How to Get the WhatsApp Business API in Saudi Arabia: From CR Extract to Your First Approved Arabic Template

Short answer: you can connect a Saudi number to the WhatsApp Business API in one sitting through Meta's embedded signup, and start messaging straight away at a limit of 250 customers per rolling 24 hours. To move past that, Meta's business verification is the usual route, and for a Saudi company it rests on one document: your Commercial Registration (CR) extract, with the business name in Meta matching the CR's English name exactly. You can use a new +966 number, or keep the number already on your WhatsApp Business app with Coexistence. Templates — the only way to message a customer first — need Meta's approval, which Meta says can take up to 24 hours.

Before you start: what you need on the desk

Most delays in Saudi setups come from paperwork that almost matches. Gather these first and check the names line up character for character.

Meta does not publish a fixed per-country document list, so treat the VAT certificate and letter as supporting documents. The CR extract does the heavy lifting.

Step 1: set up your Meta business portfolio

Everything sits inside a Meta business portfolio (formerly Business Manager). If your marketing team already runs Instagram or Snapchat-to-Facebook ads from one, use that portfolio rather than creating a new one — limits and verification belong to the portfolio, not to the number. Set the portfolio's legal name to the English name on your CR, including "Co.", "Est." or "LLC" exactly as printed, and the address exactly as on the CR.

Step 2: choose your number

There are three routes, and the right one depends on what your customers already have saved.

Option A: a new +966 number

Saudi mobile numbers take the form +966 5X XXX XXXX; a Riyadh landline is +966 11 followed by seven digits. Meta requires a number you own, with its country and area code, that can receive a voice call or SMS. A dedicated SIM from stc, Mobily or Zain kept in the office works well. The number must not already be registered on WhatsApp — Meta's documentation says numbers already in use "cannot be registered unless they are deleted first".

Option B: keep your current WhatsApp Business app number (Coexistence)

If your customers in Jeddah or Al Ahsa have been messaging the same number for years, you do not need to give it up. Meta's Coexistence lets you connect an existing WhatsApp Business app number to the Cloud API and keep using the app on the phone at the same time. According to Meta's documentation:

• One-to-one chats from the last 6 months can be synchronised, with your permission; group chats are not.
• You need WhatsApp Business app version 2.24.17 or higher.
• Broadcast lists in the app are disabled (existing ones become read-only), and disappearing, view-once and live-location messages are switched off for one-to-one chats.
• Through the Cloud API you cannot use the app's calls, catalogue and orders, status, quick replies, labels, away messages or Channels.
• Throughput is fixed at 20 messages per second on a shared number.
• Messages you send from the app stay free; messages sent through the API are charged at Cloud API prices.

QuickWA supports Coexistence and gives you inbox equivalents for what moves out of the app — broadcasts to contact segments, assignment and internal notes — so the team works from one shared inbox. Coexistence is set up from a computer with the phone in hand, because Meta shows a QR code to scan with the WhatsApp Business app on that phone.

Option C: move a number from another provider

If the number is already on the API with another provider, ask them to release it from their WhatsApp Business Account first, and get the number's six-digit two-step verification PIN (or change the PIN in WhatsApp Manager) — you will need it to register the number again.

Step 3: connect through embedded signup

With QuickWA (and most providers built on Meta's official Cloud API) you click Connect, log in to Facebook, choose or create the business portfolio and WhatsApp Business Account, enter the display name, verify the number by SMS or call, and you are returned to the dashboard with the number live. Add a payment method in WhatsApp Manager and pick your billing currency — SAR has been available since 1 April 2026, and Meta notes the currency cannot be changed once the account is created except through its migration process. More on costs in our Saudi pricing guide.

Step 4: Meta business verification

You can message customers before verification, but a newly created portfolio starts at a limit of 250. Meta lists three routes to the next level (2,000): verify your business, have the partner who onboarded you verify it, or send 2,000 delivered template messages to unique numbers within 30 days using high-quality templates. For most Saudi businesses, verification is the quickest.

In your business portfolio's Security Centre, start verification, enter the legal name, address, phone and website exactly as on the CR, then upload the CR extract.

The Arabic–English name trap

A Saudi CR shows an Arabic trade name and an English one, and the English one is often a transliteration ("Mu'assasat", "Est.", "Trading Co."). Your marketing name may be different again. Meta compares the portfolio's legal name with the document, so use the CR's English column, not your brand name and not your own transliteration of the Arabic. Your brand name belongs in the display name, not the legal name.

Step 5: the display name

The display name is what customers see on your WhatsApp profile, and once approved it can appear in chats and the chat list. Meta's guidelines expect the name to represent your business and to match how the brand appears on your website and marketing — not a generic term, a place name or a slogan. In practice this means "Al Nakheel Dental Clinics" is fine if that is the name on your website, but "Best Dentist Riyadh" is not. Meta's documentation adds that a display name can be changed up to 10 times in 30 days, that a change goes back through review, and that after an approved change you have 14 days to re-register the number.

Step 6: your first templates, in Arabic and English

A template is the only way to start a conversation, or to reply after the 24-hour window has closed. Create each template once and add Arabic and English as two languages of the same template name, so the right one goes to each customer. Meta's review rules that catch most first submissions: a template cannot start or end with a variable, variables must be numbered {{1}}, {{2}} in order, you must supply sample values, and a body with too many variables for its length is rejected. Meta says review can take up to 24 hours.

Utility: order confirmation

مرحبًا {{1}}، تم استلام طلبك رقم {{2}} بقيمة {{3}} ريال، وسنرسل لك رقم الشحنة فور خروج الطلب. شكرًا لتسوقك معنا.

Hi {{1}}, we have received your order {{2}} for SAR {{3}}. We will send your tracking number as soon as it ships. Thank you for shopping with us.

Utility: cash-on-delivery confirmation (with two quick-reply buttons)

مرحبًا {{1}}، طلبك رقم {{2}} بقيمة {{3}} ريال جاهز للشحن والدفع عند الاستلام. فضلاً أكّد الطلب من الأزرار أدناه. — [تأكيد الطلب] [إلغاء الطلب]

Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} for SAR {{3}} is ready to ship, cash on delivery. Please confirm using the buttons below. — [Confirm order] [Cancel order]

Utility: appointment reminder

حيّاك الله {{1}}، نذكّرك بموعدك يوم {{2}} الساعة {{3}}. إذا احتجت تغيير الموعد اضغط الزر أدناه وسنتواصل معك.

Hello {{1}}, a reminder of your appointment on {{2}} at {{3}}. If you need to change it, tap the button below and we will get back to you.

Keep all three free of promotional lines. Meta's categorisation rules move any template that mixes an update with an offer into marketing, and in Saudi Arabia that is SAR 0.2159 per message instead of SAR 0.0401. Write marketing templates separately, and include a simple opt-out such as «أرسل "إيقاف" لإيقاف العروض» — "Reply STOP to stop offers". QuickWA records STOP replies as opt-outs automatically.

Step 7: messaging limits and how they grow

The messaging limit is the number of different customers your business portfolio can message with templates in a rolling 24 hours. It belongs to the portfolio, so all numbers in it share it.

Meta says that once both automatic conditions are met, the limit rises one level within 6 hours. A new portfolio can also register only two business phone numbers at first; the cap rises to 20 once the business is verified or reaches the 2,000 level. If your marketing team's portfolio is already established, a new number added to it may start well above 250 — check WhatsApp Manager rather than assuming.

Quality rating

Meta rates each number green, yellow or red based on how customers responded over roughly the last seven days, using signals such as blocks, reports and the reasons people give when they block. A number whose quality drops can be flagged; if it does not recover within seven days, its limit is lowered one level. Templates are rated separately and can be paused or disabled. QuickWA's number-health view shows the current rating so you notice a slide before it costs you a level.

Common reasons for rejection, and the fix

• "Business name doesn't match the document" — use the CR's English name in the portfolio's legal name field, exactly.
• "Document unclear" — upload the original PDF from the Ministry of Commerce, not a phone photo or a cropped screenshot.
• Different entity on the documents — the CR, VAT certificate and website must all belong to the same establishment.
• Display name declined — the name does not appear on your website, or it is generic or a slogan.
• Template rejected — a variable at the start or end, missing sample values, or promotional wording in a template submitted as utility (Meta re-categorises it rather than rejecting).
• Number won't register — it is still on a WhatsApp app (use Coexistence or delete the account first), or it has a two-step verification PIN you do not have.

Your first week

1. Day 1: connect the number, add Meta billing, submit three utility templates in Arabic and English.
2. Day 1–2: start business verification with the CR extract.
3. Day 2–3: connect Salla, Shopify, WooCommerce or Foodics so order and COD messages send themselves.
4. Day 3–5: add a consent checkbox to checkout and your website forms, and import only customers who agreed to hear from you.
5. Day 5–7: set your sending window in Settings, invite the team to the shared inbox, and send your first small, segmented marketing template.

For more on the Kingdom-specific setup, see our Saudi Arabia page and the Saudi marketing rules guide.

Sources

• Meta — Messaging limits: developers.facebook.com (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Meta — Business phone numbers (requirements, portfolio number cap): developers.facebook.com (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Meta — Display names: developers.facebook.com and display name guidelines (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Meta — Onboarding WhatsApp Business app users (Coexistence): developers.facebook.com (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Meta — Template review and template categorisation: review, categorisation; template quality: developers.facebook.com (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Meta — Pricing and SAR billing currency: developers.facebook.com (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Phone-number quality rating and flagged status: AWS End User Messaging documentation (third-party description of Meta's system, checked 23 Oct 2026)
• New Commercial Register Law (unified number starting with 7, no expiry, annual confirmation): Arab News, 1 April 2025 (checked 23 Oct 2026)
• Saudi verification document practice (CR, VAT, ID, authorisation letter): Go4whatsup guide (a provider's guide, checked 23 Oct 2026)