Tasattur: Saudi Arabia offers premium residency visa holders concessions

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched a campaign against commercial concealment (tasattur).

The Kingdom’s National Program for Combating Commercial Concealment allows enterprises involving commercial concealment to have their status corrected with the provision of some concessions and exemptions during the corrective period, which will end on Aug 23.

The program, which applies to all enterprises regardless of their size, income, and commercial activities, allows non-Saudis who are holders of premium residency visas to take advantage of the opportunity to correct the status of their establishments if they do not meet the required conditions.

The concessions include a reduction in the requirement for establishments to achieve annual revenues from SR40 to SR10 million and increasing the deadline for achieving the capital required for restricted activities from three to five years.

Enterprises will also be exempted from penalties prescribed in the law and the consequences from other penalties, and exemption from paying income tax retroactively, in order to ensure the regular practice of economic activities.

Corrective steps need to be carried out using multiple options on the website of the Ministry of Commerce.

Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih has granted approval for the application of these requirements effective from last Sunday by issuing investment licenses to establishments registered in the name of non-Saudis if there is an agreement between Saudis and non-Saudis as partners.

The program confirmed the continuation of the correction process with all other options suitable for establishments in all sizes and sectors, and these include practicing economic activities of Saudis by introducing a new partner in the firm, as well as Saudis running the facility, allowing non-Saudis to obtain Premium Residency to run the firm and the non-Saudis involved in tasattur leaving the Kingdom permanently.

According to the updated requirements for correcting the status, the beneficiaries will be exempted from the requirement of the Ministry of Investment to have international franchisee for the establishment and this will be with the condition that the number of employees of the firm shall be 50 and above or the firm’s revenues for the last year would be SR10 million or more.

The conditions also include that the firm’s registration in the commercial register would be before the start of the corrective campaign and that the foreign partner would be residing in the Kingdom before the start of the correction period.

Moreover, the foreign partner’s employer should not have any objections to the correction process.