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JAFZA vs RAK vs AJMAN

Many thanks for the useful info. Can you please share the list of the recommended agencies? What about fujairah? Is it cheaper that Ajman?

You're welcome. I have no information about Fujairah, unfortunately.

Here are some companies which have been recommended to me over the time. Since I didn't use them myself, I can't really vouch for them so please decide on your own:

Good luck.
 
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I can see that Ajman Media City Freezone has now representative office in Dubai, same as Creative City Fujarah.

I personally don't understand why would anyone use these intermediaries, where you can approach the freezones directly and they will do the same LESS agent commission. One should be also aware that in case of 2 above mentioned providers: Creative Zone (often confused with Creative City) and Virtuzone, the trade licence is tied and can only be renewed via them and their spiked up fees. Also there is (or there was) no way to actually separate the company from them and use another agent or even stop using them completely if you decide that working out with the freezone directly is actually cheaper... You would have to close it first and open another company...
 
Maybe not all are counting every coin but rather need professional assistance to get things done fast and right from the beginning to be able to 100% have focus on the core business.
I agree about that but recommending companies who are strictly affiliated with certain free zones (e.g. Creative Zone with Creative City) won't give you absolutely any objective opinion on where to incorporate based on your needs. As you can see, all of those websites are only showing pros of selected free zones but where are the cons? We all know devil is in details and there are certain details which are more or less hassle free depending on the free zone itself so are the requirements (e.g. business plan, paid up capital etc). I have also used a "German" service provider in the UAE, but the guy himself was able to advise why not to go with certain freezones etc.

All I am saying is that if you are keen on working with certain freezone, then there is no need going through the agent, because the freezones (maybe not all) have resources and agents, who will guide you hand by hand in exactly the same way as the intermediary. The same goes with renewals, doing that through intermediary agent will simply cost few hundred dollars more but all it takes is to fill the renewal trade licence form and pay.
 
You're welcome. I have no information about Fujairah, unfortunately.

Here are some companies which have been recommended to me over the time. Since I didn't use them myself, I can't really vouch for them so please decide on your own:

Good luck.
Very nice list something you know anyone has tried or not?
 
Some notes:
- Creative Zone and Virtu Zone are very professional companies but they're expensive and their pricing is tricky.
- Shuraa is the cheap version of CZ/VZ but the quality is very low.
- If you setup Ajman or RAK company most probably you can not open any bank account.

Do we need a residency visa to open a bank account in UAE?

You can open non-resident account without a visa but you need to deposit min about $100k.
 
Some notes:
- Creative Zone and Virtu Zone are very professional companies but they're expensive and their pricing is tricky.
[...]

They are professional but you forgot to mention that with them you get your company tied to them permanently. Their pricing is tricky for a reason. I see no benefits e.g. incorporating Creative City Fujairah company with Creative Zone if exactly the same can be done via official means, which I provided earlier (or independent agents) cheaper.
 
Even with a physical office with lease agreement?
If you're willing to pay rent, residency visa costs and necessary audit/accounting expanses then yes, you can open.

They are professional but you forgot to mention that with them you get your company tied to them permanently. Their pricing is tricky for a reason. I see no benefits e.g. incorporating Creative City Fujairah company with Creative Zone if exactly the same can be done via official means, which I provided earlier (or independent agents) cheaper.
I definitely agree with you.
 
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My 0.02 from the real UAE world...I would definitely refrain from opening a) non-resident accounts (no bank will do that for you, forget the fake news from aggressive sales guys telling you otherwise), unless you're willing to pony up AED1M and get the property investor visa; and b) don't open let's say bogus/shell/not.enough-substance companies anywhere in the UAE except perhaps in Dubai and/or Abu Dhabi (if you're extremely lucky you might open with the bank mentioned below, not at all a certainty), as it¡s now mostly a waste of time and money (money that will be collected by any agency that pitches you for it, even those already mentioned here). I'll explain in as much detail as typing at this hour of the night will allow me. I've so much changed my take on how to do things in the UAE that I barely recognize myself from merely 6 months ago (reality teaches quicker than any book, that's a given).
I obtained my Emirates ID through a very different approach than those sought here. I understand @rowena has got a legit/substance-based business, so anyone in his shoes (issuing recurring invoices to customers and having a real business on/off-line) may well try the company set-up route. But things have changed anyway, and even in this case it's going to be a tough endeavour as a foreigner. However, I feel that's not the route most of the people here willing to go offshore through the UAE want (come on, let's be a bit honest here, isn't it for getting away from the predatory totalitarian west regimes that are dawning upon us?), hence you need to be forewarned that things in the region have changed enormously, not in the last 10 years, but in just the last couple of years. Or 6 months, for that matter. It's one of the pleasantries of being ruled by a 'ruler'...
My route ended up through a local sponsor, as the co-owner of a company. Even using such a bullet-proof route (on an LLC Corporation, not a simple LTD or FZE), where there was once an initial timing estimate of 4 weeks, it ended up being 8 months (almost 9 if you count the bank account opening).
Before that, I had spoken to people in Ajman Creative City , Fujairah CC, and also some Dubai freezones like Media City, Airport or Jabal Ali, on taking the 'best-seller' route of establishing a freezone Co, and none of them guaranteed a bank account opening for the company. They just, literally, said 'it's very hard nowadays, but not impossible'. And they seemed to have the same script to read from. I got the list of requirements from different banks and the 'less strict' of them all, Noor Bank (definitely forget Emirates NBD and its subsidiaries/participated banks), is already asking for tons of information to get things done and don't count on seeing it through in less than 8 weeks, period).
Personally, I ended up with a bank a/c at an international bank, and will next open with a local one (only one of the top dogs from Abu Dhabi, I would refrain from going with the smaller regional banks -even those supposedly guaranteed by the state, like UAQ bank, etc-).
That's a long-story short that I hope may help someone.
 
Personally, I ended up with a bank a/c at an international bank, and will next open with a local one (only one of the top dogs from Abu Dhabi, I would refrain from going with the smaller regional banks -even those supposedly guaranteed by the state, like UAQ bank, etc-).
That's a long-story short that I hope may help someone.

You speak a lot of truth! Can you share in which jurisdiction you opened an international bank account?
 
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Hi @dxbkk thanks for the nice words, just trying to help where I can. I'll answer your Q but won't expand on the answer, as we'd be going way off-topic and obviously it won't look good on this thread. I've opened in CHF and SGD (check those currency denominations to see which countries I'm referring to), and have established contact with Paraguay through "Paraguay Solutions", a firm that was recommended here in another thread and which I've found to be useful. I'm planning on going there to check things first hand soon.
 
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You're welcome. I have no information about Fujairah, unfortunately.

Here are some companies which have been recommended to me over the time. Since I didn't use them myself, I can't really vouch for them so please decide on your own:

thanks for so valuable data indeed!
 
@Nicholas Van Orton , would you please share what your nationality is? Does that affect the success rate with the banks, opening bank accounts for Free Zone companies or Personal accounts? I am a Canadian.

Just to confirm, in your opinion, if I shell out the 1M AED for real estate, and get the property investor visa, would things be easier with opening a free zone company bank account? Or is it better to go straight for a good free zone (IFZA or the like in Dubai) and then open a bank account for the company?

Thanks in advance!
 
Property Visa issue by Dubai Land department . and Not 1M AED now It is 5M AED.


Property Investor visa is long and complex process.
Better to Register Freezone and Get Visa. It is easy and straight forward method.

Thanks
 
@Nicholas Van Orton is right.

95% of the value of going with a good Dubai Corporate Service Provider in 2021 is to get business bank account done.

The internal policies of the banks changing frequently - it's impossible for somebody that is not full time living in the UAE to monitor the changes and adopt them - even we have to input so many hours to keep the relataion with the few very good bankers that keep responding and working on an application during the compliance process.

Most people don't understand how important it is to check the whole company formation with nationality, activity code and company structure with the banks upfront so that there is no bad surprise afterwards by figuring out the bank the application is with isn't even supporting the chosen activity or nationality in combination with the activity.

You can't imagine how many people think they can do everything on there own and then afterwards failing with the bank and willing to pay 1000's of $ only for getting the banking done and still we can't assist because the initial company setup is an impossible usecase.

More and more bankers leaving and the local UAE banks tend to shift everything to online applications where even the bankers itself can't influent the progress any longer.

Get your setup and banking as long as the things are how they are right now but expect to get things tighter each year like we see it starting from 2019.

Don't believe some misleading information that having a permanent flat in the UAE or a Mainland company is an guarantee for anything.
 
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@Nicholas Van Orton , would you please share what your nationality is? Does that affect the success rate with the banks, opening bank accounts for Free Zone companies or Personal accounts? I am a Canadian.

Just to confirm, in your opinion, if I shell out the 1M AED for real estate, and get the property investor visa, would things be easier with opening a free zone company bank account? Or is it better to go straight for a good free zone (IFZA or the like in Dubai) and then open a bank account for the company?

Thanks in advance!
Hi @andrew28fl , I'm from the EUSSR area (never mind which pothole, one thing about SCAMVID-19 is that it has shown the dictatorship is alive and well...for all, lol). You being Canadian is more than OK here in the UAE (some good Canadian schools and Universities are present here, btw). As @azb1 correctly points out, the property investor visa has upped its ante to 5M Dhs (approx. 1,25M €). In no case I would ever suggest anyone taking that residency route in the UAE. I'd consult with @Fred on setting up a legit freezone company and ask him about the corporate bank account. Bear in mind that once you've got your company established and your residency visa, it'll be pretty straightforward for you to open a personal bank account. The juice is in the corporate one, that's where people like him may come in handy (have had no experience with his company, but have read good things about them in this forum, so fair to say they're worth a shot).

I sincerely hope this is of help to you and you end up getting what you're looking for.

NVO
 
I sincerely hope this is of help to you and you end up getting what you're looking for.

NVO

Thanks for taking the time Nicholas!

I thought that along with the 5M AED for 5 years and 10M AED for 10 years gold visa, 1M AED allowed a property owner to get 3 year resident permits. Has that been scrapped completely? Source: Residency Visa Rules (2021) at a glance for Dubai Property Investors and Thinking of Buying A UAE Property Visa? (from April 2021)

I understand that this might not be advisable, but is the option still available? I might have to buy properties anyway..because I might end up spending 5-10 years in the UAE once I confirm it is a good solution for what I am trying to do.
 

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