Incorporation is one week. Compliance is every year after it

A corporate service provider handles the administrative and regulatory obligations that sit on a company once it exists: acting as registered agent, keeping statutory registers, filing beneficial ownership information, renewing the licence, and meeting tax and anti-money-laundering requirements. Incorporation is the start of that relationship rather than the whole of it.

Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions include real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, auditors, and company service providers. If your activity falls inside that list you carry anti-money-laundering obligations of your own - a documented risk assessment, a written policy, goAML registration and trained staff. We assess your activity list and tell you which side of the line you sit on.

UAE companies must identify their ultimate beneficial owners, maintain a register, and notify the licensing authority of changes within the period that authority sets - commonly 15 days. The obligation is ongoing, not a one-off at incorporation, and it is the change filings that are most often missed.

They apply only if you carry on a relevant activity, such as distribution and service centre work, headquarters, holding company or intellectual property business. Where they apply, a notification and often a report are due each financial year. We assess first, because many companies file unnecessarily and some fail to file at all.

Penalties begin accruing immediately and escalate, the establishment card and visas tied to the licence are affected, and banks may restrict the account while the entity is not in good standing. Reinstating a lapsed licence costs considerably more than renewing one on time.

Yes. We start with the health check, identify anything outstanding, and manage the transfer of the agent of record where the authority requires it. Switching provider is routine and does not disturb the licence itself.

They do different jobs. The memorandum is the constitutional document filed with the authority and is deliberately brief. A shareholder agreement is the private contract between owners covering the things that cause disputes - how decisions are made, what happens when someone wants out, how a deadlock is broken, and what a departing shareholder may and may not do next.

It depends which regime your entity sits under. Onshore UAE labour law, DIFC and ADGM each have their own employment rules, and a contract written for one can be unenforceable in another. The clauses that usually fail are notice, probation, end-of-service and post-employment restrictions.