UAE visa advices from residents

[Andrei636]

Hi, I wanted to know if someone from UAE could advice me, european citizen to get UAE tax residence
I am seeing different services asking me for up to 10kusd to open a freezone company and get visa there
These agents did not answer me whether there are a lot of refusal or not on demands, however the required documents are often : 2-3 pages of business plan, curriculum vitae for the government
Problem is my activity was crypto invest, which is still not allowed there, so i plan to keep most activity in my own name, and just have either a ghost freezone company, either find a little activity to justify the visa for this freezone, am I wrong in this strategy ?
Before dropping lot of usd fees, I would like to know if someone could hint me about it, I know already opening a pro account wil be impossible in uae as they dont support crypto transferts, what about a personnal account, will it be possible you think (without any crypto related transferts) ?
would you advice to open in RAK or Fujairah, what do you think make it easier down the road ?

thanks!

 

[GrumpyMess]

Freezone companies are quite expensive and it's near impossible to open a bank account for them. Just apply for a freelance visa. It's much cheaper.

Andrei636 said:
to get UAE tax residence
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don't forget you have to reside there for a 180 days to be able to get a tax residence

 

[ProShelf]

When you open a Free Zone Company you get the option for a so called "Investor Visa", which is usually valid for 3 years. The fees for opening such a company depend on the license(s) you want, consultant you chose and the Free Trade Zone you are targeting.
I paid around 5,600US$, altogether. The CV you do NOT need as an investor (which they consider you once you open a company), a very simple "business plan" you do need, also a so called Memorandum of Understanding or Board Resolution.

With that investor visa you also get the Emirati ID which allows you to enter and exit the UAE via "Smart Gates" easy and convenient, besides that you can do a lot of other things with it, renting a place, opening -private- bank accounts, phone lines, buying a car, etc.
I'm from the EU myself, live in the Middle East but NOT in the UAE nor do I have a real residence there, however on my ID it shows the address from my company there.

Nevertheless, I agree with GrumpyMess, it seems to be very difficult to get a bank account opened with a FZC, especially with an eCommerce license... Seems to be a red flag regarding AML regulations.
I tried more than 6 months, now I found a solution outside the UAE that -hopefully- works. I heard it's easier when only one shareholder is mentioned and if required you divide the shares after opening a commercial bank account. I started with a 50% partner that may have been a mistake on my end.

Good luck.

 

[GrumpyMess]

ProShelf said:
however on my ID it shows the address from my company there
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Are they now printing the address on the Emirati ID ?

ProShelf said:
I'm from the EU myself, live in the Middle East but NOT in the UAE nor do I have a real residence there
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Are you keeping a rented property in UAE to please the banks and be double safe?

 

[ProShelf]

Not sure about that since I'm not able to read Arabic, but on the application they wrote the address and that was translated to English. Don't have a property there yet, do you think it would help regarding a commercial account?

 

[Andrei636]

ProShelf said:
I paid around 5,600US$, altogether. The CV you do NOT need as an investor (which they consider you once you open a company), a very simple "business plan" you do need, also a so called Memorandum of Understanding or Board Resolution.
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So there are no real risk of being just refused, if you pay a serious agent, pay the licence fees, you are sure to get your visa ?

GrumpyMess said:
Freezone companies are quite expensive and it's near impossible to open a bank account for them. Just apply for a freelance visa. It's much cheaper.


don't forget you have to reside there for a 180 days to be able to get a tax residence
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Yes I would live just whole year there, the only target is to get the visa and residency easiest way, and what agents advices was fujairah or rak fz company, these fees are not so high, it seems 10k for setup then 6k/yearly fees

Proshelf said:
When you open a Free Zone Company you get the option for a so called "Investor Visa"
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Yes, that's what I meant there,

GrumpyMess said:
it's near impossible to open a bank account for them
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and for personnal bank account it is less of a problem ?

 

[ProShelf]

I don't think there is a risk regarding the visa, you invest (open a company) you are automatically eligible for the visa. I was not aware of any criminal background checks going on (maybe they did some), however you need to do a medical (X-Ray and blood test) and finger-printing.

As mentioned, I have the visa and ID, WITHOUT living in the UAE or having an apartment or office there.

You will be able to open a personal account immediately after incorporation under the same company. For instance "Andrei636" "XYZ FZC LLC". Unfortunately you can't use that for business activities, at least they monitor and will inquire in case there lots of payments coming in from various sources, I asked and that's what the banker told me (in my case RAK Bank).

 

[WoWNull]

GrumpyMess said:
Are they now printing the address on the Emirati ID ?
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no, on of the IDs, Driving license etc.. have address on, but its show the city where you got your visa from and the license from the city also

Andrei636 said:
So there are no real risk of being just refused, if you pay a serious agent, pay the licence fees, you are sure to get your visa ?
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not exactly, there is few factors they check about YOU, so they do criminal checking etc..
not sure how they do it in FreeZone now, but normally what they did they print the papers and send it for checking and if things are approved then will go for visa process mostly will get approved unless there is a red flag they require to double checking,


for banking
its hard now days even updating my info with banks become crazy process and take times, some paper works require more than 8 to 10 signs =_= dont every think about change anything in your account after its approved

for company yes its possible its just require more documentation and more proofs

for personal, once you get money in 60k AED from outside then the red flag coming from Central Bank, but your bank will start asking anyhow when you have more income even before the central bank flag.
for this checking, they just ask for proof from where you get this money etc...

 

[GrumpyMess]

WoWNull said:
for this checking, they just ask for proof from where you get this money etc...
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What do they ask? If a simple invoice is enough it's not a big issue then. Nowadays all banks are bothering with such a proof.

ProShelf said:
I have the visa and ID, WITHOUT living in the UAE or having an apartment or office there
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Then your visa is meaningless in case of tax residence for EU countries as a proof of residence.

ProShelf said:
but on the application they wrote the address and that was translated to English
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Adress on the application and on the ID are different things

 

[WoWNull]

GrumpyMess said:
What do they ask? If a simple invoice is enough it's not a big issue then. Nowadays all banks are bothering with such a proof.
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well normally is the invoice, but as the amount start increase they will ask more and more like how this is working how you get the money from where these clients what service you offer and how its work etc...

 

[Andrei636]

WoWNull said:
for banking

for company yes its possible its just require more documentation and more proofs
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It's easy for everyone who go there with a visa, to get a personnal account thought ? Or even personnal can be hard ? Then it's ok to perform trading activity under your own name ?

for personal, once you get money in 60k AED from outside then the red flag coming from Central Bank, but your bank will start asking anyhow when you have more income even before the central bank flag.
for this checking, they just ask for proof from where you get this money etc...
Click to expand...

Do you mean 60k all included ? Is a trading history from a bitcoin platform enough to justify ?

But to make it more simple, can't you just open a bank account in switzerland or so as a uae resident ?

 

[WoWNull]

Andrei636 said:
It's easy for everyone who go there with a visa, to get a personnal account thought ? Or even personnal can be hard ? Then it's ok to perform trading activity under your own name ?
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You can do that, but for small amounts.

Andrei636 said:
Do you mean 60k all included ? Is a trading history from a bitcoin platform enough to justify ?
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For the 60k not clear how they calculated it, crypto is illegal here

Andrei636 said:
But to make it more simple, can't you just open a bank account in switzerland or so as a uae resident ?
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If you have the money then yesl

 

[Andrei636]

WoWNull said:
You can do that, but for small amounts.
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thanks for your answers ! Is there a personnal income tax to fill each year where you have to declare all your foreign income there?

WoWNull said:
If you have the money then yesl
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some online banks are almost free thought

 

[WoWNull]

Andrei636 said:
thanks for your answers ! Is there a personnal income tax to fill each year where you have to declare all your foreign income there?
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No taxes on income

Andrei636 said:
some online banks are almost free thought
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Can you link some of them? I never saw a Swiss online banks before

 

[BlueMist]

SwissQuote.ae used to heavily advertise in UAE radios. It is Swiss bank account meant for trading but they were advertising it as a personal bank account. Some people say they have been using this account for personal use entirely without doing any trading and no one questioned it.

 

[Clip]

BlueMist said:
SwissQuote.ae used to heavily advertise in UAE radios. It is Swiss bank account meant for trading but they were advertising it as a personal bank account. Some people say they have been using this account for personal use entirely without doing any trading and no one questioned it.
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They don't make much money holding assets but they make a lot with the trading

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[Andrei636]

WoWNull said:
Can you link some of them? I never saw a Swiss online banks before
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yes Swissquote, I have read one person on reddit who used it

WoWNull said:
No taxes on income
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I meant you don't have to fill any annual individual income form even if its 0% ?

 

[WoWNull]

Andrei636 said:
yes Swissquote, I have read one person on reddit who used it
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Oh i was think this is for trading only =/

Andrei636 said:
I meant you don't have to fill any annual individual income form even if its 0% ?
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No nothing, they only ask you if there is a lot of money

 

[Spinat]

WoWNull said:
Can you link some of them? I never saw a Swiss online banks before
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Have you had a look at CIM Bank ? There are various threads on this forum about this bank already!

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[WoWNull]

blueweb said:
Have you had a look at CIM Bank ? There are various threads on this forum about this bank already!
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i know CIM but they require a crazy amount to deposit lol, i think i miss understand when he mentions online bank i was think something more like Tide so not sure if i understand things correctly.