When you are making the decision in setting up a business in Dubai, there are numerous benefits of setting up a business locally such as:
- These is flexibility in setting up any type of business in the region.
- There is no limit in visa applications.
- Numerous business activities available for business licensing.
- There is no income tax applicable to any sort of business activity.
You need to contact Dubai’s Department of Economic Development of Dubai to seek to any prior approval and register the trade name. You can do that either by directly going to their office or apply with their eService’s. Once you have received the approval, then only you are liable for any other additional approvals which is mandatory in case of certain business or trading activities. Name check should be done before the submission of the documents for incorporation. This is to check availability of the proposed name and whether it matches your business activity. General capital requirements provided by the UAE Commercial Companies Law are that the least capital should be declared in the Memorandum of Association and should be adequate to attain the resolution of the commercial incorporation.
Expat And UAE National Business Type
The UAE Nationals are liable to setup the following companies:
- The can start a Joint Liability Company (partners must be UAE nationals).
- General Commodity Company.
- Industrial or Commercial type of sole trader business.
- They can obtain a license for a Home-bases business in the region.
- The also have an option to acquire an SME Business License.
Residents or Expats of other nationalities are required to involve a UAE National to start-up their business. This UAE national would be a sponsor with at least 51 per cent ownership of the business or a local service agent (LSA), obtaining a 100 % ownership of the business. Therefore, below are the following company types that require a mandatory UAE National sponsorship for any business set-up:
- The Limited Liability Companies
- The Public Joint Stock Companies example Emaar Properties (PJSC)
- Expats are also liable to set up a civil company with an engineering occupation
- The below are the company types available with a Local Service Agent (LSA)
- There is a an option to set up a professional sole organization
- Set-up of a civil company with no engineering endeavor
- Any sort of Foreign Company Branch
Preparation Of Court Agreement And MOA
Memorandum of the business and agreements between any UAE national and the expatriate partners have been to be certified in court. This will also indicate the profit sharing ratios, the powers of the partner, the share capital of the business and other details. The office space has to be rented after initial approval; the tenancy agreement also has to be attested by Ejari.
Free Zones
The partnership with a UAE National might not be too favorable for foreign businessmen, therefore there is another popular solution to this. Free Zones in UAE are regions set-up where business owners can have 100 % foreign ownership of the enterprise. These regions have become increasingly popular and have positively also affected UAE business image and economy.