Setting up a company in Dubai. Start it from the US.

Yes, and that is most of the calls we take from the US. You do not need a structure in mind, a zone picked or a company name chosen. What the 30 minutes gives you is the honest version of the 4 answers that decide everything else: what you intend to sell, who you intend to sell it to, how many residence visas you need, and whether you need to be in the UAE to run it. Those 4 point at one setup rather than a shortlist, and the cost follows from them. If a UAE company does not do what you are hoping it will do, you will hear that on the call rather than after you have paid for one. 30 minutes, free, no obligation, at a time that works in your timezone.

It is most of who we talk to. The UAE sets no prior-experience requirement, and there is no minimum capital to deposit for most free zone setups. What matters is a clear description of what you intend to sell and to whom — everything else follows from that: the activity codes, the license type, the jurisdiction and the visa route. If you cannot answer that yet, the call is still worth having, because working it out is the part we do most often.

Yes, and for most activities you can own it outright — 100% foreign ownership applies across free zones and the large majority of mainland activities, with no local partner or sponsor. Nationality is not a barrier and you do not need to be resident in the UAE before you start. What setting up a company in Dubai from the US actually requires is a passport copy, a decision on your activity, and one trip once the license is issued. The sequence that works is to license the company first and travel once for the visa stages, rather than flying over to start the process.

Almost all of it. Name reservation, initial approval, the license application and your corporate documents complete remotely while you are in the US. What you cannot do from home is the residence visa — the medical fitness test and Emirates ID biometrics require you to be physically in the UAE, and some banks want to meet you before activating an account. We tell you exactly which stages need you here before you start.

Company registration in Dubai runs in a set order, and the order matters because each stage gates the next. First the activity, because it decides everything after it. Then trade name reservation, then initial approval from the authority, then the memorandum and shareholder documents, then the license itself, then the establishment card and immigration file, and only then visas. Company formation in Dubai goes wrong most often at the first stage — a trade name gets refused because it does not carry an activity descriptor, or the activity chosen does not actually cover what the business does. We handle the filing and the back-and-forth; what we need from you is a passport copy and a clear description of the business.

That is the question worth asking of anyone quoting you, because Dubai company setup packages are built differently and the headline rarely covers the same things. Ask 3 things and insist on them in writing. First, whether government and authority fees, name reservation and initial approval sit inside the figure or get added later. Second, how many residence visas the package actually allows and what each extra one costs. Third, what renews annually and at what price. We are a partnered CSP across almost every zone in the UAE, so the recommendation is not limited to whichever registration we happen to sell.

In the UAE they describe the same process from different angles, and the 3 words are used interchangeably in the market. Company formation in Dubai covers the whole exercise — choosing the entity, agreeing ownership, preparing documents. Business registration in Dubai is the filing itself, where the company is entered on the register and the license is issued. Dubai company incorporation usually means the same thing again. UAE company formation as a phrase covers all of it. There is no separate incorporation certificate the way a US founder expects from a Delaware filing — the trade license is the evidence that the company exists.

It comes down to who your customers are. If you need to sell directly to people and businesses inside the UAE, that points to mainland. If your customers are international, or you are selling services and digital products, a free zone is usually better economics and far simpler to set up. E-commerce sits in its own lane for online retail. You do not need to decide before the call — deciding is what the call is for, and we will tell you which fits even when it is the cheaper option.

Dubai is the default and for most US founders it is the right one — the banking, the client perception and the flight connections are all better. But company setup in UAE terms is not only Dubai. A business setup in UAE jurisdictions further out, in Ajman, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah or Umm Al Quwain, can cost meaningfully less for the same ownership and the same renewable residence visa, and if you are selling internationally and never meeting clients at an office, the saving is real with no practical downside. Where it does matter is banking: some banks are more comfortable with some zones than others, which is a conversation worth having before you register rather than after.

Not for a free zone company, and not for most mainland activities either. UAE law now permits 100% foreign ownership across the large majority of commercial activities. A small number of strategic activities still require an Emirati partner, and we confirm whether yours is one of them on the first call. Anyone telling you that you must hand a local partner 51% of a standard trading or consulting business is describing a rule that no longer applies.

You get a renewable residence visa as the investor or partner in your own company, usually for 2 years and tied to your license, and you can sponsor your spouse and children on it. That is not the Golden Visa. The 10-year Golden Visa is a separate route with its own qualifying criteria — property investment at a set threshold, public investment, or recognition as a specialist in certain fields. Be careful with anyone who implies that setting up a company gets you one. We will tell you honestly whether your situation qualifies.

This is the one worth being blunt about, because the US works differently from almost everywhere else. The United States taxes its citizens and green card holders on worldwide income <strong>regardless of where they live</strong>. Moving to Dubai does not end your US filing obligation the way leaving the UK or Australia can. A UAE company owned by a US person can also bring controlled foreign corporation and GILTI rules into play, and foreign accounts carry FBAR and FATCA reporting. None of that makes a UAE company a bad idea — the 0% personal income tax in the UAE is still real, and there are legitimate reliefs such as the foreign earned income exclusion — but the arithmetic is genuinely different for a US person and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling. We are UAE corporate service providers, not US tax advisers. Settle this with a US-qualified adviser before you commit, not after.

You can file most free zone applications yourself, and some people do. What you are buying from a consultant is the order things happen in, knowing which activity codes match what you actually intend to sell, and someone who has seen the rejection before you get it. From the US the practical difference is bigger, because a query from the authority lands in your inbox at 2am and a wrong answer costs you a resubmission. If your setup is genuinely simple and you have time to learn the process, doing it yourself is a legitimate choice, and we will say so on the call rather than pretend otherwise.

An LLC — limited liability company — is the standard mainland structure, where your liability is limited to what you put into the business. It is what you would register if you need to sell directly inside the UAE. A free zone company gives you the same limited liability without the mainland requirements, which is why most people setting up from overseas end up there instead. Which one you need follows from who your customers are, not from the label.

Bank onboarding is where most new companies stall, and it depends on your activity, your structure, your residency status and how the file is presented. We prepare the application to the standard UAE banks expect and introduce you to banks that accept your profile. Holding a UAE residence visa materially improves your position with most banks, which is why we sequence the visa before the account rather than after. No consultant can guarantee a bank’s decision, and you should be wary of any who claims to.

Passport copies for every shareholder, a short description of your business activity, three proposed company names, and for LLC structures an MoA or shareholder agreement. Some activities and some banks ask for extras such as a CV or proof of address. We confirm exactly what applies to your case on the first call, so you are not assembling paperwork you do not need.