Professional License in Dubai, UAE

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Professional License in Dubai

A Professional License in Dubai is granted to certain categories of professionals, such as those in the following fields

With a Professional License in Dubai, you can enjoy 100% ownership of your company. However, it is important to have a Local Service Agent for your company. The Local Service Agent must be an Emirati (this is the term used to refer to those who are citizens of the United Arab Emirates) who has attained the age of 21 or a company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates that is fully owned by Emiratis.

The Local Service Agent legally represents your company before Government agencies and is to be paid a Local Service Fee in return for his/her/its services. You need to enter into a Local Service Agreement that clearly outlines the Local Service Fee with the Local Service Agent and get it notarized by a Notary Public. Depending on the Local Service Agreement, the Local Service Fee can be paid on a monthly / quarterly / half-yearly/ annual basis.

If there is more than one business owner, the company formed by the partners is known as a Civil Company. This is meant for professionals like engineers, doctors, lawyers and accountants. A foreign company can be a shareholder in a Civil Company, provided it is engaged in the same field overseas as the Civil Company in the United Arab Emirates.

For an engineering Civil Company engaged in business activities that pertain to national security like construction or defense, a Local Sponsor who will own 51% of the company is required. The Local Sponsor must be an Emirati who has attained the age of 21 or a company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates that is fully owned by Emiratis.

If you are not sure whether the professional business activity you are planning to undertake requires a Local Service Agent or a Local Sponsor, talk to us. We can help you find the right Local Service Agent or Local Sponsor for your business.

In case you need a Local Sponsor, the right Local Sponsor will agree to a hands-off approach to the running of your business, entrusting the affairs of the company to you by signing over a Power of Attorney document, while still retaining legal responsibility for the operations of the company.

Depending on the number of business owners and whether you need a Local Service Agent or a Local Sponsor, you need to draw up the company formation documents. The company formation documents outline the name of the company, the purpose it is being set up for, and who the owners are. You can see for yourself how the ownership structure of the company will change if a Local Sponsor is required to be on board. With a Local Service Agent, you can own 100% of your company, but with a Local Sponsor, you can enjoy only 49% of your company. The company formation documents must be drawn up accordingly.

Since you are also required to come up with a name for your company, a good business setup consultants, who has experience in matters of company formation, will also tell you that there are certain rules that pertain to the nomenclature of a company, For example, you are not allowed to have religious names for your company. The names of countries and cities are not allowed, but the nationalities are permitted. You can also use the names of geographical regions as part of your company name. A first name may be allowed if it is the first name of one of the shareholders.

There is the possibility that two applications for the same company name may be lodged at more or less the same time. If this happens, only the company which lodged the application first would be granted company registration. The other company’s application would be rejected, and they would have to redraft the Articles of Incorporation with another name. To prevent this from happening, the Department of Economic Development allows you to reserve the name in advance, prior to you lodging your application for company registration and a Professional Service License.

The company formation documents have to be notarized by a Notary Public for them to have legal validity. The company formation documents may be known as Memorandum of Association if there is only a single owner for the company, or as the Articles of Association if there are multiple owners for the company.

You also need to lease a commercial office space for your professional company. You need to do this before you register your professional company. Once company registration is granted, the address of the space you have leased becomes the registered office address of your professional company.

The rule of thumb is that you need 100 square feet of office space for every employee you plan to hire. So depending on your business plan – it would be unwise to enter the UAE market without one – you need to zero in on a suitable office, and enter into a Tenancy Agreement with the landlord. The Tenancy Agreement needs to be registered so that it becomes a legally binding Tenancy Contract. In Dubai, the Tenancy Contract would be known as Ejari.

A copy of your passport
A copy of your visa, if already in the United Arab Emirates
A copy of your Emirates ID, if a resident of the United Arab Emirates
A No Objection Certificate from your current Local Sponsor, if already a resident of the UAE
Proof of residency in your country of residence, if not a resident of the UAE
Articles of Incorporation / Company Formation Documents
A copy of the Tenancy Contract for the commercial space leased
Trade name reservation certificate
Naturalization Book or Jinsiyya of the Local Service Agent / Local Sponsor
A copy of the Local Service Agreement / Local Sponsor Agreement

The documents pertaining to individuals have to be submitted for every shareholder, in case there are multiple shareholders. If any of the shareholders is another company, then the company formation documents, duly translated and attested for legal use if in a foreign language, also need to be submitted. This is only an indicative list and not exhaustive in nature. A company formation specialist can advise you on what documentation is needed when setting up your company.

All these documents are submitted to the Department of Economic Development in the emirate where you plan to establish your professional company. If everything is in order, company registration and a Professional License in Dubai are granted in a matter of days. Upon being granted company registration and a Professional Service License, you can commence operations at your registered office immediately.

You can then proceed to open a corporate bank account for your company, so that you can make and receive payments with ease. Owing to strict anti-money laundering regulations in the United Arab Emirates, it is not easy to open a bank account. With the right dubai business setup expert by your side, it could take as little as two hours instead of the whole day. This is why you should enlist the help of an experienced company formation professional when opening your company in the United Arab Emirates.

Why Choose Us For Getting a Professional Service License?

We have years of experience in the field. We have been of assistance to clients from 100 countries around the world and we have an excellent client satisfaction rate to speak of so far. We take of the paperwork, so that you don’t have to. This way, you can focus on doing what you do best – running your business.

Licensing CategoriesProfessional License in Dubai