UAE Overview.

The UAE offers an impressive choice of different geographic locations and legal registrars when it comes to register your company. Hensley & Cook helps you identify the best fitting one and guides you through the incorporation process.

UAE companies can be divided into three main groups:

UAE Mainland
Companies

These companies are registered with the Department of Economic Development of the relevant Emirate. The form of such a company is usually a Limited Liability Company (LLC).

UAE Mainland Companies can get a license to import goods to the UAE (an import tax applies) and can sell the goods to individual clients (subject to the activity mentioned in the company license).

UAE Onshore Free
Zone Companies

Free Zones are import-tax-free areas. Onshore Companies registered in a Free Zone can import goods from outside the UAE without paying import taxes but they can only import goods to the Free Zone and cannot bring the goods outside the Free Zone in the UAE without the help of an importing company registered as a UAE Mainland Company.

UAE Offshore
Companies

As neither Mainland Companies nor Onshore Free Zone Companies pay tax in the UAE, the difference between an Onshore Free Zone and an offshore Free Zone company is mainly in the set of activities they are allowed to perform and in the requirement to rent an office: Offshore companies do not have to rent office space in the UAE. This makes the UAE Offshore Company a cheaper option than the onshore company.

E-Gaming License in the UAE.

Are you into the world of mobile gaming or perhaps e-sport streaming? This solution is just right for your plan to launch an online gaming business. The Media Zone Authority (MZA) in Abu Dhabi and the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) created multiple categories of dedicated licenses available in connection with the e-gaming industry.

Contact us to learn more

New requirement for “substance” in the UAE

Do you need to act?
Take the “Substance Check”

Click the button below to check, whether your company needs to fulfil the new legal requirement for “substance” of companies registered in the UAE.

Hensley&Cook helps you understand the differences between these companies and coaches you to identify the best fitting solution for your needs.