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Private businesses in the UAE will no longer require an Emirati shareholder.
24 November 2020
| Last updated on 25 November 2020
100 per cent foreign ownership is now possible for all onshore commercial companies in the UAE.
The UAE just changed the game when His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, announced that an Emirati shareholder is no longer a legal requirement to start a business in the country.
State news agency WAM said that it is effective from Tuesday, December 1st, 2020.
Previously, under Federal Law No. 2 of 2015, starting a business in the country required an Emirati to be a major shareholder or agent. The new royal decree means a significant overhaul to the law, allowing commercial businesses to be fully established and owned by non-Emiratis of any passport.
The move was made to elevate the UAE as an attractive destination for business to overseas entrepreneurs, with the hope to increase foreign capital in the Arab world’s second largest economy.
Companies are being given a maximum of one year to comply with the amended law from the time it becomes effective, which can be extended under a decision by the cabinet as proposed by the UAE Minister of Economy.
