UAE visa advices from residents

[JustAnotherNomad]

Anyone have any experience with the freelance visa? Seems like it's much cheaper than a free zone company? Can you just use it with a company outside the UAE to bill your clients? If you get approved for one freelance activity (graphics design for example), can you still do other activities through companies outside the UAE?

 

[AMD]

Anyone know about this, please help?

Anyone have any experience with the freelance visa?

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

I have made received some more information since. What do you want to know?

 

[Davis123]

Anyone have any experience with the freelance visa? Seems like it's much cheaper than a free zone company? Can you just use it with a company outside the UAE to bill your clients? If you get approved for one freelance activity (graphics design for example), can you still do other activities through companies outside the UAE?

Ajman freelance is cheapest if you go do it yourself there. Maybe you can also go there or get everything online from their website even as due to Covid almost everything can be done online and websites are in English so no issues.
Technically if you have companies outside UAE you should have no issues but remember central bank in UAE is watching every transaction on it and banks can demand any paper work for source of earning or source of wealth. If you keep it under 10k usd per transaction then it should not be a problem technically. Thx to EU blacklisting UAE every now and then it's becoming a big problem for money transfers. I saw an ad with real estate company recently which specifically targeted crypto holders outside UAE to transfer money from outside through crypto to buy properties in UAE. Maybe you should look into this as properties are getting cheaper in UAE due to over supply and Covid 19.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Thanks. What would they be watching? You mean they would be watching that I’m not working from the UAE outside the freezone?

 

[Davis123]

Thanks. What would they be watching? You mean they would be watching that I’m not working from the UAE outside the freezone?

Technically to keep your UAE residence visa valid you need to be here once every 6 months and you could transfer to third fiat bank outside UAE to buy proprties if you want to convert your cryptos but better to convert outside of UAE then transfer fiat currency. Better to live here in UAE I think as it's considerably cheaper.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

I would properly move to the UAE anyway.
My question was about having a company in a more reputable jurisdiction. Like using a LLC in some other country, then invoicing your own company as a freelancer. Or using an entity with pass-through taxation, like a LLP. Something like that. Because I would not want my clients to see the UAE company. I work remotely anyway, so they don’t need to know where I’m physically located.
I would assume that’s fine, but you mentioned the UAE central bank is “watching”? What would be the issue there? I don’t have any dirty money or anything.

 

[Davis123]

I would properly move to the UAE anyway.
My question was about having a company in a more reputable jurisdiction. Like using a LLC in some other country, then invoicing your own company as a freelancer. Or using an entity with pass-through taxation, like a LLP. Something like that. Because I would not want my clients to see the UAE company. I work remotely anyway, so they don’t need to know where I’m physically located.
I would assume that’s fine, but you mentioned the UAE central bank is “watching”? What would be the issue there? I don’t have any dirty money or anything.

Well they are watching every transaction whether dirty or not. You could do all those things you described above but I am curious as to why would you want a UAE freelance company ? You could easily get a Panama friendly nations visa to get a residency there if all you want is a residency or MM2H Malaysian visa program where you can get a tax free residency. They are both tax free or territorial taxation countries. UAE has VAT implications too.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Obviously to be allowed to move there. The alternative would be to invest a ton of money (golden visa), which I’m not interested in.
I don’t want to live in Panama or Malaysia.
Why would I worry about the UAE central bank watching? That’s what I’m trying to understand.
I don’t care about VAT at all. It’s completely irrelevant for me.

 

[Davis123]

Obviously to be allowed to move there. The alternative would be to invest a ton of money (golden visa), which I’m not interested in.
I don’t want to live in Panama or Malaysia.
Why would I worry about the UAE central bank watching? That’s what I’m trying to understand.
I don’t care about VAT at all. It’s completely irrelevant for me.

Ok then I guess you could move here and do all of the above things without a problem. Get a free lance visa and move here. EU is getting harsh on UAE due to taxation these days and not dirty money only. So just remember the golden rule. Don't bank in the same country you live in. Have three dimensions bank, citizenship and real residency and to keep them separate always.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

I wouldn’t want to use UAE banks for anything but spare change because I don’t trust them. But that’s exactly what my question was about. So I could move there, have my company somewhere else and be happy. Then I don’t understand why you sound so negative? I also don’t care much about the EU, I wouldn’t be living in the EU?
Or maybe you can elaborate what you mean by harsh etc.?

 

[Davis123]

I wouldn’t want to use UAE banks for anything but spare change because I don’t trust them. But that’s exactly what my question was about. So I could move there, have my company somewhere else and be happy. Then I don’t understand why you sound so negative? I also don’t care much about the EU, I wouldn’t be living in the EU?
Or maybe you can elaborate what you mean by harsh etc.?

Well UAE and other jurisdictions are getting blacklisted a lot due to EU taxation problems as most of its citizens earlier lived here for only a few days in six months to keep their residency valid and that caused a problem with EU blacklisting and requiring all tax free jurisdictions to be extra vilgilant. Good luck.

 

[Davis123]

I wouldn’t want to use UAE banks for anything but spare change because I don’t trust them. But that’s exactly what my question was about. So I could move there, have my company somewhere else and be happy. Then I don’t understand why you sound so negative? I also don’t care much about the EU, I wouldn’t be living in the EU?
Or maybe you can elaborate what you mean by harsh etc.?

I am not negative. I am just giving you some cold facts.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

What do you mean blacklisted? The UAE has been removed from the EU’s black list?

Yes, I believe you, I’m just trying to understand the details. Can you please elaborate or give some examples?

 

[Davis123]

What do you mean blacklisted? The UAE has been removed from the EU’s black list?

Yes, I believe you, I’m just trying to understand the details. Can you please elaborate or give some examples?

EU has blacklisted them several times not just once. Compliance has been problematic requiring each and every source. People moved away to Singapore earlier due to it. Singapore does not get blacklisted ever nor does it do go through this type of blacklisting. I am not being negative I am just giving you some facts. Try to get banking somewhere else that's all and keep it as simple as possible here.

 

[CaptK]

EU has blacklisted them several times not just once. Compliance has been problematic requiring each and every source. People moved away to Singapore earlier due to it. Singapore does not get blacklisted ever nor does it do go through this type of blacklisting. I am not being negative I am just giving you some facts. Try to get banking somewhere else that's all and keep it as simple as possible here.

Freelance or a branch in the UAE is a good route to go down.
Couple days a year to keep the residency but there are fees like serviced offices and ancillaries you must take into account. Your running costs will be approximately 10-15K per year.

Your Dubai account is simply for living expenses and salary which is covered by the main company. Therefore it gives a clear definition of income. You are there to grow your business in the GCC countries.

Singapore and London is always your best bet for a bank account especially if you have the UAE tax residency. Then UK LLP is your best option and look to bank with Standard Chartered who make it easier for you to open accounts abroad as your already a customer. They do require a minimum deposit of about 50K.

Other banks wont ask for deposit but due to the non resident issue you will need a nominee who banks with the bank already.

 

[Davis123]

Freelance or a branch in the UAE is a good route to go down.
Couple days a year to keep the residency but there are fees like serviced offices and ancillaries you must take into account. Your running costs will be approximately 10-15K per year.

Your Dubai account is simply for living expenses and salary which is covered by the main company. Therefore it gives a clear definition of income. You are there to grow your business in the GCC countries.

Singapore and London is always your best bet for a bank account especially if you have the UAE tax residency. Then UK LLP is your best option and look to bank with Standard Chartered who make it easier for you to open accounts abroad as your already a customer. They do require a minimum deposit of about 50K.

Other banks wont ask for deposit but due to the non resident issue you will need a nominee who banks with the bank already.

You don't need a serviced office these days as Ajman freelance visa has has waived that requirement. I talked to Ajman freelance visa rep a few days ago so I know this first hand. It's about 1800 usd cost of freelance visa plus some refundable portion whenever you leave UAE and close the visa. But I don't have any idea how this few days in UAE will look into EU govts eyes if you are living there. They are cracking down on their citizens. I wouldn't try this.

 

[Davis123]

Freelance or a branch in the UAE is a good route to go down.
Couple days a year to keep the residency but there are fees like serviced offices and ancillaries you must take into account. Your running costs will be approximately 10-15K per year.

Your Dubai account is simply for living expenses and salary which is covered by the main company. Therefore it gives a clear definition of income. You are there to grow your business in the GCC countries.

Singapore and London is always your best bet for a bank account especially if you have the UAE tax residency. Then UK LLP is your best option and look to bank with Standard Chartered who make it easier for you to open accounts abroad as your already a customer. They do require a minimum deposit of about 50K.

Other banks wont ask for deposit but due to the non resident issue you will need a nominee who banks with the bank already.

Being from US nominee does not work for me unfortunately as filing that would cause issues. I am not sure but let me reconfirm with my CPA. I am trying to do things legally.

 

[CaptK]

Being from US nominee does not work for me unfortunately as filing that would cause issues. I am not sure but let me reconfirm with my CPA. I am trying to do things legally.

Then your last option is to obtain citizenship of another country.
I have an EU country with more Visa free destinations than the USA. The cost is 150K plus 60K set up with no minimum residency requirements.

 

[Davis123]

Then your last option is to obtain citizenship of another country.
I have an EU country with more Visa free destinations than the USA. The cost is 150K plus 60K set up with no minimum residency requirements.

More visa free than USA ? So is is it not possible for a remote personal account in Singapore ? Or anywhere ? Which country in EU with no residency requirements? I am interested if if it's a legal program.