.
The strategic question for a new foreign company is: hire the Saudi employee first, or hire the foreign specialist first? The answer depends on your USOC code, your projected headcount at 12 months, and your budget.
Hire the Saudi first if: Your USOC code requires Saudization from the first hiring point, or if you anticipate hiring 5+ people within 12 months and need to build your Saudi ratio from the outset. Hiring a Saudi employee first also immediately improves your Nitaqat classification, which affects your ability to obtain additional work visas for foreign hires.
Hire the foreign specialist first if: Your operation cannot function without a specific technical skill that is not available among qualified Saudi candidates, and your USOC code allows it at your initial company size. This is a temporary position — you will need Saudi hires as you grow.
On the work visa process for foreign hires: work visas in Saudi Arabia require an approved quota (issued through Qiwa based on your Saudization compliance and company profile), a visa application through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and an Iqama (residency permit) issued within 90 days of the employee's entry into the Kingdom. The Iqama is the employee's legal right to live and work in Saudi Arabia — it is not optional and not something to leave until the employee has been working for several months.
| Hire Type | Qiwa Requirement · GOSI Requirement · Nitaqat Impact · Iqama Required |
|---|---|
| Saudi national (full-time) | Registered via Qiwa contract · Employer contributes 9.75% (with pension) · Positively improves Nitaqat classification · No (Saudi ID) |
| Foreign national (full-time) | Work visa quota required from Qiwa · Employer contributes 2% (hazard only) · Uses one foreign worker slot · Yes — within 90 days of entry |
| Saudi national (part-time) | Registered as part-time via Qiwa · Contribution proportional · Partial Nitaqat credit · No (Saudi ID) |
| Freelancer (Saudi) | Registered via Musaned/freelance category · Varies — check current rules · Partial credit depending on classification · No |
The 90-Day Sequence: All Tasks With Timing
| Timeline | Task · Platform/Authority · Why This Timing |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Register on Qiwa · hrsd.gov.sa / Qiwa platform · Foundation for all hiring — cannot hire before Qiwa is active |
| Week 1 | Register with GOSI · gosi.gov.sa · Required before work visas; contributions start with first employee |
| Week 1-2 | Apply for ZATCA VAT registration · zatca.gov.sa · Needed before first Saudi invoice is issued |
| Week 1-2 | Begin bank account application · Your chosen Saudi bank · Takes 6-10 weeks — start immediately, run in parallel |
| Week 2-3 | Sign office lease and register on Ejar · ejar.sa · Physical presence required; Ejar registration linked to Iqama |
| Week 2-4 | Obtain municipal licence (Baladiya) · Municipal portal / Balady app · Required for business premises |
| Week 4-6 | First Saudi hire — contract via Qiwa · Qiwa platform · Improves Nitaqat; enables additional work visa quota |
| Week 4-8 | Apply for foreign employee work visas (if needed) · MOFA / Ministry of Interior · Requires Qiwa quota, GOSI registration, and valid establishment licence |
| Week 6-10 | Bank account operational · Bank · Plan all payroll and supplier payments around this date |
| Week 8-12 | First Iqama applications for foreign employees · Jawazat offices · Must be within 90 days of employee's entry — do not let this slide |
| Week 12 | Review Nitaqat classification on Qiwa · Qiwa dashboard · Confirm your band — act on any compliance gap before it affects visa status |
The Things That Bite You If You Wait
- Delayed GOSI registration: If you hire an employee before GOSI is registered, the employee is uninsured. If a workplace incident occurs, the liability falls entirely on the company and the company's authorised representative personally. GOSI is not optional and not something to handle 'after we are properly set up'.
- Missed Iqama deadline: The 90-day window for Iqama issuance after an employee enters the Kingdom is a hard deadline. Overstaying a visit visa while waiting for an Iqama that has not been applied for creates fines for the employee, fines for the company, and in serious cases affects the company's future visa quota. Do not treat the Iqama application as something to do when there is time.
- Wrong USOC code: The USOC code (your business activity code on Qiwa and the Commercial Registration) determines your Saudization quota rate and your sector approval requirements. An incorrect USOC code set at registration creates problems that are difficult to unwind — you may be classified in a sector with a higher Saudization requirement than your actual business activity requires, or locked out of hiring in categories you actually need. Review the USOC code at registration, not after the first compliance issue.
- No VAT number at first invoice: If your first Saudi contract requires a VAT invoice and your ZATCA registration is not yet complete, you either delay the invoice (delaying payment) or issue a non-compliant invoice (creating a compliance exposure). ZATCA registration takes 1 to 2 weeks — start it the same week as your CR is issued.
If you are entering the Saudi market and want support managing this 90-day operational phase: contact us or WhatsApp +966 57 354 0020. We provide hands-on guidance for companies entering through Medina and Riyadh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I postpone setting up GOSI and Qiwa if I am not hiring immediately?
You can delay the first hire, but you should register on Qiwa and GOSI immediately after the CR is issued regardless. Registration before hiring is straightforward. Retroactive registration after a compliance review is significantly more complicated and may result in penalties. The platforms are designed to be registered immediately on company formation — treat them as part of the formation process, not as something triggered by the first hire.
What happens if my Saudization rate falls below the required minimum?
Your company's Nitaqat band on Qiwa will classify you as Red (non-compliant). Consequences of Red classification: inability to obtain new work visas for foreign employees, inability to renew existing Iqamas, and inability to process Iqama transfers. For a company that depends on foreign specialist staff, Red classification is operationally damaging. Qiwa shows your current band in real time — monitor it monthly and act on gaps before they result in a Red classification.
Do I need a Saudi General Manager or can a foreign national hold the GM role?
A foreign national can be the General Manager of a Saudi LLC. There is no requirement that the GM be Saudi. However, the GM must hold an Iqama and be physically present in Saudi Arabia, at least for the purposes of government dealings and contract execution. A GM based entirely outside Saudi Arabia creates practical difficulties with government platforms and official correspondence that require in-person authentication.
Related: How to Set Up a Company in Saudi Arabia | Saudization (Nitaqat): A Practical Compliance Guide | Operating Costs for Foreign Businesses in Saudi Arabia | Labor Laws and Hiring Requirements