Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar disclosed $421.9 million, $269.5 million and $269.3 million in FARA payments to U.S. firms from 2016 through 2025, according to OpenSecrets data in EPR's Foreign Influence PR Study. Saudi Arabia ranks fourth worldwide, and the UAE and Qatar sit $0.2 million apart. Four firms appear on more than one of the three. Each country page holds the detail.
Part of EPR's FARA guide. Country pages: Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.
How much has each Gulf government spent on US lobbying?
Saudi Arabia has spent the most of the three by a wide margin, and the UAE and Qatar are effectively tied. The table gives each government's disclosed total from 2016 through 2025 and its largest single principal.
The totals come from OpenSecrets Foreign Lobby Watch and include nongovernment principals, so they are a disclosed floor and not the full amount. The same analysis found that Saudi Arabia outspent Qatar in 2024. Publishers count differently, so a figure from another source can differ from these.
Does the biggest spender run the most political activity?
The biggest spender runs the most reported political activity, but Qatar leads on in-person meetings. The Quincy Institute's foreign lobbying brief counted at least 14,128 political activities for Saudi Arabia in 2022 and 2023, the most of any country, and 7,704 for the UAE, which ranked fourth. Qatar's agents reported 627 in-person meetings with U.S. political contacts between January 2021 and June 2025, more than any other country.
The rivalry shapes the pattern. In the year before the June 2017 blockade, Saudi Arabia and the UAE each spent nearly four times what Qatar spent on lobbying and PR firms, per the Quincy Institute. Qatar then spent $18 million on 33 FARA-registered firms in a single year. Quincy also cautions that spending is a poor measure of a foreign lobby's influence, so read the totals beside the activity counts.
Which firms work for more than one Gulf government?
Four firms appear in EPR's country maps for more than one of the three governments, and none appears for all three. The table lists each firm, the countries and the terms a named source reports.
| Firm | Countries | Saudi Arabia | UAE | Qatar |
|---|
| Akin Gump | Saudi Arabia, UAE | Registered agent for the Public Investment Fund; a 2018 filing capped fees at $535,000 through May 1 | Has represented the UAE Embassy since 2007; $5,954,638 from March 2023 to May 2024 and over $20.2M in billings since 2011 | Not named |
| Teneo | Saudi Arabia, UAE | The only fund consultant a Senate subcommittee examined that registered under FARA | $7.2M disclosed in 2020 and 2021 | Not named |
| Ballard Partners | Saudi Arabia, Qatar | Embassy contract signed March 31, 2025 at $60,000 a month; the New Era Fund paid it $1.2M in August 2025 under the Lobbying Disclosure Act | Not named | Reported at $115,000 a month |
| BGR Group | Saudi Arabia, Qatar | The Muslim World League was among its 2022 and 2023 clients; BGR dropped Saudi Arabia in 2018 | Not named | Top-three FARA earner for Qatar in 2024, listed as BGR Government Affairs |
The sources are the Quincy Institute, Responsible Statecraft, the Senate subcommittee's April 2025 minority staff report, Sludge and Reuters, as summarized in EPR's country maps. These rows rest on secondary reporting, so check the registration and supplemental statements in the FARA eFile database before you quote a fee.
Firms named in only one country map are covered there. Saudi Arabia: Hogan Lovells, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Qorvis and LS2group, on the Saudi Arabia page. The UAE: FGS Global, The Harbour Group, Brunswick Group, The Camstoll Group and American Defense International, on the UAE page. Qatar: Cornerstone Government Affairs, Holland & Knight, Lumen8 Advisors and GRV Strategies, on the Qatar page. For how these firms rank among all of Washington, see biggest lobbying firms by revenue.
How do the three governments buy PR differently?
Qatar buys breadth, Saudi Arabia buys through the Public Investment Fund and a few large firms, and the UAE buys a concentrated bench. Qatar retained 28 firms at once as of the Quincy Institute's September 2025 brief. Saudi activity concentrates in a law firm, with Hogan Lovells reporting more activities by 2020 than all other Saudi-registered firms combined. The Quincy Institute found five firms took the vast majority of UAE payments in 2020 and 2021.
What should PR firms check before a Gulf mandate?
A PR firm should run four checks before it accepts a Gulf government mandate. The table pairs each check with the reason and the public record to use.
| Check | Why it matters | Where to look |
|---|
| Exclusivity clauses | Cornerstone's Qatar contract bars work for other Middle East and North Africa states, which can rule out a second Gulf client | Registration exhibits A and B |
| The actual principal | Payers range from embassies to funds and companies such as Barzan Holdings and the Public Investment Fund | Registration statement, foreign principal field |
| Work outside FARA | Some Saudi-tied lobbying, such as the New Era Fund's work for Ballard, files under the Lobbying Disclosure Act instead | Senate lobbying disclosure database |
| Timing of the record | Supplemental statements are filed every six months, so recent activity is missing from the public data | FARA eFile, latest supplemental statement |
For the legal framework, start at the FARA guide and the pre-engagement diligence framework. For the full directory, see top lobbying firms.
