Commercial registration cost, fee by fee

The trade name costs more in English

Reserving a trade name is SAR 200 in Arabic and SAR 500 in English. It is the cheapest decision on this page and the one most often made carelessly, because the English reservation is the one most foreign founders reach for by reflex.

The ministry lists 10 days for the service, and a reservation you already hold can be extended for SAR 100. That SAR 100 is worth knowing about for a second reason: it is the figure that circulates online as the cost of reserving a name. It is not. It is the cost of extending one.

What a standard LLC actually comes to

Take the most common shape: a wholly foreign-owned consultancy in Riyadh, an LLC, registering with an Arabic trade name. Two hundred riyals for the name, 1,200 to establish, 500 to publish, and 15% VAT on those last two, which is 255. The total of published government fees is SAR 2,155. Choose the English name instead and it is SAR 2,455.

That number is small enough to surprise people who have been quoted five figures. The gap is not fraud; it is service, translation, attestation, and the consultant's time. It is worth paying for when it is itemised. It is worth questioning when it is not.

Timing and the certificate that expires

The registration itself is quick: the ministry lists within 72 hours for the service. The constraint sits upstream. To establish the company you need an investment certificate valid for at least 30 days, so a certificate that has drifted close to expiry while documents were being attested will stop the process at the last step.

If your parent company documents are still travelling between a Saudi embassy and a translator, start the name reservation, not the company. Names are cheap to hold and cheap to extend.

Professional companies have their own floor

If your activity is a licensed profession, the ownership test bites before the fee does: 25% licensed Saudi, 70% licensed. Both conditions have to hold at once, which in practice decides who your partner can be before you have paid the ministry anything.

The fee that comes back every year

The establishment fee is charged once. Its twin, the annual confirmation of your registration data, is charged every year at the same rate: SAR 1,200 for an LLC. Founders routinely budget the first and forget the second. It is covered in the annual cost guide.