Premium Residency Visa

The Premium Residency Visa is a document that grants non-Saudis the right to a premium residency in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, per the Premium Residency Law, issued pursuant to the Royal Decree dated May 15, 2019. The Premium Residency Visa has its own center, which is a legal entity enjoying administrative and financial autonomy. It is organizationally affiliated with the Council of Economic and Development Affairs.

The Premium Residency Center provides two types of premium residency: the first is of indefinite duration, and the applicant obtains it after settling a one-time payment of SAR800 thousand, while the second type is for one year (renewable), and the applicant obtains it after fulfilling the statutory conditions and settling an annual payment of SAR100 thousand.

To obtain both types of Premium Residency, it is imperative that: The applicant submits a valid passport; The applicant must be at least twenty-one years old; The applicant’s criminal record must be clean; The applicant must provide proof of solvency; The applicant must provide a medical report dated no more than six months to the date of application, proving they are free of all infectious and contagious diseases; The applicant's residency in the Kingdom is legal if they apply from within the Kingdom.

The Premium Residency Center received thousands of applications through its electronic platform from the Kingdom and abroad in 2019, within the first 181 days after its establishment. Specialized teams from the center studied the applications and communicated with the applicants to ensure that the conditions were met and fulfilled as determined by the Premium Residency Law. In 2019, the Center granted about seventy-three persons of nineteen nationalities premium residency after they fulfilled its conditions. They were the first to receive it since its implementation in the Kingdom.

The Premium Residency Center coordinates with all sectors and agencies of the state to implement the Premium Residency Law, facilitate the procedures, and offer support for applicants through its system of e-services and various departments, as well as direct communication with applicants around the world.

Holders of the Premium Residency are legally allowed to freely leave and return to the Kingdom, conduct business in accordance with the Foreign Investment Law, give their relatives visitor visas, recruit domestic workers, own real estate for residential, industrial, and commercial purposes, enjoy usufruct of real estate in Makkah al-Mukarramah and al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, own private transportation, work in the private sector facilities and move between them in accordance with the stipulations of the Premium Residency Law and its Implementing Regulations.

Legally, there are no taxes on Premium Residency holders and their family members. However, they are subject to the tax provisions in force in the Kingdom. The holder of a Premium Residency and his family members are not subject to the financial remuneration provisions collected for every accompanying individual for expatriates in the private sector.

The Premium Residency is revoked for its holder in the Kingdom in case the holder was convicted of a crime and sentenced to no less than sixty days of incarceration or a fine of no less than SAR100 thousand or its equivalent, or in case a decision or judicial ruling were pronounced stipulating the deportation of the Premium Residency holder from the Kingdom, or in case it was established that the application for obtaining Premium Residency included incorrect information, or if the Premium Residency holder failed to comply with the Premium Residency Law and its Implementing Regulations, among other laws and instructions in force in the Kingdom, or in case the Premium Residency holders waived such residency, or in case the holder died or lost their legal capacity. Nonetheless, the aforementioned holds no prejudice against the right of the board of directors of the center to revoke the Premium Residency if dictated by the public interest.