Business setup
Our briefings on Business setup in the UAE — practical, current guidance from the FW Global team.
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Choosing a business activity, and why it constrains you later.
The activity on your licence is a legal boundary, not a label: it sets what you may do and which approvals you need. Too narrow limits growth, too broad adds friction. Here is how to choose, with the activity families compared.
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LLC, sole establishment, or branch: choosing a legal form.
The legal form sets who owns the company, who is liable, and what it can do, and changing it later is rarely cheap. Here are the main forms compared side by side, and why liability is the first question to settle.
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The company formation timeline: from name reservation to licence.
A UAE licence can be issued in days, but an operational company takes weeks. Most delays are the bank account and visas, not the authorities. Here is the formation path stage by stage, and where the time really goes.
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Opening a corporate bank account in the UAE: what banks want.
Opening a corporate bank account is the slowest part of a UAE setup, driven by strict know-your-customer rules. Here is what the bank is really assessing, the documents to prepare, and how to stop it becoming the bottleneck.
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Establishment card and labour file: getting set up as an employer.
Getting the licence does not make you an employer. The establishment card and labour file, opened in the right order, are what let a company sponsor visas and hire. Here is the sequence, and the quota point founders miss.
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Ownership rules after the 100% foreign ownership reform.
The reform to ownership rules ended the local majority partner for most mainland activities, and with it much of the free zone's old appeal. Here is what changed and what did not, before and after, and how it reshapes the choice.
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The real cost of a UAE company: setup and the recurring bill.
The advertised setup fee is not the real cost. Office, visas, renewals and now tax compliance recur every year. Here are the two budgets, a breakdown of where the money goes, and the costs the quote leaves out.
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Setting up a company in the UAE: the decisions that matter.
The UAE incorporates companies fast, which is why the important decisions get rushed. Jurisdiction, form, activity, ownership and office all constrain each other. Here are the choices that shape a business for years, with a decision map.
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Share capital, shareholders, and the MOA: the basics.
Share capital and the memorandum define who owns the company, who can act for it, and how decisions are made. They are read closely in every dispute and exit. Here are the building blocks, and why the template version is a risk.