Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) serves as a critical driver of economic growth, technology transfer, and productivity enhancement in both developed and developing countries. Yet, global FDI flows remain highly uneven, particularly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. This study examines the combined role of bureaucratic quality and institutional transparency in attracting FDI across Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates, using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify complex causal configurations. Unlike conventional regression-based studies that focus on net effects, fsQCA reveals that no single institutional condition is necessary for high FDI attraction. Only the simultaneous presence of high bureaucratic quality, institutional transparency, political stability, and economic freedom constitutes a sufficient path for achieving high FDI. These results underscore the importance of institutional synergy and suggest that piecemeal reforms have limited impact. The insights provide guidance for policymakers seeking to implement comprehensive institutional improvements to enhance investment environments in the studied countries. The results indicate that among the observed configurations, only one configuration achieves the necessary consistency threshold for sufficiency (0.80). This configuration is the combination where all institutional conditions—including bureaucracy quality, institutional transparency, political stability, and economic freedom—are present simultaneously. This configuration demonstrates high consistency with high FDI attraction and covers the case of the United Arab Emirates. َAlso The findings of this study indicate that high FDI attraction in the examined countries is not a result of the independent and linear impact of institutional factors, but rather the outcome of the simultaneity and mutual reinforcement of a set of institutional conditions.