A raft of law changes have been announced this year to make the UAE more expat friendly and to open up the country to business and foreign investment to boost the local economy.
Now the UAE has announced changes to law surrounding business ownership and commerce in the country.
President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a decree overruling foreign ownership rules for commercial companies.
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— UAEGov (@uaegov) November 23, 2020
The move is part of the UAE government’s ongoing efforts to open up the economy to all nationalities.
According the new decree, which is effective from December 1, 2020, UAE citizens are no longer required to be a major shareholder in businesses launched outside of the country’s designated free zone areas.
Free zones within the UAE, of which there are dozens across the Emirates (such as Abu Dhabi Airport Free Zone, Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai Media City, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Ajman Free Zone, and so on), are free trade zones that allow 100 percent foreign ownership of businesses.
With the latest changes, businesses may now be established by expats and foreign owners outside of the country’s free zone areas.
In addition, a number of other changes were announced the benefit the local economy and encourage new business both locally and internationally.
Changes are effective from December this year and companies have one year to comply with all changes announced.
Recently the UAE also announced sweeping changes to the laws surrounding alcohol consumption, cohabitation, divorce and more, making the nation more appealing to expats.
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