BUSINESS SETUP IN UAE FREE ZONES

Umm Al Quwain Free Zone perfectly suits start-ups or businesses moving to UAE for the first time to test local market.

Many of you might not have heard about the Emirate of Umm Al Quwain - it is located between Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah and is rather small and quiet but quickly developing place. Just keep in mind that you can run the business regardless of the place of your company incorporation, since you don’t need to visit the Free Zone. It just remains the legal place of your company registration. The bank account will be opened in a Dubai branch of any bank of your choice.

It is easy to setup a company in Umm Al Quwain. You will be asked to provide only a few personal documents: passport copy, photo and a utility bill.

RAKEZ stands for Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone, which was found after consolidation of 2 Free Zones - Rak Free Trade Zone and RAK Investment Authority, which made the Zone really huge. It is one of the most popular Free Zones - even people who have not heard much of UAE Free Zones, know about it.

RAKEZ is one of a few Free Zones which always has customizable warehouses and plots of industrial land for development. You can also build or rent ready-made staff and labor accommodation. It is located not far from RAK airport and has a sea port in close proximity.

RAKEZ has a huge variety of business activities and you can be sure that you will find what you need. Incorporation of a company starts with obligatory security approval for all nationalities, which may take from a few days to a few weeks sometimes. Once it’s done, the company is registered within about a week. 

Creative City Free Zone is located in the most remote Emirate of Fujairah, but regardless of the location, it has some valuable benefits which would make you consider it as an option of business setup.

As you could gather from it’s name, Creative City is s hub of professional services companies. It does not have any trading activities at all, but the choice of professional and consultancy business activities is quite impressive: it starts with media and consultancy and ends up with personal training and intellectual rights protection.

A company can be registered remotely - your visit to the Free Zone is not required. In fact, we have never seen any company owners who would go to Creative City by themselves. The setup is done within a week.

Ajman Free Zone. AFZA is quite a well-known zone, which has some unique features that are not available elsewhere. 

The most attractive offer from AFZA is a so-called multiple installment payment plan for the company registration. It means that you can get your company registered by paying only part of the government fees for it - you can opt for 2, 3 or 6 installments. It is really convenient for those who are looking for a low budget startup. AFZA is the only Free Zone which has such payment plan.

Ajman Media City is the newest UAE Free Zone. It has entered the market in 2018 with an offer that beats many other similar free zones: it has the cheapest zero visa package, offers up to 5 resident visas with a small dedicated office of 12 sq meters and multiple business activities in the license.

After company registration, it provides the fullest set of corporate documents in order to make Dubai bank account opening easier. Apart from traditional license, COI, MoA and lease agreement, it gives you an incumbency certificate, salary certificate and shares certificate.

This Free Zone offers not only media, but also trading, legal, marketing activities, as well as head office and holding company categories. Any license can have up to 5 business activities, but at least one of them should be related to media or advertising.

KIZAD stands for Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi. It is a state-of-the-art Free Zone located in Abu Dhabi next to Khalifa port – one of the most developed ports in the world.

As of now, it is the most affordable Abu Dhabi Free Zone.

KIZAD offers a vast list of activities with its focus on trading, industrial and logistic businesses. It has attractive tax conditions for manufacturers producing goods in the free zone and re-shipping them to other countries. You can claim tax exemption on raw materials as well. KIZAD also have service activities related to management, marketing, freight forwarding support and even travel agencies.

KIZAD is a great option for those who need their business to be registered in Abu Dhabi or plan to set up a manufacturing activity next to a port.

IFZA stands for International Free Zone Authority. It is a brand new Free Zone in the Emirate of Fujairah. IFZA is located in a modern facility, which combines shared desks, offices, conference rooms, hotel, warehouses and even residential apartments.

IFZA has one of the biggest activity lists including professional, industrial and commercial activities. All licenses are registered as LLCs.

IFZA is the only environmentally friendly UAE Free Zone. It focuses on sustainability and its initiatives include use of solar and wind energy, reducing the use of paper for its documents turnaround, buildings insulation and others.

SAIF stands for Sharjah Airport Free Zone. It is located next to Sharjah international airport. It was formed in 1995 and hosts almost 7000 companies now. It has one of the fullest range of facilities - starting from flexi desks and offices, ending with warehouses and plots of land.

SAIF's business activity list is very broad and even has some hard to get service activities, such as "Investment of own funds". Activities also allow storage and consolidation of the products specified in your license, as well as manufacturing and assembling of your products.

SHAMS is located in Sharjah - the nearest Emirate to Dubai. It is known as the Media Free Zone, but you shouldn’t think that all business activities are related only to Media sector. In fact, activity list is very broad and includes trading, professional services, holding and other activities.

SHAMS allows the youngest age of the company shareholders - you can own a business starting from the age of 19. This is a great benefit not available in any other Free Zones. Company employees can be as young as 18 years old, which is also quite unusual in comparison to other Free Zones.

Hamriyah Free Zone is governed by the Emirate of Sharjah and is the second largest Free Zone of UAE after JAFZA.

It has lots of oil and gas and manufacturing companies registered there, as well as its own sea port. Hamriyah is flexible in terms of the visas - you can open a company eligible from 0 up to 7 visas without office rent. Its zero visa package is the cheapest all over UAE.

Company setup is done within one day, but the presence of the shareholder is mandatory.