ZAKLINK
CORPORATE SERVICES DUBAI
Insights
UAE company setup, explained without the sales pitch.
Plain answers to the questions we are asked every week, choosing between mainland and freezone, qualifying for the Golden Visa through property, getting a corporate bank account opened, and keeping the books and tax filings clean. Written by ZAKLINK, Corporate Services Dubai, based at Expo City Dubai.
ALL ARTICLES
Everything an expat or overseas business needs to trade legally in the UAE.
JURISDICTION
Mainland or freezone: how to
actually decide
6 min read · Structure Choice
GOLDEN VISA
The Golden Visa through
property purchase: how the route actually works
7 min read · Property Visa
BANKING
Why UAE bank applications get declined and how to prepare one that doesn't
7 min read · Bank Readiness
VISAS
The UAE residence visa process, step by step
5 min read · Visa Process
TAX & COMPLIANCE
Corporate tax and VAT: what a new UAE company actually has to do
6 min read · Tax Compliance
RELOCATION
Moving from Australia to Dubai: a practical first 90 days
8 min read · Dubai Relocation
FREEZONE
Setting up in Expo City Dubai: what the freezone is actually good for
6 min read · Expo Setup
HIRING
Hiring your first UAE employee: quota, offer letter, visa, contract
6 min read · Employee Onboarding
COMPLIANCE
The annual UAE compliance calendar every company owner should have
5 min read · Annual Compliance
STRUCTURING
Using a UAE holding company: when it makes sense and when it doesn’t
6 min read · Holding Structures
E-COMMERCE
Selling online in the UAE: licence, VAT and getting paid
6 min read · Online Trading
COSTS
How to read a UAE setup quote without getting stung
5 min read · Annual Compliance
ALL ARTICLES
Everything an expat or overseas business needs to trade legally in the UAE.
JURISDICTION
Mainland or freezone: how to actually decide
6 min read · Structure Choice
GOLDEN VISA
The Golden Visa through property purchase: how the route actually works
7 min read · Property Visa
BANKING
Why UAE bank applications get declined and how to prepare one that doesn't
7 min read · Bank Readiness
VISAS
The UAE residence visa process, step by step
5 min read · Visa Process
TAX & COMPLIANCE
Corporate tax and VAT: what a new UAE company actually has to do
6 min read · Tax Compliance
RELOCATION
Moving from Australia to Dubai: a practical first 90 days
8 min read · Dubai Relocation
FREEZONE
Setting up in Expo City Dubai: what the freezone is actually good for
6 min read · Expo Setup
HIRING
Hiring your first UAE employee: quota, offer letter, visa, contract
6 min read · Employee Onboarding
COMPLIANCE
The annual UAE compliance calendar every company owner should have
5 min read · Annual Compliance
STRUCTURING
Using a UAE holding company: when it makes sense and when it doesn’t
6 min read · Holding Structures
E-COMMERCE
Selling online in the UAE: licence, VAT and getting paid
6 min read · Online Trading
COSTS
How to read a UAE setup quote without getting stung
5 min read · Annual Compliance
Jurisdiction
Mainland or freezone:how to actually decide
6 min read · Structure Choice
The honest answer is that it depends on three things : who you invoice, how many people you need to sponsor, and how much fixed cost you can carry in year one.
Start with who pays you
If your customers are UAE-based companies or consumers and you need to trade directly in the local market, a mainland licence is usually the cleaner route. If your clients are overseas, or you are holding assets, consulting, or moving goods internationally, a freezone licence normally does the job at a lower fixed cost.
Then count the visas
Freezone packages come with a visa quota attached to your licence and office type. If you know you will sponsor a growing team (or warehouse staff, drivers, technicians) check the quota before you commit, because upgrading later is more expensive than buying the right package once.
Then look at the real cost of year one
Compare like for like: licence, establishment card, office or flexi-desk, visa costs per head, and the annual renewal. A cheap headline licence with a low visa quota and an expensive upgrade path is not cheap. We quote government charges separately from our fee so this comparison is possible.
Where people get it wrong
The most common mistake we clean up is a licence bought for its price rather than its activity list. If your licence does not cover what you actually do, you can find out at the worst possible moment: during a bank review, a tender, or a visa application. Getting the activity right at the start costs nothing extra.
A rule of thumb
Consultants, holding structures, agencies with foreign clients: start by pricing a freezone. Retail, food, contracting, logistics, anything selling to the UAE market or hiring at scale: price mainland first. Then let the visa count and the activity list decide.
GOLDEN VISA
The Golden Visa through property purchase: how the route actually works
7 min read · Property Visa
Buy qualifying property, get a long-term renewable residence visa that is not tied to an employer. The principle is simple; the qualifying conditions are where applications come unstuck.
What the property route is
The UAE grants a ten-year renewable residence visa, the Golden Visa, to investors in real estate who meet the published conditions. The headline requirement is property with a value of at least AED 2 million. Unlike an employment or standard investor visa, it is not sponsored by a company, and it allows you to sponsor family members.
Which property qualifies
The property must be in an approved area and registered with the relevant land department, with a title deed in your name. Off-plan and mortgaged purchases can be considered, subject to conditions on how much has been paid and on a letter from the bank or developer, this is the detail most worth checking before you commit funds, not after.
Single property or several
The threshold can be met by one property or, in many cases, by a combination of properties whose total registered value clears it. Joint ownership between spouses is also commonly accepted. Because treatment varies by emirate and by developer, the qualifying calculation is worth confirming against your specific title deeds.
What the application involves
In outline: title deed and valuation evidence, a no-objection or payment-status letter where a mortgage or off-plan payment plan exists, passport and photographs, health insurance, then the medical test, Emirates ID and visa issuance. Dependants are added once the principal visa is issued.
What it does and does not give you
It gives you long-term residence independent of an employer, the ability to sponsor family, and stability for schooling and banking. It does not give you citizenship, it does not itself create the right to trade, you still need a licence to run a business, and it does not remove your obligations in your home country.
The practical sequencing point
Many buyers complete a purchase and only then ask about the visa, discovering a condition they could easily have met with a slightly different structure or payment schedule. Ask the visa question before you sign the SPA. If you are already an owner, we can review the deeds and tell you plainly whether the route is open.
One caveat
Thresholds, approved areas and documentary requirements are set by the authorities and are updated from time to time. Treat this as orientation and have your own case checked before you rely on it.
BANKING
Why UAE bank applications get declined and how to prepare one that doesn't
7 min read · Bank Readiness
Banks are not rejecting you personally. They are rejecting a file they cannot explain to their own compliance committee. Your job is to make the file easy to say yes to.
The bank is answering one question
Where does the money come from, and does the story hang together? Every document a bank asks for is a version of that question. Applications stall when the answers are vague, inconsistent, or unsupported.
Build the file before you apply
At minimum: company documents, shareholder passports and residence status, a clear business description, evidence of past or expected trading, contracts, invoices, a website, a client list, and a source-of-funds trail for the capital going in. Missing history is fine; unexplained history is not.
Match the bank to the profile
Banks have appetites. Some are comfortable with consultancies and small trading companies; others focus on established local businesses with UAE turnover. Applying to the wrong bank produces a decline that then has to be explained to the next one. We shortlist by profile rather than by whoever answers first.
Expect the interview
Someone from the bank will want to talk to the signatory and hear the business described in plain language: what you sell, to whom, how the payments flow in and out, expected monthly volume. Rehearse it. Contradicting your own application form is the fastest route to a decline.
Have a plan B that is not a downgrade
Digital and non-bank payment institutions can be a legitimate first stop for a young company, and a few months of clean transaction history makes the traditional bank application far stronger. Sequencing beats waiting.
What nobody can promise
No advisor can guarantee an account, the decision belongs to the bank's compliance function. Anyone who guarantees one is telling you something they cannot control.
VISAS
The UAE residence visa process, step by step
5 min read · Visa Process
From entry permit to Emirates ID, the sequence is fixed and mostly predictable. What causes delays is paperwork ordering, not the government.
The order matters
Company licence and establishment card first, then the visa quota, then the entry permit, then status change or entry on the permit, then the medical test and biometrics, then Emirates ID and visa stamping. Skip ahead and you wait.
Documents to prepare early
Passport with sufficient validity, passport photos to UAE specification, educational or professional attestations if your role requires them, and for family applications, marriage and birth certificates, attested and translated. Attestation is the step most likely to add weeks, so start it before you need it.
Family and staff
Dependants are sponsored once your own residence is issued, and the requirements differ for spouse, children and parents. Staff sponsorship depends on your licence type and quota. Both can run in parallel with your own file if planned upfront.
Plan around travel and school terms
The medical and biometrics require you to be in the country, so we schedule them around your travel rather than the other way around. Families moving with children usually work backwards from the school enrolment deadline, which needs residence documentation in hand.
Then keep track of the expiry
Residence visas and Emirates IDs expire, and so do licences and establishment cards. Fines for lapsed status are avoidable and entirely administrative. We keep a renewal calendar per client for exactly this reason.
TAX & COMPLIANCE
Corporate tax and VAT: what a new UAE company actually has to do
6 min read · Tax Compliance
The UAE is still a low-tax jurisdiction, but it is no longer a no-filing one. The work is administrative, and it is much cheaper to do from month one than to reconstruct later.
Two separate regimes
VAT is a transaction tax charged on your sales at the standard rate of 5%, with registration required once your taxable turnover passes the mandatory threshold, voluntary registration is possible below it. Corporate tax is a tax on profit, currently 9% on taxable profit above AED 375,000, with 0% below that. They have different registrations, different returns and different deadlines.
Freezone does not automatically mean zero
There is relief available to qualifying freezone entities on qualifying income, but it comes with conditions on activity, substance and record-keeping, it is not a blanket exemption that arrives with the licence. Assuming it applies without checking is a common and expensive error.
Keep books that a reviewer can follow
Proper accounting records, retained for the required period, are the foundation for both regimes and for your bank's annual review. In practice that means bank transactions reconciled monthly, invoices and receipts filed against them, and a chart of accounts that reflects how the business actually works.
Deadlines are the real risk
Late registration, late returns and late payment all carry administrative penalties, and they accumulate quietly. A filing calendar with owner names against each date solves most of it.
The cheap way to do this
Set up bookkeeping in the same month the licence is issued. Retro-fitting a year of records from a bank statement and a shoebox costs several times more than doing it monthly, and produces worse numbers to run the business on.
One caveat
Rates, thresholds and reliefs change, and specifics depend on your structure and activity. Treat this as orientation and get your own position confirmed before you file.
RELOCATION
Moving from Australia to Dubai: a practical first 90 days
8 min read · Dubai Relocation
I did this move myself before I did it for clients. Here is the order of operations that avoids the expensive, avoidable mistakes.
Days 1–15: decide the structure before you spend
Your licence choice drives your visa quota, your office requirement and your annual cost. Decide it against a written plan for the next two years, clients, headcount, whether you need to invoice locally, rather than against a package price.
Days 15–30: licence and documents
Name reservation, activity list, incorporation documents, establishment card. If attestations from home are required, start them now: they run on someone else's timeline, not yours.
Days 30–60: visa, ID, housing
Entry permit, medical, biometrics, Emirates ID. Emirates ID unlocks most of adult life here, long-term tenancy, utilities, telecoms, school enrolment, so short-term accommodation for the first couple of months is usually the sane choice rather than signing a lease you cannot yet complete.
Days 60–90: bank, books, home admin
Corporate account with the compliance file already prepared, bookkeeping switched on, tax registrations filed. Then the personal layer: driving licence conversion, health insurance, schooling, and the tax exit paperwork on the Australian side.
Don't forget the country you left
Leaving Australia, or any home jurisdiction, has its own tax and residency consequences, including how and when you cease residency and what happens to assets you keep behind. That is a conversation for a qualified adviser in that country, and it is worth having before you move, not after.
What surprised me most
The paperwork is not hard, but it is strictly sequential, and every step assumes the previous one is finished. Almost every horror story I hear is a sequencing failure wearing a costume.
FREEZONE
Setting up in Expo City Dubai: what the freezone is actually good for
6 min read · Expo Setup
Expo City is a newer freezone with a specific character. It suits some businesses very well and is the wrong answer for others, here is how to tell which you are.
What it is
Expo City Dubai is the permanent district built on the Expo 2020 site, operating as a freezone with its own licensing authority. Companies licensed there get the standard freezone benefits, full foreign ownership, a defined visa quota, and a licence issued by a single authority rather than through several departments.
Who it fits
Businesses that want a credible, modern address and physical space that clients will actually visit: consultancies, technology and sustainability-focused firms, professional services, and regional offices of overseas companies. The district is planned around offices, events and mixed use rather than warehousing.
Who it does not fit
If you need to sell directly to the UAE domestic market at retail, run a shop, or take government contracts, a freezone licence, Expo City or any other, is not the instrument for that. If you need heavy industrial or large-scale storage space, an industrial freezone will serve you better on cost per square metre.
The office question
Freezone visa quotas are tied to the space you take. A flexi-desk supports a small number of visas; a private office supports more. Work out your headcount for the next two years before you choose the package, because the upgrade path is where the unplanned cost usually appears.
Why we are based here
We work out of the Mangrove Building at Expo City, which means our clients' authority meetings, document signings and office viewings usually happen within walking distance of our desk. It also means we are honest when Expo City is not the right freezone for a particular business, we will say so and price the alternative.
How to compare it fairly
Line up Expo City against two other freezones and mainland on the same five numbers: licence fee, office cost, visa cost per person, visa quota included, and total annual renewal. Comparisons made on the headline licence price alone are the reason people end up in the wrong jurisdiction.
HIRING
Hiring your first UAE employee: quota, offer letter, visa, contract
6 min read · Employee Onboarding
Employing someone in the UAE is a sequence of four documents in a fixed order. Get the order wrong and you pay for the same step twice.
First, check the quota
Your ability to hire is capped by the visa quota attached to your licence and your office space. Before you make an offer, confirm how many visas you hold and how many are already used. Increasing the quota may require a larger office or an amendment to the licence, and that takes time you will not have once someone has resigned from their old job.
Then the offer letter and labour contract
The offer is issued and signed before the work permit is applied for, and the labour contract must match it. Salary, job title, working hours and benefits should be identical across the offer, the permit application and the contract, inconsistencies get applications rejected and can cause problems later in a dispute.
Work permit, entry permit, then residence
The employee needs a work permit, then an entry permit if they are outside the country or a status change if they are inside it, then the medical test and biometrics, then Emirates ID and residence stamping. Someone already resident on another company's visa needs that visa cancelled first, plan a gap.
Costs to budget per head
Work permit and labour card fees, visa and Emirates ID, medical testing, mandatory health insurance, and the refundable or bank-guarantee element some jurisdictions require. Add the recurring cost: insurance renewal, visa renewal every two or three years, and end-of-service gratuity accruing from day one.
The obligations that continue
Wages must be paid through the approved salary transfer system where it applies to you, health insurance must stay valid, and end-of-service benefits accrue whether or not you have provisioned for them. Bookkeeping that treats gratuity as a real liability rather than a surprise is the difference between a calm exit and an argument.
The most common mistake
Letting someone start work before the permit is issued. It exposes the company to penalties and leaves the employee without legal status. If you need them sooner, we can usually tell you the fastest lawful route, but there is no version where working first is the answer.
COMPLIANCE
The annual UAE compliance calendar every company owner should have
5 min read · Annual Compliance
Almost every fine we see clients pay is administrative, a date that passed. Here is the list of dates worth putting in a calendar with a name against each one.
Trade licence renewal
Annual, with the establishment card usually renewing alongside it. Late renewal attracts penalties and can block visa and banking transactions in the meantime. Set the reminder sixty days out, not on the day.
Residence visas and Emirates IDs
These expire on their own schedule, per person, typically every two or three years depending on jurisdiction and visa type. Dependants often expire on a different date from the sponsor. A single sheet listing every person, every expiry, is the whole solution.
VAT returns
If you are VAT registered, returns are filed on your assigned quarterly or monthly cycle with payment due at the same time. Filing a nil return is still filing, missing it because you had no sales is a common and entirely avoidable penalty.
Corporate tax registration and return
Registration has its own deadline, and the annual return is due within nine months of the end of your financial year. The return depends on having books closed and reconciled, so the real deadline is the one you set internally for finishing the accounts.
Health insurance and payroll obligations
Employee health insurance must remain valid to renew visas, and salary payment obligations run monthly. Both are easy to let slip when a company is small and the founder is doing everything.
The audit and bank review
Some freezones require audited financial statements at renewal, and most banks review corporate accounts annually and will ask for financials, licence copies and updated KYC. Keeping the file current means these are a five-minute email rather than a fortnight of scrambling.
How we handle it
Every client on our bookkeeping service gets a calendar with owner names against each date and reminders before each one. It is unglamorous work and it is the single cheapest form of risk management available to a small UAE company.
STRUCTURING
Using a UAE holding company: when it makes sense and when it doesn't
6 min read · Holding Structures
A holding company is a tool for owning things, shares, property, intellectual property, not for trading. The value comes from getting the structure right at the start.
What a holding company does
It holds assets rather than trading. Typically that means shares in operating companies, real estate, or intellectual property licensed out to the businesses that use it. Its licence reflects that: a holding licence generally does not permit you to invoice customers for goods and services.
Why people use one in the UAE
Consolidating ownership of several operating companies under one roof simplifies governance, makes bringing in an investor or selling a subsidiary cleaner, and puts a clear line between the assets and the trading risk. For families it can also make succession planning far more straightforward than owning a dozen entities individually.
Mainland, freezone, or one of the financial centres
Freezone holding structures are common and cost-effective. Where the structure needs a common-law framework, sophisticated shareholder agreements or foundations, typically for larger family holdings and investor-facing groups, the UAE's financial free zones offer that at a higher cost. The right answer depends on the size and complexity of what you are holding.
Substance is not optional
A holding company that exists only on paper is increasingly hard to defend, both to banks and under corporate tax rules on qualifying activity and substance. Expect to demonstrate real decision-making in the UAE: directors, meetings, records and, depending on the structure, some level of presence and expenditure.
When it is overkill
One operating company, one owner, no property and no plan to sell? A holding layer adds cost and filings for very little benefit. It earns its keep when there are multiple entities, multiple shareholders, real assets, or a transaction on the horizon.
Get the tax advice in your home country too
How a UAE holding company is treated where you and your other assets are resident matters as much as how it is treated here. That is a conversation for a qualified adviser in that jurisdiction, ideally before the structure is built rather than after.
E-COMMERCE
Selling online in the UAE: licence, VAT and getting paid
6 min read · Online Trading
An e-commerce business has three moving parts here, the right licence for how you actually fulfil orders, VAT registration, and a payment gateway that will approve you.
The licence follows the fulfilment model
If you hold stock in the UAE and ship it to local customers, you are trading in the local market and mainland is usually the right route. If you drop-ship, sell digital products, or fulfil from outside the country to customers abroad, a freezone e-commerce licence often does the job. Get this wrong and it surfaces when you apply for a payment gateway.
Warehousing and logistics
Storing goods requires space that matches your licence, whether that is your own warehouse or a third-party fulfilment provider. Using a fulfilment partner is usually cheaper at low volume and keeps the licence simpler, just make sure the arrangement is documented, because banks and gateways ask.
VAT on online sales
Sales to UAE customers are generally standard-rated once you cross the registration threshold, and the treatment of exports and digital services differs. Your storefront needs to show and account for tax correctly from the start; retrofitting VAT across a year of orders is painful and expensive.
The payment gateway is the real gate
Gateways and acquiring banks run their own compliance checks: they want a licence whose activity matches the store, a corporate bank account, a live website with clear terms, refund and delivery policies, and evidence of who is behind the business. Applying with a half-built site is the most common reason for a decline.
Customs and import duty
If you import stock, you need an importer code and to account for duty and clearance. These are routine, but they are extra registrations that founders often discover the week their first container arrives.
A sensible order of operations
Decide the fulfilment model, licence to match it, open the bank account, register for VAT if you are over the threshold, then apply for the gateway with a finished site. Doing it in that order takes weeks. Doing it out of order takes month.
COSTS
How to read a UAE setup quote without getting stung
5 min read · Cost Breakdown
Two quotes for the same company can differ by a multiple, and neither is lying. The difference is almost always in what has been left out of the number.
Ask for government charges to be listed separately
Licence fee, establishment card, immigration file, visa costs per person, medical and Emirates ID, office or flexi-desk, and the agent's own professional fee. One blended figure hides which parts are negotiable and which are fixed by the authority.
Check what year two looks like
Setup is a one-off; renewal is forever. Ask for the annual renewal cost, licence, office, visas, accounting, before you sign anything. A low entry price attached to a high renewal is a subscription, not a bargain.
Watch for the visa-count trap
Quotes often price one visa. If you know you need three, or a spouse and two children, get them priced now, including the office upgrade that a higher quota may require.
Count the exclusions
Common omissions: document attestation and translation, PRO and typing charges, bank introduction work, VAT and corporate tax registration, and bookkeeping. None of these are optional in practice, so they belong in the comparison.
A fair quote is boring
It is itemised, it separates our fee from the authority's, it states what is excluded, and it survives a second reading. If a quote needs urgency or a same-day discount to make sense, that is the finding.
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OFFICE
Mangrove Building
Expo City Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
HOURS
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Company setup, visa management, banking and bookkeeping for expats and businesses moving to the UAE.
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Information on this site is general and not a substitute for regulated legal or tax advice.