Company setup in Dubai should not take you more than a week as soon as you’ve sorted all your legal procedures.

But before you start your legal formalities for Company setup in Dubai, you have to need to be considered some elements required in the process:

1. Type of business

Your type of business will decide the kind of license you must require. Whether it’s commercial, professional or industrial licenses, these will describe the basis of your operations. Though, while choosing, remember that certain activities like food trading, jewelry trade, veterinary activities, and legal consultancy require further consents from other governmental departments.

The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai has a list of over 2100 activities you can select from. If you’re unable to discover your definite one in there, you can contact the DED. Each free zone has its own rules and endorsement formalities.

2. Ownership

As a distant national, if you’d like 100 percent ownership of your company, you want to elect for a license and location in one of the many free zones of the UAE. There are particular types of activities that each free zone caters to and lucidity in the initial step will support you to find your best option. There are over 45 free zones in the UAE with frequent classes of operations, so you don’t lack for choice.

If you want a local license or need to operate locally, you have to acquire a license from the Department of Economic Development (DED). The DED license comes with firm limitations on the share of ownership for foreigners, based on distinct legal structures under DED.

3. Legal structure

Depending on your site and kind of business, there are certain rules regarding the make-up of your firm. For instance, if you plan on an authorized consultancy firm, this can be done only as a branch of the company or as a stand-alone company. A singular proprietor is not permitted to take up this activity. Each free zone has its own boundaries regarding company structure and you can look these on the official website of the zone. 

4. Trade Name

Your trade name is a very significant part of the legal procedure. The company name should ideally specify the nature of the business, except it is a branch of another company. All the directions regarding trade names can be seen on the DED official website.

5. Share capital

Least share capital is usually set out in the Memorandum of Association of your planned company. In most circumstances, you do not want to pay minimum capital at the time of setting up.

6. Premises

As soon as you have your legal procedures and forms ready to go, it would be best to make a shortlist of some offices with costs and other details. This would mean a clear track forward just the once you get your legal formalities out of the way. In free zones, you will get support to discover premises appropriate to your requirement along with help to set up electricity, internet, water, and other amenities.

7. Employees

In most legal methods of the DED, you want to hire a manager to oversee operations and make him ready to be on board earlier your registration is approved. But in other circumstances, you may not be permitted to hire at all. For instance, Intelaq license holders (license for home-based Emirati business owners) are not allowed to hire staff but can involve contractors. Details can be seen here. For free zones, each zone has its own particular regulations regarding the structure of the business.

8. Local support

For DED licenses, it is obligatory to have a local agent, partner or sponsor and this is great support for distant nationals. For free zones, having a local contact can support to take the business forward effectively. Though this is not compulsory and Dubai as a business destination boasts easy set-up for all businessmen regardless of nationality.

GCC Solutions: We are company formation consultants in Dubai focused on providing a full suite of strategic consulting, trade facilitation, business formation, and regional training. We provide our clients with turnkey company setup services including preparation and submission of all required documents to all relevant government ministries and authorities.