On the face of it, Establishing a company in the UAE can seem complicated, especially for foreigners due to different laws and financial transactions.
But with AHG it’s easy, you can set up your company through a number of clear and specific procedures.
Advantages of Establishing a company in the UAE
The decision to set up a company in Dubai has been made more than 280,000 times, which is the number of companies located in the UAE.
Making a decision like this must have strong motivations for investors to invest in Dubai.
Among the advantages of establishing a company in the UAE:
- Multiplicity of investment opportunities
- Ease and speed of setting up a company
- Ease of doing business
- Low cost
Where you can choose between many investment activities that have proven successful in the UAE, and the most prominent areas of investment in Dubai are:
- Hospitality
- transportation
- warehousing
- estates
- Personal Services
- Corporate Services
- Communication &
- Technology
- E-Commerce
The UAE seeks to attract investors, so it always seeks to ease procedures and speed them to make it more attractive to investors.
Until it won the third place globally and the first in the Arab world in the speed and ease of procedures for establishing a company according to the World Bank report.
In many countries, you may notice abuses and restrictions on the investment business, which causes suffocation and desperate attempts to escape the company outside its borders, and this is precisely what you cannot notice in the UAE.
As it makes legislation and laws that make doing business on its land easier for investors
The UAE ranked sixteenth globally and first in the Arab world in the ease of doing business.
In addition to laws and legislations, it is always working to improve the infrastructure to facilitate business and provide it with:
- Flexible highway network
- Modern technology everywhere
- Speed Internet
Some fees for setting up a company are collected in the UAE, but these fees are much lower than in many other countries and countries, and the fees charged for setting up companies include:
- Issuance of trade license.
- Rent of the company’s headquarters.
- Equipping the company’s headquarters
- Visas and work permits for employees of the company
- Marketing, advertising and advertising costs
Steps to set up a company in the UAE
There are some important steps that need to be accomplished when establishing a company in the UAE, including:
- Determine the nature of the activity
- Determination of legal form
- Trade Name Registration
- Request for Initial Approval
- Memorandum of Association and Local Service Agent Agreement
- Choose your business address or location
- Obtaining the approval of additional government agencies
- Submit the necessary documents and pay the fees
Determine the nature of the activity
You must specify the nature of the economic activity and the type of license among six types of licenses:
- Industrial License
- Trade License
- Craft license
- Tourist license
- Agricultural license
- Professional license
Determination of legal form
You must determine the legal form of your company based on business requirements, as it entails regulations and laws that should be adhered to when establishing a company
You can choose one of the following legal forms:
- Limited Partnership Company
- Limited Liability Company
- Public Joint Stock Company
- Private Joint Stock Company
- Commercial Representative Office
- Civil Works Company
- Branch of a local company
- Branch of a Gulf company
- Branch of a foreign company
- Branch of a company in the free zone
- Sole Proprietorship
- Holding Company
When choosing a legal form, it should fully correspond to the company’s activity.
Trade Name Registration
The trade name of the establishment is one of the important factors when establishing a company, to avoid suspicion with another company in legal transactions, and the name should adhere to a number of laws, including:
- The company name must be linked to the type of license
- The trade name should follow the legal form in short
- The name should not contain words or terms that offend modesty and public taste
- The name matches your economic activity
- The name does not include any of the names of His Majesty, governmental organizations, or any names or logos of third parties.
- The name is not already registered for another company
Initial Approval
The initial approval means that the UAE does not mind establishing the company on its territory, and the procedures can be completed to obtain the trade license.
Initial approval does not mean that a business can be started, but only that the procedures are allowed to be completed.
Investors from outside the UAE must obtain the approval of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs before seeking the initial approval.
Also, some activities require obtaining some approvals from some government places related to the activity, such as:
- Activities related to legal matters
- Activities related to security authorities and the Securities and Commodities Authority
Memorandum of Association and Local Service Agent Agreement
The legal form of the company may entail the drafting and signing of a memorandum of association, or the conclusion of a local service agent agreement or sometimes a company agent.
The Memorandum of Association shall be concluded if the legal form of the company is one of those forms:
- Civil Works Company
- Sole Proprietorship
- Limited Liability Company
- Simple Limited Partnership Company
- Public Joint Stock Company
- Private Joint Stock Company
- Partnership Company
All agreements and contracts shall be notarized in any of the UAE courts, or notaries.
Civil establishments and companies wholly owned by UAE residents who are not GCC nationals must have a local service agent from the UAE, under a notarized service agent contract or court.
Choosing a location
One of the important procedures in the process of establishing a company in the UAE is that the company has a physical address, provided that the commercial buildings and sites comply with the requirements specified by the Department of Economic Development in each emirate
As well as land allocation regulations by the municipality or the competent authority
Obtaining the approval of additional government entities
Some commercial activities require additional approval from some government agencies, such as:
- Ministry of Interior:Public Transport Services – Driving Schools – Fire Extinguishing Equipment – Alarm and Protection Systems – Used Car Dealerships – Used Spare Parts – Car Rental
- Ministry of Justice: Legal Activities – Legal Advice
- Municipality Department in the concerned Emirate: Engineering and Architecture Activities
- Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority: Telecommunications Activities
- Executive Council: Travel & Tourism – General Services – Trading Charter – Ship & Marine Agencies – Automobile Clubs – Air Transport Rental – Branches of Foreign Companies
- Ministry of Economy: Insurance – Insurance Consulting
- Health Authority in the Emirate concerned: health-related activities
- Supreme Petroleum Council: Oil and Gas Field Services – Oil Well Drilling Operations
Receiving the license
After completing all the steps to establish a company, the customer can obtain the trade license through the service centers of the Economic Departments, and through the electronic services platforms of the Department, after submitting the license issuance documents for all legal forms:
- Initial approval receipt and all previously submitted documents.
- A copy of the lease contract authentication certificate.
- Memorandum of Association duly attested.
- Approval of other government entities on the commercial activity if such approval is required.
- A duly certified contract of appointing a service agent or a company agent.
Business Setup in Free Zones
Free zones in Dubai are not subject to the laws set by the Ministry of Economy to regulate the commercial activities of companies, which provides ownership freedom for business
Advantages of establishing a company in the UAE Free Zone
Activities to do in the Free Zone
Other business activities:
- Trademark Agency
- Events & Festivals
- Exhibitions & Conferences
- Information Services
- Marketing Communications
- Organizing media content
- Post-production
- Professional Association
- Public Relations
- Regulation of rights
- Training
Printing and Streaming:
- Publishing a book
- Publish a magazine
- Publishing a newspaper
- Broadcast a terrestrial or satellite television station
- Broadcast a terrestrial or satellite radio station
In the Media Zone:
- Content Production
- Advertising
- Animation
- Film production for companies
- Corporate Publications
- Digital Content Production
- Content of educational materials
- Film Production
- Game Development
- Graphic Design
- Illustrations
- Mobile content
- Music Production & Recording
- Music Videos
- Electronic Content Production
- Artistic performances and theater
- Photography & Videography
- Print Content Production
- Radio Content Production
- Writing texts
- Software Development
- Songwriting and arranging
- TV Production
- Web Design & Development
To carry out one of these activities, you must apply for a separate publishing license.
This is in addition to the DMCC area, which enables you to choose from 600 businesses spread across a number of sectors, including energy, commodities, gold, diamonds, technology, construction, fast-moving consumer goods, healthcare, aviation, shipping, education, media, professional services, financial, personal and community services.
Procedures for establishing a company in the free zone
You must do some procedures and meet certain conditions to establish your company in Dubai in the free zones
- Determine the type of activity
- Choose a trade name
- Selection of offices and work facilities
- Capital Requirements
- Apply for a trade license
- Obtaining initial approvals, registering the activity and obtaining a license
AHG is a leading regional auditing and chartered accounting firm, present in the GCC and North Africa. Since 2014, AHG has helped companies operating in the UAE to maximize success. We are fully prepared to help your business in the UAE through a team of trained tax experts to prepare your business for corporate tax in the UAE.
AHG-Dubai Group serves a wide range of clients and multinational companies. This comes in light of the company’s strategy to focus on two main pillars: geographical expansion in frontier markets and driving a positive community culture. By combining our strengths and expertise in the region, we offer our clients best-in-class services tailored to their needs to maximize their investment goals in a rapidly changing environment.
