Company Formation

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• Licensing
• Ownership Requirements
• Arrangement of Local Sponsors
• Legal Structures for Business

Company formation in Dubai

The basic requirement for all business activity in Dubai is one of the following three categories of licenses:

• Commercial licenses covering all kinds of trading activity
• Professional licenses covering professions, services, craftsmen and artisans.
• Industrial licenses for establishing industrial or manufacturing activity.

These licenses are all issued by the Dubai Economic Department. However, licenses for some categories of business require approval from certain ministries and other authorities: for example, banks and financial institutions from the Central Bank of the UAE; insurance companies and related agencies from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce; manufacturing from the Ministry of Finance and Industry; and pharmaceutical and medical products from the Ministry of Health.

More detailed procedures apply to businesses engaged in oil or gas production and related industries.

Practicing some trade activities (e.g. jewellery and insurance) requires the submission of a financial guarantee issued by a bank operating in Dubai.

In general, all commercial and industrial businesses in Dubai should be registered with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Ownership Requirements

Fifty-one per cent participation by UAE nationals is the general requirement for all UAE established companies except:
In respect of foreign companies registering branches or a representative office in Dubai; In professional or artisan companies where 100% foreign ownership is permitted.

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY

A Limited Liability Company (L.L.C) can be formed with 49% shareholding of expatriates and 51% shareholding in favour of local U.A.E. national. Nominee arrangement is normally made with U.A.E. national to hold the mandatory shares in favour of expatriate partner. This provides effective total control to manage the company and enjoy all profit. The minimum capital required to form an L.L.C. in Dubai is US$ 81,800 which has to be deposited in bank and shall be blocked for approximately 2 weeks time.

The L.L.C should have specific activities as per classification made by the Department of Economic Development, Dubai. Only one category of activities is given to one company except in General Trading where minimum capital requirement is US$ 818,000.L.L.C. is perhaps the only type of entity available for trading and manufacturing concerns.

Arrangement of Local Sponsors

In United Arab Emirates mainland, all types of business entities require local partner/sponsor. Often enterprises, without any intermediary support, meet with inappropriate local partner/sponsor. Kayzed has empanelled disciplined U.A.E nationals with varied background and expertise to choose from. All these U.A.E. nationals are well educated with fluency in English.

BRANCH OF A FOREIGN COMPANY

A Foreign company can form a branch of such company with 100% shareholding in the name of Head Office with the appointment of U.A.E., national as an agent. Such entity except in the cases of banks or insurance companies , would not be permitted to involve in actual trading which would only be permitted through awarding agency to U.A.E. operating company.

REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE

Such office can be established in the Emirate of Dubai by any International Company or enterprise to represent in the UAE in order to promote its products and services, expand its activities or facilitate the conclusion of commercial contractual agreements between the company represented by the office and its client. Such an office neither carry out any trading activity nor enter into any commercial deals of whatsoever nature

FREE TRADE ZONES

Procedures & Cost: A company in any free zone can be established either as a free zone establishment (FZE) or a branch of the foreign company. Such company can be owned 100% by foreign investor with no involvement of local partner or sponsor. Currently there are more then 20 Free Zones in U.A.E., which offer the following incentives to the investors: In general, most of the free zones issue the following types of licenses:

• Trading Licence
• Industrial Licence
• Service Licence

Currently there are more then 20 Free Zones in U.A.E., which offer the following incentives to the investors. Some of the salient features are:

• 100% foreign ownership
• No corporate taxation for 50 years; renewable for an additional 50 years
• Freedom to repatriate capital and income
• No personal income tax
• Full exemption from import duties
• No currency restrictions
• No bureaucratic red-tapism
• No recruitment problems
• Modern efficient communication
• State of the art infrastructure
• Abundant energy
• Attractive working environment

OFFSHORE COMPANY FORMATION (RAK ,Jabel Ali , BVI, Mauritius) "In a global economy, the use of offshore centres plays a vital role in supporting a variety of corporate cross-border transactions, as well as facilitating the wealth preservation strategies of high net worth individuals".

Offshore company formation Advantage: Asset protection, Privacy ,Tax saving Offshore business is about using the possibilities offered by countries whose legislation allows for certain advantages (tax, confidentiality, company structure, etc.) to be used by non-residents. The offshore world is the perfect environment for protecting hard-earned assets as well as doing business, banking and investing in a completely confidential manner

ADVANTAGES

• Privacy,
• Tax saving
• Anonymity
• Asset protection,
• Limiting of liability in business transaction
• Unrestricted flow of capital
• Foreign property holding through a company in a third country
• Transfer of assets