Commercial Registration (CR) in Saudi Arabia, issued once, confirmed every year.

The Ministry of Commerce’s record of a company or branch, without which it cannot legally trade.

No. The CR registers the company; regulated activities also need a sector licence, and premises need a municipal licence from Balady.

Trade name, unified number, legal form, activities, capital, managers, address and status.

Yes, through the Ministry of Commerce’s CR enquiry service using the unified number.

Yes, in the parent’s name. See branch registration.

Foreign investors normally hold a CR through a company, such as an LLC, registered with MISA.

Several, provided each is allowed and, for foreign owners, matches the MISA registration. Since April 2025 one CR covers all of a business’s activities.

The official record is in Arabic; translations are available for your use.

No. Since 3 April 2025 CRs carry no expiry date.

An online confirmation of the CR’s data on the Saudi Business Center, due every 12 months from the date the CR was issued.

Once 90 days pass after the due date, the CR and the services linked to it are suspended. A year into the suspension the CR is struck off automatically.

Yes. The Ministry charges a fee when you confirm, and lifting a suspension adds a fine on top.

Sub-registers are being phased out. The law gives existing ones five years from April 2025 to be corrected.

The company’s single identifier, used as its CR number and across government platforms.

3 April 2025 (5 Shawwal 1446), together with its implementing regulations.

No. They moved to the yearly confirmation regime.

Pick something distinctive, not misleading and not already registered. We send options before reserving one.

Not any more. Since April 2025 a trade name can use Arabic, Arabised or English words, letters or numbers.

Yes, if the name is still available and passes the Trade Names Law checks. Branches use the parent’s name.

Any name similar to an existing one, even in a different activity, and names that mislead. The regulations also restrict family names, personal names, the word Saudi and the names of cities and regions.

No. A trademark is registered separately with the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property.

Yes, by amending the CR. The new name then has to be updated at MISA, Qiwa and ZATCA, and on the bank mandate.

No. The law bars registering a name similar to another business’s name, even when the activities differ.

The Trade Names Law, in force since 3 April 2025. It also lets a name be reserved before registration, and transferred separately from the business.

The shareholders and capital, the managers and their powers, how profit is shared, and the rules for transfers and exits.

Exactly who can open and operate accounts, alone or jointly. Banks read this clause before anything else.

Yes, within the Companies Law, such as transfer restrictions or family charters.

Under the Ministry’s rules, anyone holding at least 25% of the capital, directly or indirectly. If nobody does, whoever controls the company, and failing that, its management.

With the incorporation request and again at each yearly CR confirmation. The company also keeps its own beneficial-owner register.

No. The Ministry of Commerce charges nothing to record beneficial-owner data or to confirm it each year.

The company’s official address registered with Saudi Post (SPL), used for notices and needed by banks.

Certifying company letters. MISA’s guide asks for Chamber-certified letters to register a Qiwa account manager and to sponsor family visas, for example.

The filing is quick once MISA has approved and the articles are agreed; the name and articles take most of the time. Two of our files for Pakistani shareholders took 25 days and 114 days from MISA to CR, so we don’t promise a date.

Yes. The filing is online on the Saudi Business Center, made under a power of attorney.

The shareholders or their attorneys; signatures made abroad are notarised, then apostilled or legalised.

They have to match. One record is amended before the CR is issued.

No. A passport is enough to be recorded; residency comes later.

You need a National Address. Leased premises depend on the activity and municipal licensing.

Yes, picking up from the MISA registration. The steps after it are listed on our Saudi company formation services page.

Each activity’s licence within 90 days, the National Address and Chamber records, ZATCA and VAT registration, GOSI and Qiwa for hiring, and a bank account in the company’s name. A trading company also registers as an importer.

Names that don’t match passports, unworkable signing powers, mismatched activities and capital below an activity minimum.

Amend the articles and CR, then update banks and government platforms.

By shareholder resolution and amended articles and CR, with MISA if ownership changes.

Yes. Once MISA approves the activity, the CR is amended to list it, then any sector licence follows.

Update the National Address and CR, and tell MISA within ten working days; its guide lists a late notice as a violation.

Yes, until the one-year mark: file the missed confirmation and pay the fee and the fine before the CR has been suspended for a full year.

Only after the company has settled its staff and its tax and closed its contracts. The MISA registration is cancelled after that.

Yes. The bank mandate is updated with the new manager’s documents before they can sign. See corporate bank accounts.

Yes. After any change the CR is the master record, and the MISA, ZATCA, GOSI and Qiwa records must show the same data.

Your accountant or our compliance service.