Process

How to setup Business in Dubai- 8 easy steps:

STEP 1 Select Your Business Activity

The first step in the process of issuing a license is determining the activity type which identifies legal form options and parties associated with that activity. There are more than 2,100 business activities available in Dubai, which fall into different classes and groups: industrial, commercial, professional and tourism activities.

The license type is associated with the activity type, thus if the activity type of the license is professional, then the license should be professional as well. When the license combines several activities, the largest activity which is the industrial activity is taken into consideration followed by the commercial activity and then the professional one. For example, if a license contained both commercial and professional activities, the type of the license should be commercial since it’s the larger activity (not applicable for tourism activities).

These will define the basis of your operations. However, while selecting, remember that certain activities such as food trading, jewellery trade, veterinary activities and legal consultancy require further approvals from other governmental departments.

STEP 2 Select a Legal Form for Your Business

A ‘legal form’ is a description of what sort of business you are starting up. It is not a form that needs to be filled in.

When you select a legal form for your business in Dubai, you must take into account the business type, business activities, the number and the nationality of owners and the ownership options.

Companies in Dubai can take various legal forms. Depending on your particular business activity not all of these legal options may be open to you. Please check which business activities go with which legal forms.

STEP 3 Select a Trade Name for Your Business

When choosing a name for your business or company you should follow general trade name guidelines. The trade name should be related to the license type so that clients can’t be confused.

Remember:

You have to pay trade name reservation fees within 72 hours of receiving the payment voucher.
A trade name certificate is valid for 6 months.
Trade name reservation costs AED 750.
It can be renewed through eServices 3 times valid for 6 months each. Renewal costs AED 750.
It has to be renewed within one week before it is due to expire.
A trade name certificate that has already expired should be reserved again. All fees should be paid.
DED reserves the right to levy fines for name violations in previous years.
DED has the right to cancel or change a business name if an existing trade name has been found similar to another name.
The name should not be the same name of one of the brands active in UAE or government projects or brand names.

Please, check here Trade Name Guidelines

STEP 4 Apply for an Initial Approval Certificate

An Initial Approval Certificate is a document which says that the Dubai Government has no objection to you starting a business and means you can take the next steps to getting a business license.

You can apply for your company’s legal form listed below.

Individual Establishment (Sole Proprietorship)
Civil Company
Limited Liability Company
Partnership Company

Remember:

You have pay for your Initial Approval within seven days of applying for it.
You must have an Initial Approval Certificate and Initial Approval Form to obtain a license.
The Initial Approval Certificate records partners, legal type and activities of the license.
It is valid for six months and is not renewable.

Setup business in Dubai Freezone just for 11500AED

STEP 5 Prepare a Memorandum and an LSA agreement (if necessary)

Depending on the legal form of your company, you and your business partners may need to draft and sign a Memorandum of Association (MOA). In some cases, you will have to sign a Local Service Agent (LSA) agreement with a UAE national, who will represent your business with regards to licensing and compliance.

You will need to draft a Memorandum of Association (MOA) if the legal form of your business is a:

Limited Liability Company
Private Shareholding Company (Private Joint Stock Co)
Public Shareholding Company
Simple Limited Partnership
Partnership Company
Civil Company

Drafting an MOA is a process that you cannot do yourself. You will need to use a law firm, DED Legal Affairs or Notary Public. You will need a copy of an MOA, if you are registering a branch of an existing company. If you are a Sole Establishment or Intalaq license holder you do not need an MOA.

In addition, you will need an LSA agreement if the legal form of your business is:

A branch of a Free zone Company, where UAE nationals own less than 51% of the company
A branch of a Foreign Company
A civil company that has no UAE national partners

Step 6 Establish your Business Location

All businesses in Dubai must have a physical address. You can sign your tenancy contract with the landlord and register the contract with Ejari for attestation.

To register with Ejari, take your initial approval certificate and other documents required by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to any authorised service centre. You will need to submit the attested contract later to Dubai DED and proceed with the process of issuing the trade license.

You can add a new trade license to the same location taking into account the following conditions:

The local party of the new license should be the same owner, partner or LSA in the existing license of the desired location.
The total number of licenses owned by the local party should not exceed 10 licenses per same location.
The space of location allocated for each license should not be less than 200 sq. ft.

STEP 7 Get Licensing Approvals (if required)

Some business activities require special licensing approvals by different government departments. For example, if you want to set up a hospital, it is not enough to get licensing approvals from DED only but also from the Dubai Health Authority.

You can check if your business activity requires additional approvalsby various government bodies. If yes, you need to contact the relevant government departments to find out what documents they need.

Business activities that fall under DED control do not require any additional activity-specific licensing approvals.

Ask us for the complete list.

STEP 8 Collect Your Business License

Now that you have completed the steps above, you need to submit all the documents to the DED counters. Depending on your business activity, the processing of your business license ranges from 1 – 7 days.

You will be issued payment voucher after the document submission.