100% Ownership of Businesses by Foreign Nationals in UAE

One of the best news this week: UAE allows all foreign nationals to have complete proprietorship of their businesses in the UAE. Previously, the law required expats to have UAE nationals as their business sponsors, which therefore did not allow them to have complete ownership. The requirement was that foreign nationals can only hold 49% of the shares, while 51% was held by a local sponsor, an Emirati national.

The law is to come into effect from the 1st of December, 2020 and is an update on the Commercial Companies Law of UAE of 2015. This change is aligned with the new federal law that the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, issued. This has been allowed by the Cabinet Resolution No.16 of 2020. In the last few years, different emirates have allowed companies owned by expats to get their remaining 51% stakes under their name, but on the basis of each case.

This new law made changes to 51 different articles and new articles were added as well. They are all about the provisions for laws governing the opening of new companies with limited liability shareholdings. These include the new exemption of the foreign nationals from having to have UAE nationals as sponsors.

This is going to boost the country’s economy as well as stocks. It is also said to boost investments opportunities in the country. It will open up UAE to different types of businesses being launched in the country. Huge companies like Tata Group are set to open up in Dubai, with many of their jewellery (Tanishq) and watch (Titan) brands to open up across UAE. With the amendment of this law, UAE has set an example in terms of ease of conducting business. The change will attract immense businesses into the country and thus proving that UAE, once again, has set a high bar, when it comes to providing a pro-business environment.