Business relocation to the UAE

To relocate an operating business to the UAE, set things up in a fixed order: company first, then visas, then the bank account, then the books. A founder with a small team usually completes the move in about six weeks when the order is kept. A bank needs a licensed company and a founder with a residence visa, and a visa needs a licensed company, so steps taken out of order have to be repeated, which adds cost and time. The timeline below is the one we plan with clients.

The order of steps in a UAE relocation

An operating business has parts that depend on each other, and in the UAE they can only be set up in one order. A bank will not open a corporate account without a licensed company and a founder who holds a residence visa. The visa cannot be filed until the company exists and has its establishment card. The company itself should be in the free zone or on the mainland that suits your customers and your corporate tax position, a decision that will stay with you for years.

If the order is reversed, you pay twice: a licence taken in the wrong zone has to be redone, and a bank file submitted before the visa is issued is rejected and has to be resubmitted. The six-week timeline depends on each step starting as soon as the previous one is complete.

Relocation timeline week by week

This is the plan for a founder with three staff, assuming complete documents and a zone chosen in the first week.

Submitting the bank file on the day the residence permit is issued is the most important handover, because it removes the waiting time that most often delays a relocation. If you want the move handled as a single package rather than in stages, we run the whole formation as one package so that no step waits for a missing document.

Moving contracts, IP and clients

Existing contracts, intellectual property and client relationships do not transfer to the new company automatically. They move by assignment or novation, and the documents have to be prepared, signed and dated. Client contracts are usually novated so that the UAE company becomes the contracting party. IP is either assigned or licensed, depending on whether you want the UAE company to own it or only to use it.

Where your current country requires formalities to close the old business, such as final filings, employee settlements or deregistration, we coordinate with your local lawyers there. Obligations in the old country still apply after you move. A tidy final structure is worth more than a quick one, and it costs far less than having to unwind a rushed one.

Tax residency when you relocate

“UAE tax resident” covers three separate questions that are often treated as one. The first is physical presence and personal ties. Under Cabinet Decision 85 of 2022, you are resident if you spend 183 days in the UAE in a 12-month period; or 90 days or more if you are a UAE or GCC national or hold a valid UAE residence permit and also have a permanent home or a job or business here; or if your centre of financial and personal interests is in the UAE. Treaty tie-breaker rules apply where another country also treats you as resident. The second is the residence visa: it lets you live and work here but does not by itself make you tax resident. The third is the Tax Residency Certificate, which the Federal Tax Authority issues against its own criteria, usually so that you can use a double tax treaty.

The personal side of the move is covered on the tax residency page, and we plan it alongside the company move so that a certificate application has the evidence it needs.

Substance requirements for a relocated business

A licence with no activity behind it helps neither with the bank nor with corporate tax. Banks onboard businesses that visibly operate: real customers, real invoices and a reason to be in the zone you chose. The free zone 0% rate also depends on conditions. A company is a Qualifying Free Zone Person (0% on qualifying income, 9% on all other taxable income) only if it has adequate substance in the zone, audited accounts, and non-qualifying revenue that does not exceed the lower of AED 5 million or 5% of total revenue.

Relocation is the right time to build that substance, because adding it later in response to a bank or FTA query costs much more. Choose the zone to fit how you actually operate rather than by the lowest price; the Free Zone Index lists all 45 zones with their licence prices and visa allocations.

Relocating the team and their families

Team relocation runs on the same dated tracker as the rest of the move. For each person, the employment visa, medical test, Emirates ID and health insurance are separate items with deadlines. Payroll runs through the Wage Protection System from the first salary, and end-of-service gratuity accrues from the first day under UAE labour law, so both are set up when the bank account opens.

Families move at the same time: dependant visa applications run alongside the employment visas, with deposits, insurance and, for children, school transfer documents tracked for each person. School term dates do not follow immigration timelines, so start with schools in the first week. Dependant visas follow the family visa route.

Keep the old company, or close it?

Closing the old company quickly is rarely the goal. It is often useful during the transition, as the contracting party for existing clients who cannot sign new contracts straight away, or as the owner of IP until ownership is settled. We compare keeping and closing it with figures, including the running cost of the old company against the cost and risk of closing it early.

What matters is a tidy final position: contracts with the right company, IP owned where you want it, and no open obligations left in a country you no longer follow closely.

Typical relocation costs, founder and 3 staff

Frequently asked questions

This is general information on UAE rules. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice for your situation. Rules and government fees change; we confirm the position for your facts in writing before you act.