Saudi Gazette report

Riyadh — Now investment licenses can be issued in less than 4 hours, according to an official of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).

Earlier the procedures for the issuance of investment licenses took 53 hours.

The remarkable improvement was due to three initiatives: restructuring the processes, reducing the required documents, training and qualifying the cadres.

Ibrahim S. Al Suwayel, deputy governor for Investors’ Services and Consultancy, said the restructured processes include issuing, amending and renewing investment licenses.

Earlier, eight documents were required to get an investment license, but now only two documents are required.

These two documents are financial statements and commercial registers attested by Saudi embassy where the company seeking investment license is located.

Investment licenses can be renewed by investor through self-service on the SAGIA website.

In its attempt to attract investors by facilitating easier procedures, SAGIA has issued 17 licenses to foreign investors during the last two weeks.