Saudi Arabia · Residency by investment
Premium Residency — Unlimited Duration and Limited Duration
These are the two original tiers created by the Premium Residency Permit Law (2019), and they remain the core of the programme. Article 3 of the Law sets out only two legal types, Permanent and Fixed-term. The newer 2024 categories are products that sit beneath these two, not separate legal statuses. Article 3(2) matters here: it states that products and their fees are proposed by the Board and approved by decision of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA). In practice, that means pricing is set administratively, not by statute.
SAR 800,000 buys the only permanent, presence-free, sponsor-free status in the Gulf. It is also the only regional programme that statutorily includes parents. It removes you from the kafala system entirely. You own property, run a business and use national immigration lanes without an employer.
Qualifying routes
A one-time fee of SAR 800,000, roughly USD 213,000, buys permanent status. There is no renewal and no further payment.
This costs SAR 100,000 per year, roughly USD 26,700, and renews annually for up to 5 years. It is not a stepping stone to the permanent tier. It is a separate product entirely.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 100k SAR
- Total landed cost
- Expect SAR 800,000 one-time for the permanent tier, or SAR 100,000 per year for the renewable option. On top of that, budget roughly SAR 10-20k for medical checks, background screening and translation costs.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 1–3 months (Typically 30–90 days. Simple tracks move faster, closer to 4–8 weeks. Confidence is medium here, drawn from advisory sources rather than a published PRC service standard.)
- Physical presence
- There is no physical presence requirement, either to obtain the status or to maintain it.
- Family
- SpouseChildren qualify up to age 25. Unmarried daughters over 25 and children with special needs may also qualifyParents qualify too. Unusually, the Law defines Family at Article 1 to include parents
- Permanent residency
- The Unlimited Duration permit is permanent residency from day one. It is the only such product anywhere in the Gulf.
- Citizenship
- There is effectively no path here. Naturalisation requires roughly 10 years of residence, fluency in Arabic and a record of exceptional contribution, and the decision remains wholly discretionary.
- Language test
- Arabic fluency is required for the discretionary naturalisation route.
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- valid passportproof of financial solvencyclean criminal recordmedical report no older than 6 monthslegal residence if applying from inside the Kingdomaged 21 or over
- The SAR 800,000 price is not protected by statute. Article 3(2) lets CEDA reprice products by administrative decision, with no legislative process required. Do not model it as a locked-in cost.
- This buys residency. It is not a passport, not a citizenship pathway, and not tax residency in any treaty sense.
- Article 5 preserves discretion. Issuance remains subject to a public interest test, and there is no stated appeal against refusal.
- The annual SAR 100,000 tier is a separate product, not a staircase to the permanent one. Paying it for five years costs SAR 500,000 and leaves you with nothing permanent.
- Uptake data tells the real story. Of 8,074 permits issued in 2024, 5,578 went to salaried professionals under the Exceptional Competence category, and only 348 went to the Talent category. The investor tracks are statistically near-invisible. This is a professional-retention tool that happens to have investor doors.
- Dual citizenship is generally not permitted in Saudi Arabia. That is irrelevant while you hold PR, but it is fatal to any citizenship fantasy.