The Qatar Single Window (investor.sw.gov.qa) is the portal through which the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s procedures for investors are completed. You log in with a Tawtheeq account linked to a valid Qatari ID, reserve a trade name, choose the activities, sign the memorandum, pay, and receive the commercial registration and commercial permit online.
What the Single Window is
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) states that all procedures for local and foreign investors are completed through the Single Window platform. For a new company, that means one application covering the trade name, the commercial registration (CR), the memorandum, the commercial permit, the establishment ID, the tax card and labour approvals. The portal works out which procedures and approvals apply from what you enter, namely the legal form, activity, capital and location, and each part goes to the government body that decides it.
Start Your Business
The establishment service. It ends with a CR, and with the commercial permit as well if the premises are ready.
Permit Your Business
The commercial permit, for a company that already has a CR and a suitable location.
Company Amendment and Company Renewal
Changes to activities, name, partners, shares, capital or contract, and renewal of the CR and permits.
Add Branch CR, Labor Request, Liquidate and Close
New branches, recruitment approvals for staff, and closing the company.
Alongside the services sit three search tools: Trade Name Search, Business Activities Search, and the Business Setup Advisor, which the portal describes as a quick, personalised advisory on requirements, fees, documents and timelines before you start the official request. The Business Activities Search opens without logging in.
The account and login you need
Every service page we read sets the same first condition: the applicant has an account in the National Authentication System, Tawtheeq, with a valid Qatari ID. The Single Window’s FAQ says you register through the national authentication service with your Qatar ID card. Tawtheeq registration offers two user types, Qatari citizens and residents, and visitors and business representatives. The citizens and residents form asks for the QID number, a mobile number and an email address, and an account whose mobile number is not registered in your name is created but stays inactive.
| Login option on the portal | What you need |
|---|---|
| Tawtheeq | A registered Tawtheeq username and password |
| Smart card | A smart Qatari ID card |
| QDI | The Qatar Digital Identity (QDI) app, with its digital signature activated |
Signing tends to hold people up more than logging in. The digital signature FAQ asks for a smart QID and a Single Window account; people without a QID visit Single Window premises, and the nearest Qatari embassy helps those outside Qatar. The portal also says it is still working on letting a foreign investor living abroad complete the whole establishment online.
Step 1: trade name
Run your preferred name through the Trade Name Search first, to see whether it or something close to it is already registered. In the application you say whether the name is a registered trademark. If it is not, you enter three to five options and MOCI assigns one that is available. The system checks availability and the conditions, and returns incomplete applications to you. The reservation certificate is issued online once the fee, if any, is paid.
- Trade name within Start Your Business
- Free
- Trade name reserved on its own
- QAR 1,000
- Reservation, with one extension of 180 days
- 180 days
Single Window Start Your Business and trade name reservation pages, checked 21 Oct 2026.
The naming rules, such as writing the name in Arabic, avoiding country names and adding the legal-form suffix, are set out in our trade name guide.
Step 2: activities and approvals
Look up every activity before anything else is fixed. In the Business Activities Search, each activity has its own page with a code, its status, what it includes and excludes, the CR group fee, the permit fee for each type of location, the minimum age, the nationalities allowed and the approvals required.
| Field on the activity page | Activity 620102, designing and programming special software |
|---|---|
| Group fee in the CR | QAR 500 |
| Permit fee, commercial office or commercial location | QAR 500 |
| Home Business Permit | QAR 300 |
| Allowed nationalities | Foreigners, GCC nationals, local ownership |
| Required approvals | No approvals needed |
Three portal rules shape this step. All the activities the company intends to practise must be listed when it is set up, because a general trading activity does not cover them. Some activities cannot be combined on one CR. And the activities must fit the ownership: the establishment page says most activities allow non-Qatari ownership above 49% and up to 100%, which needs a non-Qatari investment licence application on MOCI’s template and a CV for each partner, reviewed by MOCI’s Invest in Qatar Center. Where an activity needs a regulator’s approval, you can request it through the Single Window in the same application or attach the licence you already hold.
Step 3: articles and registration
The establishment itself is the Start Your Business service. You complete one electronic form covering capital and partners’ shares, activities, legal form, trade name, managers and signatories, financial details, location, labour details and the type of contract. The form checks entries as you go. The portal sends progress updates by SMS and email, and asks for missing data the same way.
For the memorandum, an LLC may choose between a standard memorandum and a dedicated one drafted by an accredited lawyer; other companies that need articles of association use a dedicated contract. Sole proprietorships, professional offices and representative offices do not submit one. The partners sign digitally on the portal with their national authentication login, or at a Single Window service centre by appointment.
- Apply
Data and attachments in one e-form.
- Automatic check
The Single Window systems verify the file.
- Decision
The government entities providing each part review and decide it.
- Sign
The memorandum, digitally or by appointment.
- Pay
By card on the portal, or at a service centre counter.
- Receive
Certificates and original copies, issued electronically.
| Fee on Start Your Business | Amount |
|---|---|
| Trade name | Free within the service |
| CR | QAR 500 for one activity, plus QAR 300 for each extra activity |
| Qatar Chamber | From QAR 500, set by capital, legal form and foreign ownership |
| Memorandum attestation | QAR 500 for an LLC, QAR 1,000 for a partnership, QAR 2,000 for a shareholding company |
| Notarisation | QAR 500 for the first three copies |
| Commercial permit | QAR 500; home permit QAR 300 |
| Establishment ID (Ministry of Interior fee) | QAR 200 |
Fees are paid in full before anything is issued. The payment page caps a single online card payment at QAR 1,000,000. Once payment clears, the certificates appear on the portal, and the Single Window treats a printed online CR as an original copy that other parties accept without the Ministry’s attestation.
Step 4: commercial licence (permit) and establishment card
If the premises are not ready, the establishment service issues the CR only, and the company may not trade until the commercial permit is issued. The permit service is called License Your Business on its own page and Permit Your Business on the home page. It needs a reserved trade name, an active CR and a location suited to the activities. Once the permit is issued, the company can start business and hire staff. The fee starts at QAR 500 where no approval is needed.
Title deed or lease
The title deed, or the rental agreement declaration if the site is rented.
Building completion certificate
As issued by the municipality, or its equivalent.
Civil Defence certificate
For a site of 250 square metres or more, and for some activities whatever the size.
Address plate
A photo of the “My Address” plate issued by the municipality.
The establishment ID is one of the transactions Start Your Business lists, with a Ministry of Interior fee of QAR 200. Later renewals of the card are made by the owner on the Metrash app. For staff, the portal’s Labor Request service covers the Ministry of Labour approvals and the Ministry of Interior entry visa numbers, and the CR and permit themselves are renewed through Comprehensive Renewal for one to five years.
How we help
We guide you through Tawtheeq registration, check the activities and trade name options against the portal’s rules, prepare the memorandum and the site documents, and follow each step of the application with you. The applicant logs in and signs, and MOCI and the other authorities decide every part of the application.
