Establishing companies in the UAE- The United Arab Emirates took the helm of leadership in the Middle East, after its commercial, regulatory and technological systems proved effective in supporting and developing an ideal investment community, attracting thousands of investors from all over the world, until company establishment services in the Emirates became a destination for all capital to access. This is a leading global market where opportunities are endless.
Investing in the Emirates
The Emirates provides you with an ideal business environment for investment. There are thousands and even millions of opportunities and services provided to you by this integrated community to encourage and support investment. Among the most important reasons for establishing companies in the Emirates are:
- Economic stability, as the UAE is considered one of the strongest global economies. It has ranked 22nd globally and first in the Middle East, thanks to its open policy towards economic diversification and well-established international relations.
- The strong infrastructure and smart digital transformation have simplified many routine procedures for investors, and you can now obtain company establishment services in the Emirates within several days.
- The diversity of facilities for doing business and the availability of many advanced commercial and industrial business centers, in addition to allocating more than 45 free zones to encourage foreign investment.
- Multiculturalism within the country’s borders, which has consequently led to the availability of skilled labor in various fields, as well as the ease of attracting workers from various countries of the world.
If we talked about the advantages of investing in Dubai in detail, we would need several articles, but today we will mention only the steps for establishing a company in the Emirates, which entails several conditions and requirements.
Establishing companies in the UAE
The federal government seeks to provide all company establishment services , whether online or through business service centers, and among the company establishment services in the Emirates are :
- Basher Electronic Service: It is an electronic platform integrated with government departments and all local and federal authorities, through which you can obtain all the required permits and licenses and establish your company online.
- The instant license service that investors can obtain electronically within a few minutes and use it to complete the establishment of the company, noting that it remains valid for a year and provides foreign investors with the right of residency.
- The Dubai Virtual Business District provides entrepreneurs with building a virtual company in Dubai and starting their business from outside the borders of the Emirates without the need to visit or reside in the country.
Conditions for opening a company in the Emirates
The first condition for effective investment in the Emirates lies in determining the type of activity and carefully studying the market, to identify the available services and those that are missing, the pattern of business operations in this field, the powers available to entrepreneurs, and other details. The Emirates Investment Authority has also set some conditions for opening a company in the Emirates. For example:
- Providing the minimum specified capital for establishing the company, which depends on the activity category, in addition to the necessity of presenting a clear feasibility study for the project
- Choose the type and category of investment depending on the conditions of the region in which you will establish your business, as each region is limited to a specific category of activities only.
- Obtaining a business visa for foreign investors, in addition to opening a bank account and accessing some other vital services such as a driving license and others.
- Assigning all legal work and procedures to an authorized local service agent, or one of the approved entrepreneurs’ service centers.
Establishing a company in the UAE
Company establishment services in the UAE require clarifying five basic elements:
- Determine the nature of the activity
You must first determine the type of activity that you practice through this company, to conduct the necessary market research and learn about all the arts and paths of this field, and then understand the nature of work in it. In this regard, you have six main types of activities available within the UAE markets:
- Industrial activity
- commercial activities
- Craft activities
- Tourism activities
- Agricultural activities
- Professional activities
From these six main activities, more than 2,000 sub-economic activities are derived to serve your business, and the Commercial Companies Law allows you to choose more than one sub-activity, provided that the activities are consistent and work to develop your investment.
- Choosing the legal form of the company
When establishing a company in the Emirates, you must determine its legal status, to know the regulations and laws that must be complied with in accordance with the laws of commercial companies, and on the other hand to help the competent bodies understand the nature and identity of your investment and the powers of your company, and the legal forms within the Emirates are multiple:
- Solidarity companies
- Simple recommendation companies
- Establishing limited liability companies
- Individual institutions
- Holding companies
- Civil works companies
- Commercial representation office
- Branch of a company (local – Gulf – foreign)
- Establishing joint stock companies (public or private)
In addition to the requirement that the legal form matches the company’s activities, it also controls the brand identity of your company.
- The company’s commercial identity
Requirements and services for establishing companies in the UAE also include a personal identity file consisting of the trade name, trademark, and licenses required to be obtained according to the legal form.
- The trade name is reserved through the Department of Economic Development, and must be compatible with the nature of the company’s activities, and be followed by the abbreviation of the legal form previously chosen for the company, for example, (S.C.), the abbreviation of the legal form of public joint-stock companies.
- While the Ministry of Economy is responsible for examining and certifying trademarks, here it is necessary to clarify the symbol and logo of your company’s distinctive trademark, and the vision and mission of the company to complete the company’s legal identity file.
- Choose a business location
Establishing a company in the Emirates requires the presence of a physical address and an approved headquarters for the company, and what we mean by the word approved here is that it fulfills the conditions of the Department of Economic Development, which are clarified according to the company’s activities and its legal status. Here you can choose between owning a commercial site or renting a headquarters for the company. In the second case, you must The contract must be registered through approved Ejari offices in the Emirates.
- Drafting the articles of incorporation
After determining the previous four points, it will be very easy to draft the Articles of Association. All that remains for us is to fill out the Articles of Association form with the required data depending on the company’s character, the number of partners, their identity, their legal status, the responsibilities of each of them, the method of management and the financial year, and formulating all the policies that the company follows throughout its period of operation. Or in its dealings with other companies, and other provisions of the articles of incorporation.
Documents for establishing companies in the UAE
Company establishment services in the Emirates include several procedures for obtaining the necessary government documents and approvals. These procedures are:
- Registering the trade name with the Department of Economic Development.
- Documenting and publicizing the trademark through the Ministry of Economy.
- Request to obtain initial approval from the UAE government.
- Documentation of the articles of incorporation and the local service agent agreement, if any.
- Documenting the lease or ownership contract for the company’s headquarters and its affiliated facilities.
- Obtaining commercial licenses from the authority responsible for the activity.
- Additional government approvals from the entities regulating the activity.
After collecting these documents, you will go to the Department of Economic Development, which is responsible for establishing companies in the Emirates, to request registration of the company. The application will be examined within a maximum period of ten days, the required fees will be determined, and then the company will be registered and the necessary permits will be approved to start your activity.
Opening a company in Dubai for foreigners
The model for opening a company in Dubai for foreigners follows the same previous steps and procedures, in addition to residency procedures and the ownership clause, as the system for owning companies in the Emirates for foreigners differs from citizens as follows:
- If the company is established in one of the free zones in Dubai, it allows investors to own 100% without the need for a sponsor or citizen partner.
- In the case of local work and the establishment of so-called eastern mainland companies, the establishment of foreign companies requires a local service agent agreement and some additional local licenses depending on the type of activity.
Opening a commercial register in the Emirates
Indeed, foreign investors can open a commercial register and follow company establishment services in the Emirates, and the passport is approved for obtaining government permits instead of the personal ID card, provided that the investor submits a copy of the residence permit or temporary visit visa until the company is established and an investor residency is obtained.
Establishing a company in Dubai for Saudis :
Gulf economies occupy a large area of the Emirati market, where Saudi Arabia occupies first place among foreign investors, and in terms of procedures for establishing a company in Dubai for Saudis, the list of laws does not differ from the previously mentioned, and a legal person has the right to establish a private joint stock company with a 100% ownership rate without the intervention of a citizen agent. .
Costs of establishing a company in the UAE
Despite the benefits that accrue to investors from establishing their businesses in the Emirates, the costs of company establishment services in the Emirates are very high compared to other countries. This may be due to the multiple procedures and documents required, as the total cost includes several items, including fees:
- Open a business license in Dubai.
- Trademark registration.
- Trade name registration.
- Municipality fees.
- Chamber of Commerce membership.
- Extracting initial approval.
- Open a bank account and deposit the minimum required capital.
- Fees for authenticating contracts and documents from the relevant government agencies.
- Obtaining work permits and residence visas for sponsored employees.
In addition to this list, there are some implicit costs, which are represented in purchasing or renting the company’s headquarters, in addition to the headquarters’ equipment, as well as some other fees related to insurance, utilities, etc.
The cost of establishing a company in Dubai
Because Dubai is a leading business citadel for investors, there are many questions about the cost of establishing a company in Dubai for foreigners, and whether the cost of company establishment services in the Emirates in general differs from the Emirate of Dubai in particular. The answer is that the basic procedures are the same in all Emirates, but some fees differ according to… For the company’s residence area where commercial registration fees are relatively high in free zones.
The fees for establishing local Dubai companies also differ from foreign ones. For example, you can reserve a trade name for your local company at a cost not exceeding 500 dirhams, while registering a foreign trade name ranges between 1-3 thousand dirhams, so there is no specific price package that we can It applies to all companies, as the matter is relative and depends primarily on the type of activity and the legal status of the company.
