8 Essential Steps For Business Setup In Dubai

Starting a business in the UAE is a hassle free procedure and must not take more than 7 days for anyone if they’ve sorted all the legal processes.  But before getting yourself in legal formalities, must consider below listed essentials required in the process:

1. Business Type

The vertical of your business will decide which kind of license you require; professional, commercial, or industrial. These factors also decide the basis of your operations. But remember that some activities like food trading, jewelry, trade, veterinary activities and legal consultancy need some approvals from other governmental departments.

2. Ownerships

If you are not a UAE citizen and desire complete ownership of your company, just require opting for a license and location in any of the free zone in UAE. There are specific kinds of activities catered by every free zone and having a clarity from start would be helpful to search for suitable option. There are over 40+ free zones in the UAE allowing several categories of operations, so you don’t lack for choice.

If you require a local license or want to operate locally, occupy a license from the Department of Economic Development (DED). But remember that DED license have some restrictions imposed about ownership share for foreigners.

3. Legal structure

Dependent upon your location and business type, several rules are present for the make-up of your firm. Say, if you have planning for a legal consultancy firm, this can only be accomplished as a company branch or as a stand-alone company. A sole proprietorship would not be applicable for this activity. Every free zone has individual rules for company structure and you can go through them on the official website of the zone.

4. Trade Name

The trade name is a crucial part of the legal procedure. The company name must indicate the business nature, unless it is a branch of another company. Every rule for trade names can be easily seen on the DED official website.

5. Share Capital

Minimum share capital is mostly decided in the Memorandum of Association of every proposed company. Usually, you don’t require paying a minimum capital while setting up.

6. Premises

After your legal process and forms are completely prepared, it would be optimal to shortlist some offices with costs and other details. This would lead you in much clarity once your legal formalities gets finished. In free zones, you will definitely get assistance from business setup service providers in finding suitable premise as per your requirement coupled with help to set up necessary amenities.

7. Employees

Majority of DED forms ask you for hiring a manager to look after operations and prepare him to be on board before your registration is approved. But in some cases, you might not be able to do it at all. For instance, Intelaq license holders (license for home-based Emirati business owners) cannot hire permanent staff, but opt for contractors. Likewise every free zones has their own regulations for business structure.

8. Local Support

In case of DED licenses, having a local agent, partner or sponsor is mandatory which could be huge for non-residents of UAE. In free zones, local contacts would be helpful in effectively taking your business forward. But this is not at all mandatory in Dubai as this business destination promotes hassle-free business set-up for every individual despite nationality.