Corporate/Business Bank Account for UAE RAK Free Zone Company + Second Citizenship

[NicolasMaduro]

I understand but what I dont understand is how is it considered as conducting business with personal account as Im only receiving money. A man gotta earn money and he saves in his savings account right? Its not like I will be paying salaries or commissions etc

Standard in all banks bro. You are not allowed to receive business income on a personal account.

Usually you get a warning before they close your account.

 

[Helkins]

Standard in all banks bro. You are not allowed to receive business income on a personal account.

Usually you get a warning before they close your account.

Simply untrue, although it is usually the case for the banks in the UAE it's certainly not for ones in Central and Eastern Europe. Even Polish law states it's allowed as long as transfers are well described and duly recorded as the business ones.

I understand but what I dont understand is how is it considered as conducting business with personal account as Im only receiving money. A man gotta earn money and he saves in his savings account right? Its not like I will be paying salaries or commissions etc

In some countries when being self-employed it's fine to receive the transfers as you describe but in UAE being a self-employed individual means you gotta be licensed. If you offer online services to US companies and want to move to the UAE your best bet (not to break bank) is to get a freelancer license from ADDED. Then you'll be able to open a commercial account with much more ease than a free zone.

Alternatively you can find someone willing to accept and distribute payments on your behalf for a fee. Avoiding all the corporate hassle but essentially giving up some of the control and/or safety.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

Simply untrue, although it is usually the case for the banks in the UAE it's certainly not for ones in Central and Eastern Europe. Even Polish law states it's allowed as long as transfers are well described and duly recorded as the business ones.

Are you talking about Company form which is personal / self employed?

 

[Helkins]

Are you talking about Company form which is personal / self employed?

In many countries I worked in that haven't been as strict as the UAE if you run an online business you can very well do so using a personal account as long as the transfers/payments are well described and recorded as a separate commercial activities, you'd also have to later put it on the tax forms but it's not too much of an issue. In UAE if you're a freelancer like I suppose the OP is, getting a freelancer license would very well be sufficient and will allow him to open a commercial bank account way easier than a RAK FZ

 

[Fred]

In many countries I worked in that haven't been as strict as the UAE if you run an online business you can very well do so using a personal account as long as the transfers/payments are well described and recorded as a separate commercial activities, you'd also have to later put it on the tax forms but it's not too much of an issue. In UAE if you're a freelancer like I suppose the OP is, getting a freelancer license would very well be sufficient and will allow him to open a commercial bank account way easier than a RAK FZ

You failed the whole topic.

Go through the whole thread to understand that the OP incorporated a RAKEZ and fails to get corporate banking and now asks if he can conduct the business through the personal account without any issues - @NicolasMaduro mentioned the straight truth that it won't work with local UAE banks.

Then you are jumping in and mentione that it's working some places - what doesn't help the OP with his RAKEZ at all.

Yes there are banks and countries where the bank doesn't care because of high regulations and taxes - exactly the opposite of the UAE.

In the UAE the banks act as some kind of regulator and are therefore more restrictive then a bank for exaple in Germany.

 

[clemens]

Im living in UAE in hotels since over a month and have no plan to rent a place for a whole year etc. So I cannot provide residential address + utility bill :|

Please help

how did you solve the problem? wonder if you got your bank account?

 

[Helkins]

You failed the whole topic.

Go through the whole thread to understand that the OP incorporated a RAKEZ and fails to get corporate banking and now asks if he can conduct the business through the personal account without any issues - @NicolasMaduro mentioned the straight truth that it won't work with local UAE banks.

Then you are jumping in and mentione that it's working some places - what doesn't help the OP with his RAKEZ at all.

Yes there are banks and countries where the bank doesn't care because of high regulations and taxes - exactly the opposite of the UAE.

In the UAE the banks act as some kind of regulator and are therefore more restrictive then a bank for exaple in Germany.

Truth is he can very well get a bank account opened for RAKEZ company with Payoneer, Bankera or Cimbanque. I've done so for my RAK company without any issues, I also have an account with DIB and used to have one with NOOR when it was still around. He'll need to visit the branches in person and talk with adequate managers, present his business plan and prove he's going to run a legitimate business. Since his business is solely online SaaS he can forgo the company completely too and opt for the freelancer permit instead too.

Alternatively he can create fake substance in the UAE by renting some office, hiring some staff even with that RAK company and/or make higher initial deposit. Lastly he can use someone else's bank account/company for payments. There are a lot of options.

Everyone wants to be saving on taxes yet no-one wants to do stuff in the grey zone, if you do it right the risk is minimal.

I only mention personal account use of countries as such because OP can get his bank account in an EU country and be getting away with corporate use of it for some time while he accumulates more funds for a more legitimate solution.

 

[Hank Moody]

how did you solve the problem? wonder if you got your bank account?

No I didnt. Banks are closed on Friday and Saturday here. I will try few things tomorrow though.

 

[Hank Moody]

- Would Payoneer, Bankera and Cimbanque report to my country about my account and/or transactions?
- I will be visiting as many banks as possible I will make sure to go to DIB, Mashreq etc.
- I dont know how much renting office + hiring some staff is going to cost me (staff for which positions and for how long? And what could be the contract with them be like?).
- At the end I want to show that the transactions are clean in one or more of my accounts so that I can use it to apply for citizenship by investment in Carribean countries + I want to hide the transaction from my country. So if I use someone else's company/account then I wouldn't know if they are clean enough to receive any money from them.

Thanks.

 

[cyprusbanker]

Simply untrue, although it is usually the case for the banks in the UAE it's certainly not for ones in Central and Eastern Europe.

I totally agree, you will not understand the banking system in Dubai at any time so you will not be able to compare it, they have strange rules.

 

[Fred]

Truth is he can very well get a bank account opened for RAKEZ company with Payoneer, Bankera or Cimbanque. I've done so for my RAK company without any issues, I also have an account with DIB and used to have one with NOOR when it was still around. He'll need to visit the branches in person and talk with adequate managers, present his business plan and prove he's going to run a legitimate business. Since his business is solely online SaaS he can forgo the company completely too and opt for the freelancer permit instead too.

Alternatively he can create fake substance in the UAE by renting some office, hiring some staff even with that RAK company and/or make higher initial deposit. Lastly he can use someone else's bank account/company for payments. There are a lot of options.

Everyone wants to be saving on taxes yet no-one wants to do stuff in the grey zone, if you do it right the risk is minimal.

I only mention personal account use of countries as such because OP can get his bank account in an EU country and be getting away with corporate use of it for some time while he accumulates more funds for a more legitimate solution.

That's very outdated information about the UAE Banks and was last time valid back in the days in 2018.

About Bankera, Payoneer and other EMI's - whats the point of having running costs of 5-6k$ with a RAKEZ company if you have same banking options as a 500$ Seychelles company?

The sense in the Dubai Company Formation with Dubai Residence Visa is in the reliable retail banking access with real banks in the UAE - having 0% tax setup but still having a similar banking experience as in US/UK/EU.

You have the account with DIB because Noor bank merged or much more were moved under the DIB brand as they used this move to do a huge re-KYC on old outdated Offshore structures that were still banking with Noor Bank.

This move happened after COVID and since this move DIB focus on Corporate Banking starting from 1m$ and no longer on SME.

Exactly such outdated information leads to people like @Hank Moody endup with a RAKEZ company and 2021 and additional end up in a never ending queue with DIB afterwards.

Going to a bank branch helps in 2021 exactly nothing - you will find in a bank branch either customer support or sales team - because of this people end up even with a monthly insurance of 500$ just for having a personal account.

From technical point of view no one of the big interesting banks (not talking about small pakistani banks without web banking lol) have the business account opening either outsourced to an online application were you can fail pretty easy if you don't know what you are doing or they have dedicated account opening teams that are based in some backoffice of the banks or the headquarters itself of the bank without walkin customer possibility.

A Freelance Permit costs you close to the same amount of money and you endup with 0 imporvement in terms of banking - exactly the opposite - banks don't like to open you an individual account for business purpose and they don't have any Freelance Business Accounts not to talk about no banker moves a finger for you as it's screaming you are small guy without any funds.

The EU is a joke advise if @Hank Moody isn't a EU national - I suspect if he plays around with a St. Kitts passport same like the grey zone area stuff

Anyway everybody is responsible for hiw own luck - just my 2 cents straight out of the daily practice in October 2021.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

In many countries I worked in that haven't been as strict as the UAE if you run an online business you can very well do so using a personal account as long as the transfers/payments are well described and recorded as a separate commercial activities, you'd also have to later put it on the tax forms but it's not too much of an issue. In UAE if you're a freelancer like I suppose the OP is, getting a freelancer license would very well be sufficient and will allow him to open a commercial bank account way easier than a RAK FZ

Pretty sure you must be talking about a self-employed entity. I havent heard of a country where you can use your personal account for a separate legal limited entity.

 

[Helkins]

Pretty sure you must be talking about a self-employed entity. I havent heard of a country where you can use your personal account for a separate legal limited entity.

Based on experience and certain extent of knowledge in Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak law you can use your personal account to accept payments on behalf of the LLC company you control, as long as the invoice is issued as normally, bank account number stated and transfer is well described. If your company A with TIN 666 issues an invoice with your personal bank account number on it company B as a buyer needs to be advised to put the name of your company A and its TIN 666 in the bank transfer description. It's not forbidden although it's not advised as it can get messy especially if you use same account for personal needs. All comes down to documenting it well and duly filling the declarations.

About Bankera, Payoneer and other EMI's - whats the point of having running costs of 5-6k$ with a RAKEZ company if you have same banking options as a 500$ Seychelles company?

Agreed, it's not ideal but you can very well start accumulating funds on those EMIs, age the company and make a nice initial deposit for a UAE bank later on.

The sense in the Dubai Company Formation with Dubai Residence Visa is in the reliable retail banking access with real banks in the UAE - having 0% tax setup but still having a similar banking experience as in US/UK/EU.

In all honesty apart from the access to credit and loans UAE banks don't make themselves at all attractive and use of EMIs like Wise is just so much better.

You have the account with DIB because Noor bank merged or much more were moved under the DIB brand as they used this move to do a huge re-KYC on old outdated Offshore structures that were still banking with Noor Bank.

This move happened after COVID and since this move DIB focus on Corporate Banking starting from 1m$ and no longer on SME.

Exactly such outdated information leads to people like @Hank Moody endup with a RAKEZ company and 2021 and additional end up in a never ending queue with DIB afterwards.

Fair enough, I opened my company a while back when the standards were different, surely these days I wouldn't be going for RAKEZ at all

Going to a bank branch helps in 2021 exactly nothing - you will find in a bank branch either customer support or sales team - because of this people end up even with a monthly insurance of 500$ just for having a personal account.

Well, I'll need to disagree, I'm persistent and talk my way through many things. If you know who and how to approach you'll be treated a tad differently from the usual customers.

 

[cyprusbanker]

Agreed, it's not ideal but you can very well start accumulating funds on those EMIs, age the company and make a nice initial deposit for a UAE bank later on.

really good idea. Most often theat's how you can safe up money for further investments if you are unable to do otherwise.

 

[Hank Moody]

Based on experience and certain extent of knowledge in Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak law you can use your personal account to accept payments on behalf of the LLC company you control, as long as the invoice is issued as normally, bank account number stated and transfer is well described. If your company A with TIN 666 issues an invoice with your personal bank account number on it company B as a buyer needs to be advised to put the name of your company A and its TIN 666 in the bank transfer description. It's not forbidden although it's not advised as it can get messy especially if you use same account for personal needs. All comes down to documenting it well and duly filling the declarations.


Agreed, it's not ideal but you can very well start accumulating funds on those EMIs, age the company and make a nice initial deposit for a UAE bank later on.


In all honesty apart from the access to credit and loans UAE banks don't make themselves at all attractive and use of EMIs like Wise is just so much better.


Fair enough, I opened my company a while back when the standards were different, surely these days I wouldn't be going for RAKEZ at all


Well, I'll need to disagree, I'm persistent and talk my way through many things. If you know who and how to approach you'll be treated a tad differently from the usual customers.

I planned to do that EMI thingy as a last resort when I read about EMI just before posting this thread. Im trying a few things and I think Im able to push forward slowly. If my idea doesnt work EMI would be the best thing for time being. Im trying my level best to open park my money inside UAE itself as a first preference.

@Fred Some really did tried to sell me AED 6000 insurance lmao! I turned around and kept walking until I reached other bank Looks like Im the only one in the world who dont have any insurance and avoid all kind of insurance all the time. (I dont know how wise it is)

 

[Hank Moody]

Dubai's Banking system is so crazy because it is manipulated by Indians. Dont mean to hurt anyone but its the truth.

 

[troubled soul]

Dubai's Banking system is so crazy because it is manipulated

How ???
Can you provide details?
They only help Indian????
They are not friendly to white People????

Sorry for my English

 

[Fred]

Look the thing is that RAKEZ is since almost 2 years blacklisted within all banks - that's fact.

Most likely due to the UAE Central Bank as they don't comply with the latest regulations.

I know guys with millions that somehow had the bank account opened but then never received missing things to login to online banking etc. In fact I don't know anybody without massive substance in Dubai that opened for a RAKEZ and then again they bank with the bottom of the barrel.

Dubai's Banking system is so crazy because it is manipulated by Indians. Dont mean to hurt anyone but its the truth.

People need to understand that they earn the same or since COVID even less then before but the compliance is getting harder and harder each year.

So the banker refuse to accept somebody without funds because the banker gets paid a commission if he attracts a certain amount of new funds each month.

Most banks even don't have any longer any dedicated bank account opening teams.

A banker doesn't earn anything from bank account opening - it's a service from the bank that is free.

Actually it's looking like you have either someone that opens your account but isn't really responsible for your account afterwards or you have a RM that isn't really responsible for the bank account opening and is just a RM.

The developing in the banking is really strange but who is surprised if the whole tax framework in the UAE is against the global trend and still it's by far the smallest pain.

Get yourself a service provider nowadays - even we have to fight but for now we get everything done except the client turns against us as well - we can't help anyone that doesn't want our help.

 

[uplana]

@Helkins you know your stuff if I read you correct and if what you wrote can be put in production just like you explain.

enjoy reading your posts.

 

[Zikki]

Almost the same here.

Created a company within Dubai South. Flexidesk and all with a acquaintances who is also someone who created companies for foreigners there as I'm working widely remotely for huge companies worldwide.

Everything was good until we reached the bank account creation. His contact within a bank went missing on him after 4 weeks of waiting.

We introduced a new request via someone they know in ENBD but no feedback there for the last 3 weeks.

I tried myself FAB and ENBD directly but they laughed at me (we are bringing close to 1M AED the first year) requesting unsustainable deposit (at least for the first 6 months). The bank clerks don't bother anymore to open some bank accounts dedicated to startup companies (or emerging companies), they flatly refuse to talk about it saying that "these accounts don't exist anymore" while they are widely advertised on their website

I also have requests in MAshreq NeoBiz (Mashreq Neo opened me a personal bank account) and Rakbank Starter but I'm still waiting for feedback 4 weeks after.

Same situation here, customers are eager to pay their invoices but no bank account to support the transfer.

Paysera and Paypal are something I'm looking into (at least for the 2 first months so I can get cash to create some - useless to me - substance in dubai). I will later on get an apartment here but need to get paid.

My EU customers told me that Paypal is not really something they would like to do on a recurring basis (apparently countries like belgium are not really into it between companies) and I'm wondering if Paysera could be a viable solution.

Will keep you posted guys