Regional Headquarters

Regional Headquarters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: is a unit of a Multinational group duly established under the laws of Saudi Arabia for the purpose of supporting, managing, and providing strategic direction to its branches, subsidiaries and affiliates operating in MENA region. RHQ program invites global companies’ regional headquarters to relocate to Saudi Arabia, it was established as a joint initiative between Ministry of Investment (MISA) and Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC).

Regional Headquarters Investment License

Regional Headquarters Investment License is provided to Multinational Groups wishing to establish their RHQ in the Kingdom as a unit duly established under the laws of Saudi Arabia for the purpose of supporting, managing, and providing strategic direction to its branches, subsidiaries and affiliates operating in the MENA region.

Requirements

It is pertinent to note that the parent company should have a one-year existence in the country of origin in order to register in MISA.
It is required to submit 3 International trade licenses. It can be 1 individual company & 2 branches or all 3 individual companies. The parent company or one of the existing licenses should be at least a year old.
It is mandatory to have 1 entity in the MENA region.
The shareholders and trade name of the 3 entities must be the same.

Service Rules and Restrictions

The Multinational Group has minimum presence in two different countries, excluding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the country in which the headquarter of the Multinational Group is located, either through Subsidiaries or Branches.
The RHQ is established as a separate legal personality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia either as a company or as a registered branch of a foreign company.
The RHQ shall not directly conduct commercial operations that generate revenue other than RHQ License activities.
The RHQ must commence the mandatory RHQ activities* within six months of issuing the License.
The RHQ must commence at least three optional RHQ activities** within one year of issuing the RHQ License.
RHQ employees carrying on mandatory RHQ License activities must have the relevant skills and knowledge developed at the headquarters or another regional headquarters of the Multinational Group, at least 3 employees of which must be of Executive Director level and Vice-President level.
The RHQ must employ at least 15 full time employees deployed in the conduct of RHQ activities within one year of issuing the RHQ License (including the senior level executives mentioned in point 6 above).
The RHQ License is subject to cancelation by the Ministry of Investment in any of the following situations:

The mandatory RHQ activities are the provision of strategic direction and management functions. RHQ strategic direction functions include:

Formulate and monitor the regional strategy
Coordinate strategic alignment
Embed products and/or services in the region
Support acquisitions, mergers and divestments
Review financial performance. RHQ management functions include
Business planning
Budgeting
Business coordination
Identification of new market opportunities
Marketing plan for the region
Operational and financial reporting

The optional RHQ activities are:

Sales and Marketing Support
Human Resources, and Personnel Management
Training Services
Financial Management, Foreign Exchange, and Treasury Centre Services
Compliance and Internal Control,
Accounting
Legal
Auditing
Research and Analysis,
Advisory Services
Operations Control,
Logistics and Supply chain management
International Trading
Technical Support or Engineering Assistance
Network Operations for IT System
Research and Development
Intellectual Property Rights Management
Production Management
Sourcing of Raw Materials and Parts.

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Regional Headquarters