I personally know three Foreign Investors personally, and another few who have applied. It's not as hard as it used to be. Before, you had to show a Bank Balance of at least 2,000,000 (yes that's two million) Riyals before even starting the business..
Now, you only have to show 100,000 (one hundred thousand) Riyals. Your can select the type of business that you would like from a WIDE range of selections.
The benefits of your OWN business:
- You are your OWN sponsor (if you know how the sponsorship stuff works, you know what a hassle it can be)
- You are your OWN boss (unless you hire somebody to run your company and tell you what to do)
- You can enter and leave the Kingdom as you like.
- You can live here, possibly, forever (as long as your business is running)
Besides the 100,000 (one hunder thousand) Riyals that you will have to show in a Bank Balance (you don't have to give it to anybody, you just have to HAVE IT to USE IT), you will need to spend a pretty decent amount of money in hiring an agent to expedite your paperwork. Don't try to do it yourself, it's a HASSLE. You need to know who and where to go to get your paperwork completed and if you try as an individual who is OBLIVIOUS to the way things work here, you'll take forever to get your paperwork done.
It will cost about 30,000 (thirty thousand) Riyals for the agent to have all your paperwork completed and have your files opened in all the Ministries and Agencies that you will need.
It will cost about 5,000 (five thousand) Riyals to pay for the Iqaamah (residency document) and a few other minor paperwork.
You will also have to set up a small office to prove the initial establishment of your business.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be covering Foreign Investment in Saudi Arabia in some detail, insha Allah. Please forgive me if I take long, but we have finals for school, and that's more important than my blog. If you are interested in Foreign Investment in Saudi Arabia, contact me either through the comments section or my e-mail address (abumiftah [at] hotmail) and I'll get back to you about starting paperwork and finding an agent.
Take care people...
Peace...
Well, it's about time they figured out how important FDIs are for our economy!
However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. I suggest that you structure your coverage in a comparative form. That way, people can learn what the real implications of globalization and FDIs are =)