Things to Take Care of While Setting Up Business in the Dubai Free Zone: The Dubai Free Zones or Free Trade Zones exist to bring in more international business to the city as it promised a full hundred percent ownership to foreign companies in Dubai along with other incentives such as being tax-free and having customs duty benefits. Operations of the businesses in the free zones do not come under the jurisdiction of the commercial companies law and UAE. Each free zone has rules that must be adhered to that are set up by the concerned free zone. Some of the popular Free Zones are Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), Dubai Multi Commodity Centre (DMCC), Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZA) amongst many others.

Types

You can set up two types of establishments Free Zone Establishment (FZE) or a Free Zone Company (FZ Co) /LLC (FZ LLC). The main difference between the two is that when starting an FZE, only one shareholder can be registered, whereas, with an FZ Co, two or more shareholders can be registered.

Process of Setup

• Choosing a field of business and type of ownership according to how you want to conduct your business activities.
• Selecting a specific Dubai free zone. Research properly on which free zone allows the most benefits for the type of activity your business is going to conduct.
• Deciding a company name is the next task. This should not clash with any national symbols, be offensive and at the same time must reflect your brand image.
• Applications and documentation. This process involves filling in the application to start a business, submission of your business plan, memorandum and articles of association, board resolution and the colour copy of shareholders’ visa and passport.
• Creating a bank account. You need to open a corporate bank account in Dubai to conduct business activities. Several documents are needed for that – photocopies of passports of partners, MoA, AoA, copy of shares certificate, company’s incorporation certificate, resolution from the board of directors and finally, a bank account opening form.

Benefits

The benefits of starting a business in the free zone include full ownership and complete repatriation of capital and profits. All corporate and personal income tax along with import/export duties are exempted. If duty calls, the companies can function 24 hours a day. The business owners can own properties and also wind up business at their own call. The recruitment of staff, acquiring work permits and visas and relatively easy. And during the time for renewal, the fee is moderate and affordable!

Limitations

The only limitation that remains is that once set up in the free zone, you cannot conduct business activities in the Dubai mainland.

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