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The United Arab Emirates consists of federation of seven Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ajman). Abu Dhabi is the capital and Dubai is the second largest city and the most important commercial and financial centre of the UAE. The currency is the AED (dirham).
In general, type of company depends on its function and business activity to be carried out. Essentially, there are three types of companies available to be formed in UAE
These are local companies conducting business in the UAE and register with the relevant emirate, typically by the Departments of Economic Development (DED) of such emirate.
Traditionally, there have been some restrictions of foreign ownership in UAE for local companies (e.g. non-UAE nationals to hold shares not exceeding 49%). However, UAE Cabinet in 2019 relaxed those restrictions on certain conditions for some business activities in the manufacturing, agricultural and services and further relaxation is expected.
Presently, there are more than 50 free trade zones in the UAE, the majority of which are concentrated in Dubai. The most known are Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) which was the first, Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and Dubai South (formerly Dubai World Central /DWC/). Each free zone caters to a particular industry or type of activity.
Unlike local company, the purpose of FZC is typically from the free zone to make business overseas or/and within the free zone with other businesses established there. Restrictions of foreign ownership related to local companies do not apply to companies established in free zones. Other major benefits are residency permit and work visa, free repatriation of profits and capital, corporate and personal income tax exemptions and import/export tax exemptions.
Once accepted into a free zone a company will typically operate under one or more licences (e.g. commercial licence, general trading licence, industrial licence, service licence). Costs of Free Zone set up vary in each Free Zone and will largely depend on the type of activity, entity, size of office required to rent and the number of work visas requested.
There are several offshore facilities in the UAE, e.g. The Jebel Ali Offshore Company, The Ajman Offshore Company, The Ras Al Khaimah Offshore Company. They are regulated by respective Free Trade Zone Authorities, which allow to set up an offshore entity with the following features:
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is making significant strides towards exiting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ‘grey list,’ which comprises countries under increased monitoring for deficiencies in their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regimes.
Three cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah – are among the top ten most affordable global cities in the world, based on a study by Workyard Research.
Marián Vasil: “Interesting comparison between Florence and Dubai, my home city at the moment.”
