The main objective to incorporate DIFC is to achieve a vision of Dubai government to establish a reputation of Dubai as one of the prominent financial hub of the global economy. To enable this it has a goal to build a state of the art of infrastructure in the zone which will promote economic and financial growth of the city, which in turn benefit entire UAE region leading to substantial fiscal dominance in the financial world.

Business set up Process in DIFC

The licensing authorities are DIFC and Dubai Financial Service Authority (DFSA) which manages and regulates Registrar of Companies (ROC) under which the companies are incorporated and registered.

Following are the list of business entities allowed to operate in DIFC
1) Limited Liability Company (LLC) – These are non-regulated companies basically involved in non-financial sectors such as restaurants, consultants, educational institutes etc. Minimum of 1 member is required to incorporate such type of companies.
2) Company Limited by Shares (LTD) – These companies can raise share capital through public offering and also issue securities. Minimum 1 shareholder is required.
3) Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) – This form of company is incorporated by 2 or more shareholders and their liability is limited to the extent of individual share held in the company by each member.
4) Limited Partnership (LP) – In this type of partnership there are General partner(s) with unlimited liability and Limited partner(s) with limited liability based on their individual contribution within the company.
5) General Partnership (GP) – In this type of company all participating partner(s) liability is unlimited.
6) Recognized Companies (RC) – These are the branch of existing foreign company who are already registered in DIFC. RC are not recognized as having individual legal entity but considered as an extension of the said Foreign Company in DIFC.
7) Special Purpose Companies – These types of companies are incorporated under regulated license by DIFC Authority.

All these can be registered by DFSA ROC under regulated entity or non-regulated entity depending upon the nature of business activity applied. Basically Financial firms like banks, financial institutions, auditing companies and law firms are termed as regulated entity. Non-regulated entities are those are not involved in financial business and provide goods and services for smooth functioning of regulated firms. Firms engaged in consultancies, courier services, printing services, typing services etc. are considered as non-regulated entities.

Steps required setting up a business
A) Regulated Business / Entity formation Process
1) During the initial stages of registration the client has to file in a letter of intent with DIFC based on which introductory meeting will be held between the client and DIFC and DFSA authorities.
2) DFSA will go through this letter once they are satisfied, the client can then submit a full application form to the authorities.
3) A regulatory business plan, with details of proposed partner(s), shareholder(s), manager and legal representative(s) should be submitted to the authorities.
4) Based on this the proposed business entity will be registered with ROC DIFC
5) This will state that the entity has acquired an initial approval (In-Principal approval) for its proposed business activities.
6) After receiving the initial approval, the client has to open a local bank account and deposit the share capital amount
7) The client should also obtain a space in DIFC and pay the necessary lease amount
8) Once this is completed the client should submit the proof of registration, bank remittance copy and lease payment receipt to the authority
9) Once all these steps are completed and the authority will issue a license with regulations and conditions based on the business activity applied by the client.

B) Non-Regulated Business / Entity formation Process
1) Steps are the same as mentioned for Regulated business formation, the only difference is that these proposed entities should not be involved in any financial/legal/auditing activities
2) DFSA is not involved in the incorporation of these entities but only DIFC and ROC are involved

List of Documents required for incorporating an entity in DIFC
1) Proof of Trade Name reservation
2) Passport copies and CV’s of proposed shareholder(s) / partners
3) Passport copy and CV of the proposed Manager
4) Copy of POA if a legal representative is appointed
5) Parent / Holding company Incorporation Certificate / DED License wherever applicable
6) Certificate of continuity or existence of Good standing for the Parent / Holding company
7) Parent / Holding company MOA & AOA wherever applicable
8) Bank reference letter for Shareholder(s) / partner(s) of parent company / Holding company wherever applicable
9) Resolution for the Incorporation of company
10) Resolution for the Incorporation of Branch wherever applicable
11) NOC for Manager from his current UAE sponsor if applicable
12) RIC form for Director(s), Manager & Shareholder(s) of Holding company wherever applicable
13) RIC form for Manager for establishment of branch
14) Board Resolution for corporate shareholder(s) of the company, applicable if the current company is formed by corporate person as a shareholder
15) RIC form if Corporate person is a shareholder
16) Board Resolution for Natural person as a Shareholder
17) RIC form- Natural person as shareholder
18) Board Resolution / RIC form if both Natural and Corporate person are shareholder(s) of the company.

Notes:
• RIC stands for Registry identification code
• The above documents should be either submitted in original/notarized/attested as required by the authorities
• Apart from above some additional documents might be requested by the authorities to issue license
• All authorization requirements are mentioned in DFSA’s “General Module” and “Conduct of Business Module”