Setting up a business in a growing economy like UAE is very easy. However, there are many options available. It becomes difficult to choose which option is the best for Business Setup in Dubai. In UAE there are 7 emirates, and each emirate has its own licensing authorities Or department of economic development (DED) each emirate also has its own set of free zone licensing authorities In UAE there are about 45 free zone options So for an investor it becomes difficult to select which option is best for them.

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Business Setup in Dubai

So let us get into the 6 factors we need to consider Based on the activity you select you might be able to rule out some options. Certain activities are not available to certain free zones. There are even certain activities that are reserved just for mainland companies. You also need to consider if you intend to do business in UAE mainland. if so you need to keep in mind there are some restrictions. if you have a license in a freestone based on what activity you select.

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  1. If these restrictions are not impacting the way you do business. Then you could still select the free zone license. 
  2. Also, if you intend to take part in any major tenders with the UAE government, then a free zone license alone might not be enough.
  3. In general if you select the mainland option you will need to have a local sponsor who owns 51% of the company. 
  4. However, there is a new landmark law which we have discussed in our older videos which allows for 100% FDI for 122 activities if the activities you want to conduct is not in one of these 122 activities you could always set up a company in the free zone with 100% ownership if you want to set up a company int he UAE mainland you can select any type of option that you want.

However, in certain free zones there are restrictions on what kind of warehouse of factory space you can have. For example restrictions on the height of the warehouse or emission of smoke for a factory It is important to make sure that the option you select meet your requirement the cheaper free zone options normally charge over 8,000 DHS However when we go to the more expensive ones, we can expect to spend more than 60K Very difficult to operate a company if you do not have a bank account here. With UAE's economy maturing there have been additional compliance that have been implemented, which has obviously impacted the ease of setting up a bank account.

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The difficulty of setting up a bank account in UAE depends on the activity you select, the licensing authority you select and the history of the owner. You need to look into how many visas are allotted for your license. There are some licenses that do not give out any visas This will be a problem if you decide to move to UAE for this business or plan to hire staff here. Hope this video was useful for you to decide Where you should be setting up your business into he UAE.

Usefull Resources:

https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/business/starting-a-business-in-a-free-zone

https://kgrnaudit.com/mainland-company-formation-in-dubai/