Frequently Asked Questions

Where is your client base, who are your customers and where do they reside in the UAE?

What is your activity? Once this is established the type of licence you need is clear. If you are in a service-based industry such as Consulting then you will be a Professional Service Licence holder. If you wish to trade goods then you will need Limited Liability (LLC).

With this licence you can trade/provide services to all companies wherever they reside.

To be considered a series, all things in the series (eg episode, edition) must be connected, and be released within 1 year of the first installment. There is also a maximum of 52 episodes or editions within the series.

Example: A 12 episode TV series that starts in December and ends in July would only require a single license. A YouTube series that releases an episode every week (52 total) would only need to purchase a license once every year. A magazine that releases an edition every other month would need to purchase a license once every year.

Offshore/Zone areas have certain restrictions and laws pertaining to types of business and where they can supply services/goods.

Yes, the Licensing Dept. and Labour Dept. both require you to have a registered office address in order to grant employee visas, labour cards and work permits.

Your license will not be granted unless you supply a registered office tenancy contract with Ejari.

If you have a small business and decide at a later stage to take on an investor or you are approached partner/sell with a larger concern or individual, you can reorganize the structure to accommodate any new individuals or company and become a partnership. This entails submitting an application to the Economic Dept. to sell shares to the new partner/owner and then add a partner(s) via an amendment to the incorporation documentation which is signed in the courts to officiate the procedure.

All foreign-owned companies need an official sponsor in the capacity of an Emirati person/company.

The type of Licence established determines the role of the sponsor within the company, not every licence type requires an Emirati person/company 51%, shareholder

The Wages Protection Scheme (WPS) is a Law established in 2009 to protect employees and ensure that all employers pay their employee’s salaries through Central Bank.

Every company must make contact with their Company Bank Account Manager to enrol on Wages Protection Scheme. All banks in the UAE are fully aware of the process and will guide you on what is required to comply with the law.

As soon as you hire your new employee the visa and work permits are issued they are registered to receive their salary through the WPS procedure. At the end of each working month, all salary transfers are reported to the Ministry of Labour, ensuring the Authorities know the company has paid the employee month on month. Any lapse in regular payments to registered employees will result in the company being blocked from further transactions or in some cases a fine.

All employees working for a company must be provided with local medical insurance. This is paid for and provided by the company.

Yes. Anyone sponsoring a housemaid/nanny here in the UAE must provide suitable local medical insurance cover for the duration of the visa term.

Having your baby in a different country to your country of birth takes some planning. The UAE Authorities realise this and give all new parents 120 days from the date of birth, affording you time to get the baby’s birth certificate notarized by the hospital, the baby’s passport organized with your consulate/embassy and then finally the process of gaining the UAE residence visa. Once this is complete you and your newborn can travel outside of the UAE.

No, all persons wanting to work in the UAE must complete interviews, once offered a role within a company the organisation applies for both the official work permit and employment visa.

It is a process bearing witness to the authenticity of a document/certificate and was issued and signed by a competent Authority along with sets of stamps placed to affirm the document/certificate is genuine.

To attest any document for use in the UAE, the first thing that needs to happen is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of any country needs to declare the authenticity of the certificate/document.

First, the Ministry declares the authenticity of the document/certificate by stamping their approval on a true copy or original. To be able to use that authenticated document/certificate here in the UAE the UAE Embassy of that same country needs to also stamp that document alongside the Ministry’s stamp and signature. Now the document will have 2 attested stamps this is partial attestation. The final step to having a fully attestation document for use in the UAE is to have the final third stamp placed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in UAE.