If you are considering the opportunity to start a new company or to expand your business, you do not have to limit yourself to your home country. In the global world, registering a business entity in a foreign state is quite possible. Moreover, you can find certain advantages and incentives in a foreign country that your home country is unable to offer.
Should you look for a foreign country with a stable economy if you would like to open a foreign company? Probably not because the borderline between a ‘stable economy’ and a ‘stagnated economy’ can be rather blurred at times. Thus, you had better look for a country with a dynamically developing economy rather than a stable one.
There are quite a few rich countries in the world but probably no country has been progressing as fast over the recent years as the United Arab Emirates has. The country consists of seven Emirates, each of which is pretty much a city with a few satellites. Of all the Emirates, Dubai is possibly the most attractive one for a foreign entrepreneur. You should take this jurisdiction into consideration without any doubt if you have been pondering opening a business company abroad.
The economy of Dubai has been growing at an amazing pace. Year after year, dozens of huge international business projects are launched there. The city is expanding as new residential buildings are erected and new offices become available. All the modern buildings in Dubai have state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. Dubai is among the safest places in the world as far as the crime rates are concerned. International banks are eager to establish presence in Dubai and as their number is growing, the competition between them is toughening. This means that they are prepared to lean over backwards to attract clients, which makes them offer top-quality services at decent prices.
Dubai is not simply open to foreign business people: it welcomes them wholeheartedly. If you launch a business venture in the Emirate, you stand a good chance to be successful and earn a pretty sum of money eventually. What is more, establishing a business entity in Dubai serves as a legal ground for applying for a long-term residence permit. And living in Dubai with your family is not less comfortable than running your business there. Below we discuss the main advantages that you can find in Dubai if you decide to start a company there. The advantages are listed in no particular order: it’s up to you to choose which of them is the most important one.
Personal security and safety of business operations in Dubai
Dubai is one of the safest places on earth as far as both personal and business security are concerned. There you will find no violent crimes, no civil unrest, no aggressive demonstrations, no terrorist attacks, nor any other disturbances that you – statistically – are likely to face in many other countries. The Emirate administration invests heavily in enhancing Dubai safety even further. The police have all the modern equipment that they need to deter crime and react rapidly even to the most insignificant breaches of social order.
The same holds for financial institutions in Dubai: they take the security issues very seriously. They do not economize on protecting their clients’ financial information from unauthorized intrusion. In particular, all the online banking operations that you may perform via a Dubai-based bank are highly secure. Open a personal or a corporate account in Dubai and never worry whether your money is safe enough. It is.
Favorable geographical position for international trade
If international trade is the sphere of your business, registering an LLC in Dubai can bring you enormous benefits due to the Emirate’s geographical location and the logistic facilities that you can find there.
Dubai sits on the crossroads between South Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Its location is simply superb as you can use it as a transit point to move your goods from one part of the world to another.
The logistic opportunities that Dubai offers are also unparalleled. Multilane highways, a huge seaport, two international airports, industrial railways, large warehouses, and everything else that you need to store and transport your goods is readily available in Dubai.
Dubai seaport gives direct access to markets where over 2 billion potential consumers live. It is one of the largest seaports in the whole world. From there you can send your goods to any continent that you wish!
There are direct flights from Dubai airports to London, Hong Kong, New York, and all other major cities of the world. The larger one of the two airports – Dubai International Airport – is used by a great number of air transportation companies to bring goods to the UAE and transport goods to other countries from there. This is one of the busiest airports in the world.
If you want to move the goods between the Emirates, highways of the greatest quality are at your disposal in Dubai. The terrain is rather smooth in the Emirate, the roads are wide, and the quality of the road surface is superb.
Zero taxes
The United Arab Emirates has a highly favorable tax regime if you compare it to the tax regimes in other well-developed countries. Many taxes that are traditionally charged in other places (such as gift tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, and so on) are simply absent in the UAE and in Dubai in particular. The VAT is only 5% and the corporate tax is 9%.
However, the corporate tax is payable only if you register a company in Dubai outside a Free Economic Zone. Dubai has several such Zones and each of them is designed to serve the needs of companies working in different spheres of business. Companies domiciled inside the FEZs are not taxable on their corporate income and neither do they have to pay any customs duties.
Legal residence in Dubai for foreign company founders
Any foreign national forming a company in Dubai will qualify for legal residence in the country. If your company is large enough, you can also acquire residence permits for the company personnel. The opportunities that Dubai offers to international entrepreneurs are fantastic indeed.