Things and Documents Required For Doing Business in UAE
Doing business in United Arab Emirates(UAE) is rather simple as long as you have all the required documents and necessary things in place. Things and documents that you need to have including office space, sponsorship agreement, labor and Immigration computer cards, trade license, your driving license, your ‘Investor visa’ that stamped on your passport, as well as your bank account.
For years up to 2000, the UAE government has been desperate to have people setting up small and medium size businesses in the area from them to get investors. And as real estate and property seem to be a profitable investment, the focal point then shifted to larger business in UAE and this cause forever changing of the market particularly for the small and medium company owners.
Incorporation rules for doing business in UAE have grown to be less complicated, however there are still hundreds of license groups remain to be staggering. It tend to be less difficult to get a license for conducting business with numerous Free Zones in the UAE, however the costs for the visa have increased 8 times as well as the annual fees for trade license.
Conducting Business in UAE Business Centers
Currently there are about 20 Free Zones that represent UAE business centers and work out more easier for international investor and at the same time offering top quality facilities. Furthermore, people from other countries could own 100 percent of their businesses in the Free Zones in contrast to merely 49 percent if they own a business in the UAE. There are a lot of international corporations have openning shop in the Free Zones and you will notice almost any business that you can imagine of have been conducted in these business centers.
If you plan to setup business in UAE, you are required to get a local resident to be your local partner and the local resident need to hold 51% shares of the business. All these will be black and white written in paper with fine agreements to safeguard you. Determined by your needs, the ‘sponsor’ will be paid either a percentage of sales, profits or fixed fee even he has not put any money into the business. The advantage would be you don’t have to pay for corporate taxes nor submitting any audited accounts; you will need to do so if your business in take place in the free zones.
You need to keep in mind that in order for you to get a trade license for running business in the UAE, you are required to own or rent office space. It is illegal for you to run your business at home or through a business center according to the law. This may raise the cost for your business in UAE and you could wind up having to pay around US$ 50,000 every year for you to remain in business even you are making a loss!
Therefore, the policy may only sounds great for big corporates as even they are making huge profits, they merely need to pay about US$ 50,000 – US$ 100,000 each year for remain in the business.
There are business centers that will rent you office space or desks, and even this can be of attractive offer, but you may not allow to use the address as the place of your office to obtain the trade license.
Hub For Health Care
UAE is devoting to be the regional hub for health care with the setting up of Harvard Medica Center and the Dubai Health Care City; Besides, there are leisure via Dubailand and the entertainment parks in collaboration with Busch Gardens, Six Flags, Legoland, Formula 1, Bollywood, Universal Studios, Sea World, Marvel and Dreamworks Studios; Education via Academic City and numerous universities from all over the world; Financial services via Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) in alliance together with Nasdaq; Software via the Dubai Internet City and etc.
Now we can see that most of the UAE residents who are graduate from university have started to have strong interest in taking care of their personal investments. This is very different as compare to last time where they just gave all their money to Western money managers to do the investment jobs for them.
Investors from all over the world are flocking in to UAE for doing business and the architecture is receiving a free reign with amazing designs. UAE is a tax-free emirate and is one of the major advantages for investors conducting their business. The demand from customers for residential as well as commercial properties has escalated significantly with the admittance of multinational companies and this has increased the rentals and prices of most properties as well. And because of all these, UAE have become a perfect location for people to do business.
