FREELANCE PERMITS in Dubai,UAE license cost details and provider

[timonka]

To gain a tax certificate you have to be physically present in the UAE for 183 days in a year.
Everything is digital over there so they automatically know how many days you have been there.
You still have to supply proof via bank statement, tenancy or title deed, ID, Passport and a few other docs to the Ministry of Finance.

Statying 183 days a year in UAE isn't doable for me.
That's Martin who confused me: I didn't claim that I required tax residency, I said simply 'UAE residency' with proper documents. And UAE tax residency, as a suppliment if it came automatically with it, would be even better.

Therefore, at least with that freelance visa I'll at least get a proper official, although temporary, UAE residency and documents, such as UAE ID card, that prove it?

But what would it be useful for if I don't want to stay in UAE and provided that UAE tax residency doesn't come with it?

 

[Fred]

Statying 183 days a year in UAE isn't doable for me.
That's Martin who confused me: I didn't claim that I required tax residency, I said simply 'UAE residency' with proper documents. And UAE tax residency, as a suppliment if it came automatically with it, would be even better.

Therefore, at least with that freelance visa I'll at least get a proper official, although temporary, UAE residency and documents, such as UAE ID card, that prove it?

But what would it be useful for if I don't want to stay in UAE and provided that UAE tax residency doesn't come with it?

CRS shielding.

The local UAE bank accounts opened with the resdience visa are considered fully as local UAE account so no reporting under CRS will be triggered. That's one of the main things why the UAE is so popular beside of the 0% tax.

In reality many people incorporate in the UAE and keep living abroad - they go away with it because of the above mentioned even if many people even don't know about it - never have seen a place like the UAE with so many newbies never heard about CRS but living a life because of that trick - called residence by investment.

https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-...sistance/residence-citizenship-by-investment/
2-3 years ago all the so called digital nomads just canceled there previous residence used there TransferWise or Revolut account with the old residence and lived with that.
Nowadays most digital nomads, dropshipper, online gurus or whatever simply setup a Dubai company that grants a residence visa and get real local UAE bank accounts. Only requirement is to stay every 180 days for at least 1 day in the UAE to keep the residence active and even that is currently not stricly enforced due to covid. Some clients feard they will loose the residence but some of them even entered the UAE after 12 months this year again - all good.

In case you plan never to relocate back to your home country or remit the funds accumulated in the UAE back to your home country a tax residence certificate is most of the time not necessary. If you plan to relocate and remit UAE funds back to your home country simply get 2-3 tax residence certificates before you do it. With a little bit knowledge you can let it easily look like all the accumulated funds were generated within the years you have the tax residence certificate for.

Again it's plain theory vs. my personal experience as well as the experience from 100+ clients.

Regarding the Freelance visa keep in mind that you won't get any local UAE bank account as the banks don't like to open you a personal bank account that can conduct business activity. Freelance visa was introduced 2018 and till today the banks didn't have additional compliance team for so called Freelancer or natural persons that concduct businss like we know it from EU. If you open personal account and conduct business they shut you down within 1-2 months.
So if you are fine banking with EMI it can work. But as always in the UAE you find something like that out after you already went with the Freelance visa.

 

[timonka]

Alright, thanks.

* Will a bank in UAE open me a personal account on freelance visa if I don't want to conduct business activity? In reality I do, but my income for now is small so it won't trigger red flags. And I won't use my UAE accounts only, for that - I have accounts in other countries too and Transferwise...

* How much more expensive will it be, approximately, to open a company, without an office, in a Free Zone I think, compared to getting a freelance visa?

* Will using that UAE ID or UAE freelance residency thing for opening banks accounts elsewhere, not in UAE -- will that, generally speaking, deem me as UAE tax resident for them? That is, they won't send reports to UAE?

 

[Fred]

Alright, thanks.

* Will a bank in UAE open me a personal account on freelance visa if I don't want to conduct business activity? In reality I do, but my income for now is small so it won't trigger red flags. And I won't use my UAE accounts only, for that - I have accounts in other countries too and Transferwise...

* How much more expensive will it be, approximately, to open a company, without an office, in a Free Zone I think, compared to getting a freelance visa?

* Will using that UAE ID or UAE freelance residency thing for opening banks accounts elsewhere, not in UAE -- will that, generally speaking, deem me as UAE tax resident for them? That is, they won't send reports to UAE?

They will reject you with the Freelance license but open you a personal account for personal use just with the residence visa. As soon as you conduct business activity they shut you down sooner or later I mean you have some turnover otherwise you wouldn't moving to the UAE. Transferwise doesn't work any longer for UAE residence but there are some options.

The Dubai Company solution is just the license the double price everything else is exactly the same like visa fees and so on.

I wouldn't stick to banks outside the UAE because I don't trust them in regards to reporting under CRS. The banks here know what's going on and don't report.

 

[timonka]

They will reject you with the Freelance license but open you a personal account for personal use just with the residence visa. As soon as you conduct business activity they shut you down sooner or later I mean you have some turnover otherwise you wouldn't moving to the UAE. Transferwise doesn't work any longer for UAE residence but there are some options.

Is residence visa given, automatically, to those who obtain freelance visa/permit? Or is obtained and paid independently?

 

[Fred]

Is residence visa given, automatically, to those who obtain freelance visa/permit? Or is obtained and paid independently?

Paid independently.

Dubai Company License with 1 Visa is 18.450 AED

Depending on the freelance license it's around 10.000 AED for the license only.

I would always stick to a Dubai Company simply because it's additional layer of privacy and security.

I mean what do you want achieve if you can't afford 8.000 AED more the UAE isn't the right place for you.

 

[troubled soul]

Paid independently.

Dubai Company License with 1 Visa is 18.450 AED

Depending on the freelance license it's around 10.000 AED for the license only.

I would always stick to a Dubai Company simply because it's additional layer of privacy and security.

I mean what do you want achieve if you can't afford 8.000 AED more the UAE isn't the right place for you.

Very true , UAE is expensive and there is reason for that . UAE is not a small island country . If you have dissent income , than it is worth . otherwise find other solution .

 

[troubled soul]

Europe has no privacy and there's a reason for that.
US isn't really expensive and there's a reason for that.
Today I ate fallafel and there's a reason for that.
Colombian muchachas are nice and there's a reason for that.
There're twise as many men in UAE and women and there's a reason for that.
1+1 = 2 and there's a reason for that.

What are you trying to prove??
I do not get it

 

[EuroKiss]

What are you trying to prove??
I do not get it

Me neither. Trolling maybe?

 

[troubled soul]

You don't get it and there's a reason for that.

Thanks for Trolling . Very kind of you

 

[exprtadvisrdev]

He is trolling, he's not going to do/open anything in the UAE

 

[timonka]

Yeah, he's trolling, he's not going to do open a company in UAE.

 

[Rprox]

AUTHORITY	License / permit validity, AED	Visa cost, AED	License / permit validity	Visa validity	Annual renewal cost, AED
twofour54	Free for 2 years	3600	1 year	2 years	4,500 after 2 years
TECOM	7,520	3,330 out of UAE / 4,960 in UAE	1 year	3 years	7,520
UAQ	16,500	2200	1 year	2 years	14,500
AFZA	5000/6000	2600	1 year	3 years	5000

I just found this post, some helpful figures thank you, Would it be advisable to embark on this application process remotely or should the applicant be present ?

 

[troubled soul]

Would it be advisable to embark on this application process remotely or should the applicant be present ?

For Visa stamping and emirate Id process, Your Physical presence is required.

 

[EliasIT]

You won't avoid to visit the UAE / Dubai to get the VISA - however, if you re serious why not take a tripe there, it won't be your last.

 

[Rprox]

For Visa stamping and emirate Id process, Your Physical presence is required.

thank you!, I will be reaching out to some organizations regarding the license and application process

 

[karishi]

I just found this post, some helpful figures thank you, Would it be advisable to embark on this application process remotely or should the applicant be present ?

I did the freelance visa with gofreelance. bank with CBD. Never actually freelanced in the UAE as I own a company in the caribbean and just distribute dividends. CBD asked questions but I gave them all documents about my LLC, contracts with clients, invoices for dividend distribution, no issues in one year. Read well for the freelance permits, some freelance permits are not real permits, you are basically hired by one company and all your invoicing passes through them. Biggest pain point is if you need a ccredit card, the only way as a freelancer is to leave a deposit somerhwere and use that to get a credit card.

 

[Rprox]

I did the freelance visa with gofreelance. bank with CBD. Never actually freelanced in the UAE as I own a company in the caribbean and just distribute dividends. CBD asked questions but I gave them all documents about my LLC, contracts with clients, invoices for dividend distribution, no issues in one year. Read well for the freelance permits, some freelance permits are not real permits, you are basically hired by one company and all your invoicing passes through them. Biggest pain point is if you need a ccredit card, the only way as a freelancer is to leave a deposit somerhwere and use that to get a credit card.

@shikari , thank you for your reply and valuable advice, I highly appreciate it and its very helpful. I am doing this for the first time so its also a learning process for me and thanks for pointing out the pain points. I have emailed TEACOM, AFZA about 4 days ago and yet waiting on their reply. I will attempt to email gofreelance on Monday morning.

 

[Rprox]

I just found this post, some helpful figures thank you, Would it be advisable to embark on this application process remotely or should the applicant be present ?

@shikari , thank you for your reply and valuable advice, I highly appreciate it and its very helpful. I am doing this for the first time so its also a learning process for me and thanks for pointing out the pain points. I have emailed TEACOM, AFZA about 4 days ago and yet waiting on their reply. I will attempt to email gofreelance on Monday morning.

I just initiated the application process for a freelance permit via gofreelance, just to get a feel for the costing, and I was redirected to axsDotforceDotCom on behalf of TECOM. It seems this will be the approximate breakdown of the costs:
- 10,000 AED for a freelance permit and includes 1 annual license fee
- 2,000 AED for an establishment card
- residency visa, I don't think it is included as it may be a separate cost

In my currency it be a cost of roughly 100k in total, I guess they don't guarantee that this will help me find work / clients, I will try to compare this to other agencies.

Do it properly see post below. Don't cut corners.

I just viewed this post, and it seems my figures based on the research is somewhat aligned with these

 

[karishi]

I just initiated the application process for a freelance permit via gofreelance, just to get a feel for the costing, and I was redirected to axsDotforceDotCom on behalf of TECOM. It seems this will be the approximate breakdown of the costs:
- 10,000 AED for a freelance permit and includes 1 annual license fee
- 2,000 AED for an establishment card
- residency visa, I don't think it is included as it may be a separate cost

In my currency it be a cost of roughly 100k in total, I guess they don't guarantee that this will help me find work / clients, I will try to compare this to other agencies.


I just viewed this post, and it seems my figures based on the research is somewhat aligned with these

The figures @Martin Everson put out where mostly correct:

GoFreelance
AED 7,500 Permit (Annually)
AED 2,000 Establishment Card (Annually)
AED 3,900 Residency Visa (3 years incl. Medical Test, Visa Stamping, Emirates ID Card)
AED 10,000 Private Health Insurance (Annually)
AED 17,000 Studio Apartment (Annual Cost)

I put the last two in bold as if you don't plan to actually live in the UAE you can get a basic insurance like Orient for 920 Dirham a year ( a little more than 200 dollar ) and then you can have one insurance like Foyer Global Healt as you real insurance, which will cost you around 1700 Euro each year, and for the Ejari which you need as a proof of residence for opening the bank account you can make an agreement with someone, pay three months of rent up front, keep the contract valid for the time it itakes to open the account and then close the contract. One thing that I always point out, if you move your residence from your home country to Dubai you will probably be under a lot of scrutiny, so act accordingly.