NON-CRS SETUP: Dubai Company with FREE Residence Visa and Bank Accounts! - DLS Dubai

[Fred]

DinkMe said:
Hi @Fred, I have just arrived in Dubai (1mth now via London) and originally thought the way to do was Mainland company (as opposed to Freezone). I do management consultancy (almost exclusively for the UK government for the last 10yrs on their large business and digital transformation) so the SIC is professional services?. I was told if I want to pursue similar clients here, mainland would be suitable? Now, if I understand correctly, there is the ability for both mainland and freezone companies to be 100% owner-owned (no longer 51% owned by a local), and no minimum deposit on the bank account, when opened. What i am just hearing about is the annual fees, and costs if the company is needed to be closed (for any reason). Do you have any insights on the ongoing annual fees, and costs and steps involved to dissolve both of companies please?

Lastly, I have a friend in Oz who setup a Freezone company here for a Cyber security consultancy (similar SIC: professional services?) that didnt eventually get off the ground and has 'offered' it to me to 'take over/use' as my/the UAE company (albeit, it might require the name to be changed, including the director on the record/registration including on the bank account, assuming it got that far). I assume this is possible, like in the UK, to change the name, and directors, and then also the bank account (name, account holders) as well?
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Hi @DinkMe,

first of all avoid Management Consultancy as the SIC of your Business Trade License as it's right now together with legal services and physical gold trade blacklisted by all banks in the UAE. It's not mention anywhere public you will be simply rejected due to "internal policy " of the bank.
Next you mentioned Mainland Company without local sponsor. It was announced big but for now nothing has been realized in practice and what is mentioned nowhere in the news that you will be required to keep 3-4m AED in local bank accounts as some sort of guarantee.
For majority of the people a Mainland Company is overpowered and to costs too much - keep in mind you are required to get a office space in the Dubai Mainland so you will face the real property prices. If you don't want to endup in Deira and get some serious office expect something between 40.000-60.000 AED for the office space only + the accounting requirement and so on.

Regarding the second part of your questions - taking over a Freezone Company together with already existing bank accounts from a friend of you could be a cost effective solution - to discuss this further just send an e-mail to [email protected] or visit our website www.dls-dubai.com to use the contact form or messenger.

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[Gazza]

I have been in talks with Fred for over 1 month. Been living in Dubai since 2004 and been running business. For those of you that knows Dubai well, it's still a country where network and connection is stil the way to go to sort things out.
Even though I have good networks and connections, things may be complicated and almost impossible to solve if you don't know the "right guy".
After many calls and chats I had a coffee with Fred in person and discussed my issues, which one was the problem of getting a local bank account. For many of you that are not aware of it, setting up a company in the UAE is not the hard thing, it's all the other things around it, and the most important thing, getting a bank account for your company, specially if you are NOT born in Europe.
And I can tell you he knows how to get things done. He came up with several ideas and helped me solve my issues thanks to his contacts network. I also tried him out by asking many questions just to be sure that he knows what he is talking about, and I can guarantee you that Fred is more than legit to help you out in this market.
And another point is, the fee he is charging for setup is actually not big difference from if the fee if you would do it all by yourself. And that is if you do all things perfect and not do any mistakes that would cost you extra. Then your fee would be higher than the package price offered by Fred.

So for all of you having doubts and having second thoughts of using his services: my issue that my PRO, my contacts and no other one could solve, even though I have been here for almost 17 years, was solved by Fred fast and smooth.
Thanks Fred!

 

[234628725]

Hi all. I have read the entire thread.
I have never contacted Fred but I can confirm that what he says is reasonable.

The primary benefit of working with Fred will be the fact that he will take your hand and take you through this exotic space and make sure all is quick.

Opening a freezone company is easy but it's helpful for someone the clarify a few things and make sure you're not doing something wrong.
Big benefit is with the bank, it looks like he has contacts with decent bankers that don't cause trouble or ask for large deposits. In EU/US the bank acct is guaranteed and almost free In UAE, if you are high risk, you may have problems with acct opening and/or be asked to leave a deposit in the range of 200k AED.

Someone here hinted that he will have to give up his driving licence to get a UAE one. This is how it works in EU but not in UAE. You show them your licence but you can keep it. If you are from the right country, you pay around 200e and you get a UAE one printed within 15 minutes.

 

[234628725]

Actually I have a general question for Fred:

Is it a common practice in UAE to get the dedicated office for the first 3 months to satisfy a potential bank inspection of the premises and revert to the flexidesk setup afterwards?

Banks like the business to have a non-shared office and sometimes require an inspection at the time of bank acct opening but I can't imagine they would be interested to come back.

 

[Fred]

234628725 said:
Actually I have a general question for Fred:

Is it a common practice in UAE to get the dedicated office for the first 3 months to satisfy a potential bank inspection of the premises and revert to the flexidesk setup afterwards?

Banks like the business to have a non-shared office and sometimes require an inspection at the time of bank acct opening but I can't imagine they would be interested to come back.
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That's what we work out for our clients together with the partnered bankers to satisfy the compliance of the banks.

It's part of our service and definitely not common that service provider do this for the clients - the common service is that you get 1-2 emails from banks and they leave you alone.

This is necessary for banks some banks but not for all - it always depends on the banking needs of the client.

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[travelES]

What happens if you cant make it to the UAE for 24 hours every 6 months? And is there are transaction fee for sending money (a broker referred me to a Vanuatu bank that charged 0.1% per transaction).

 

[Fred]

travelES said:
What happens if you cant make it to the UAE for 24 hours every 6 months? And is there are transaction fee for sending money (a broker referred me to a Vanuatu bank that charged 0.1% per transaction).
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With all banks in the UAE you have +/- this fee structure:

Monthly: 0€ (Maintain ~10.000€)

SWIFT international outgoing:
0 - 50.000€ - 15-20€ (OUR)
50 - 100.000€ - 20-30€ (OUR)
100.000€+ - 30-50€ (OUR)

SWIFT international incoming:
0€

Debit Card:
0€

From practice experience I know that they are more relaxed enforcing the 6 months rule due to COVID - of course it's not mention public and whenever possible you should try to make it.

Of course your Residence Visa won't be canceled after 6 months and 1 day out of the country.

Have to mention that experience is for EU passport that enjoys visa free travel anyway.

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[travelES]

If it weren't for that 6 month rule Id be very interested. I consider it a massive liability in this new world with the way governments are behaving. Perhaps the airlines (or the UAE or even the country I'm departing) requires a certain vaccine update, credentials, invasive test etc that I dont want to partake in and therefore cant make it. What happens to my company and money? Id want to know legally exactly where I stand. Do you have that info?

 

[Fred]

travelES said:
If it weren't for that 6 month rule Id be very interested. I consider it a massive liability in this new world with the way governments are behaving. Perhaps the airlines (or the UAE or even the country I'm departing) requires a certain vaccine update, credentials, invasive test etc that I dont want to partake in and therefore cant make it. What happens to my company and money? Id want to know legally exactly where I stand. Do you have that info?
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I understand your point.

If you don't want to go the extra mile like coming every 6 months 1 day - you will endup with some banks in Belize, Dominica, Vanuatu or some EMI.

The banks in this jurisdictions by the way are always the same.

You need to decide of you want to bank in this islands - I personal won't.

From legal point of you it's simple - if you stay 1-2 years outside the country your Residence Visa will be cancelled and following this your bank accounts will be closed and the bank asks you to renew the Residence Visa or Withdraw the money.

If the banks consider you as a good customer they even bank you further as a non-resident. Depends on how much money you have with them.

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[369]

If it weren't for that 6 month rule Id be very interested. I consider it a massive liability in this new world with the way governments are behaving. Perhaps the airlines (or the UAE or even the country I'm departing) requires a certain vaccine update, credentials, invasive test etc that I dont want to partake in and therefore cant make it. What happens to my company and money? Id want to know legally exactly where I stand. Do you have that info?
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If you have only your spanish passport sooner or later you won't be allowed to fly there.
I got the same issue like you.Currently with the PCR test.
There must be an unknown work arround as they always let a small door open for their own people.
Also an idea would be to create a foundation in UAE which registers the company under its name but fred said this solution won't get you a bank account.

Last edited: Apr 16, 2021

 

[Fred]

369 said:
If you have only your spanish passport sooner or later you won't be allowed to fly there.
I got the same issue like you.Currently with the PCR test.
There must be an unknown work arround as they always let a small door open for their own people.
Also an idea would be to create a foundation in UAE which registers the company under its name but fred said this solution won't get you a bank account.
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The workaround is to get through us some document that requires your stay in Dubai.

There are many business man from big international companies that can fly from let's say Spain - they simply don't want you to fly to make holidays in Dubai.

The mentioned structure from you with some Offshore Company and Foundation won't give you a decent retail Bank Account in the UAE and you need to stick again to some small island banks that overcharges you and have wire instructions that are ONE PAGER - the wire instructions only fits in 3 screenshots.

See attached one example of a Nevis Bank - close to impossible to conduct serious business with such bank accounts - don't forget the paperwork you need to submit for each transfer as they need them to keep the correspondence banking active - this is far far away from retail banking and exactly the point I want that the people understand what's really one of the key points of Dubai - decent retail Banking at reasonable fees like you know it from your EU home country.

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[Maglish]

Hi Fred...

I read the entire thread and it was very interesting. But being new here, I can't DM you yet. I have a specific requirement and I was wondering if you could DM me and we could discuss the matter.

 

[DinkMe]

Fred said:
Hi @DinkMe,

first of all avoid Management Consultancy as the SIC of your Business Trade License as it's right now together with legal services and physical gold trade blacklisted by all banks in the UAE. It's not mention anywhere public you will be simply rejected due to "internal policy " of the bank.
Next you mentioned Mainland Company without local sponsor. It was announced big but for now nothing has been realized in practice and what is mentioned nowhere in the news that you will be required to keep 3-4m AED in local bank accounts as some sort of guarantee.
For majority of the people a Mainland Company is overpowered and to costs too much - keep in mind you are required to get a office space in the Dubai Mainland so you will face the real property prices. If you don't want to endup in Deira and get some serious office expect something between 40.000-60.000 AED for the office space only + the accounting requirement and so on.

Regarding the second part of your questions - taking over a Freezone Company together with already existing bank accounts from a friend of you could be a cost effective solution - to discuss this further just send an e-mail to [email protected] or visit our website www.dls-dubai.com to use the contact form or messenger.
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HI Fred, thanks for the advice, I'll get in touch on email. Cheers!

 

[lokifree]

Hi Fred, I've sent you email twice from my professional email about my client from Poland but I didn't get an answer. I can't PM you either as quite a new member. Could we arrange a Zoom/Teams call to discuss? Cheers!

 

[JohnLocke]

I'm sure Fred will reach out to you shortly, he is quick in response usually!

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[savingtechniques]

Hi @Fred, Thanks for all the info you have provided in this thread.
With the Dubai freezone company, do we need to charge 5% VAT to clients based outside GCC ?
For dependent/family visa, do we need a rental contract + utility bill? Is there a workaround possible?

 

[oceanonline]

I've known Fred for a week now, we discussed and started the process remotely. I had so many questions in the beginning, THANKY YOU FRED FOR TIME AND PATIENCE!!!

Fred is a very pleasant contact, he took a lot of time to find the best suitable setup for me and my company. He quickly and professionally initiated the necessary steps with the authorities. He knows exactly what requirements have to be met, created the necessary documents for us to open the company and put us in touch with the right contacts. Fred truely offers a lot of help here.

Also noticed that he is incredibly familiar with the Insights, can react flexibly to any problems that may arise and will not let you down. Such a cool thing that I have met him in this forum. Very friendly and warm-hearted contact, really excited to meet him in person next week in Dubai. thu&¤#

 

[Mr Gus]

I promised to leave a review on Fred his services..

Main positive of Fred is that he is always ready to answer your questions, and not having to wait days to get a response.

He setup my company and helped me through the process of getting EID etc. We we're in process of setting up the bank accounts as well, he set up a couple of meetings with banks and got the process started.

I didn't complete the process of setting up bank accounts because of shifting plans and moving to Malta instead (my income shifted from trading profits to royalty income and therefor UAE became totally uninteresting for me because of withholding taxes and UAE not having tax treaties signed with the countries I receive my income from).

And I am very positive that if I would have preceded with the bank account openings they would have been open by now.

Only downside is the time frame of setting things up, this is not Fred his mistake but mainly of slow government services, right now in the UAE they are shifting from offline to online more but that process isn't going so smoothly imo.

Other positive is that everything can be done with DLS Dubai in person, you don't have to figure s**t out yourself if you don't want to.

All in all I would recommend Fred.

 

[Fred]

Thank you for the fair and honest reviews about our service, really appreciate that and we continue adding more and more value to our service.

Please note since the 8th of April the Visa Application for outside the UAE is available again and therefore the whole process is much faster and the stay in the UAE is calculated with 7-10 days only.

Furthermore our new Office at Marina Plaza Tower is open and available for all clients to collect Company Documents, Emirates ID and Passports.

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[Fred]

savingtechniques said:
Hi @Fred, Thanks for all the info you have provided in this thread.
With the Dubai freezone company, do we need to charge 5% VAT to clients based outside GCC ?
For dependent/family visa, do we need a rental contract + utility bill? Is there a workaround possible?
Click to expand...

Welcome.

No need of charge 5% VAT.

Dependent Visa can be managed by a good service provider - no issue.

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