Exclusive Residency Center Lau...

The Exclusive Residency Center has announced the introduction of five new categories of exclusive residencies with the aim of attracting exceptional talents, including executives, talents, investors, entrepreneurs, and property owners.

Exclusive residency allows holders to grant residency to their family members, engage in business activities, exempt from financial fees for expatriates and their dependents, travel to and from the Kingdom without a visa, property ownership, easy facility transfers without fees, and hosting and inviting relatives.

Saudi Arabia introduced the Exclusive Residency System about five years ago, offering only two categories at that time: permanent residency with a total value of SAR 800,000 (USD 213,000) and another for one year, renewable for SAR 100,000 (USD 26,000).

However, the center has now announced five new categories for exclusive residency, expanding the options to seven categories: Exceptional Competence, Talent, Business Investor, Entrepreneur, Property Owner, in addition to the previous two categories (one-year renewable residency and unlimited duration residency).

The introduction of these new categories aims to attract the necessary talents to accelerate the achievement of the targeted economic growth rate, as outlined in the "Saudi Vision 2030."

Exceptional Competence Residency:

The center has outlined two paths for exceptional competence residency:

-  Health, scientific, and research competencies, with a minimum monthly salary of SAR 35,000 for health and scientific competencies, and SAR 14,000 for researchers. This path requires an employment contract in an approved entity with a priority specialization, a bachelor's degree or higher, more than 3 years of relevant work experience, and a recommendation letter from the employer.

- Executives, requiring an employment contract in a leadership position in an approved entity with a minimum monthly salary of SAR 80,000, in addition to a recommendation letter from the employer. The residency duration for this category is five years initially, renewable under specified conditions.

Talent Residency:

For talent residency, the criteria involve either nomination or receiving a specific exceptional award. The applicant must meet the minimum financial fitness, receive a recommendation from the Ministry of Sports or the Ministry of Culture based on the field.

The residency duration for this category is five years initially, renewable under specified conditions, or permanent residency if the applicant resides for 30 months within five years, continuously or not.

Business Investor Residency:

The criteria for business investor residency include obtaining investment licenses, providing commercial registration and the founding contract, and investing a minimum of SAR 7 million in economic activities in the Kingdom according to the investment system. This category grants permanent residency directly, subject to investing SAR 7 million and creating 10 jobs within the first two years of operation.

Entrepreneur Residency:

Entrepreneur residency eligibility is divided into two categories: the first requires obtaining investment rounds from an approved entity with a value of at least SAR 400,000, with a residency duration of five years, renewable once, and meeting the eligibility criteria, including residing for 30 months within five years.

The second category requires obtaining investment rounds of at least SAR 15 million, with the applicant's share not less than 10% in the startup. This category grants permanent residency directly, subject to creating at least 10 jobs in the first year and another 10 jobs in the second year.

Entrepreneurs can also nominate two team members for direct exceptional competence residency, with exemptions from "Nitaqat" within the first three operational years. "Nitaqat" is an initiative by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to assess the size of localization of facilities in the labor market.

Property Owner Residency:

The criteria for property owner residency include owning or benefiting from real estate assets valued at no less than SAR 4 million in Saudi Arabia. The property must not be mortgaged, and the applicant should not have acquired or benefited from the property through real estate financing. The residency duration is linked to owning or benefiting from the property.

These residency categories represent an effort by Saudi Arabia to attract diverse talents and investors to contribute to the country's economic growth and development.