Offshore Company in Ras Al Khaimah

[DAYFox]

Hey all,

I will be in Dubai very soon and I am planning to set up an offshore company in Ras Al Khaimah. I heard some things about it but not enough to get a full idea what's it all about. Basically i am planning to do this in order to secure my real estate investments and to be entitled for a proper bank account as well as for -maybe- a residence visa. In addition it's anonymus, which is also a good point! Plus i have invested with someone else together and in case of death of anyone of us two we don't have to worry about Dubai Law etc because the company just owns the properties...

So my question now: Does anyone here has made any experiences yet about this specific issue? How much will it cost approximately, where can i do it and does it make sense?

Any help will be appreciated very much!
thank you, waiting for numerous replies

 

[Doobedoo]

Hey all,

I will be in Dubai very soon and I am planning to set up an offshore company in Ras Al Khaimah. I heard some things about it but not enough to get a full idea what's it all about. Basically i am planning to do this in order to secure my real estate investments and to be entitled for a proper bank account as well as for -maybe- a residence visa. In addition it's anonymus, which is also a good point! Plus i have invested with someone else together and in case of death of anyone of us two we don't have to worry about Dubai Law etc because the company just owns the properties...

So my question now: Does anyone here has made any experiences yet about this specific issue? How much will it cost approximately, where can i do it and does it make sense?

Any help will be appreciated very much!
thank you, waiting for numerous replies

Hi DAYFox,

It can be done via RAK Free Zone (google it) however you need to be clear in terms of what you want to do - an 'offshore' company can be set up for around 5000 dhs but by its very nature, this will not give you a residency / investor visa.

If you want to gain an investor visa (what they call the visa given to company owners),you will need to set up a RAK FZC (company) or FZE (enterprise). FZC has multiple shareholders, FZE only one. Cheapest option is for a 'trading' company (or enterprise) which will cost you around 30k AED in the first year and around 25k AED in subsequent years. Once you get the trade licence you can then apply for the visa. FZE will only allow you to apply for one visa - other options will give you more but they cost more.

Things to note - this type of licence will not allow you to 'deal' in property - you need to pay around 55k AED to be able to do that. The 'deal' concept is a little vague - there seems to be many flavours of property licences - tading, offering advice, developing etc... however I'm sure even a basic trading company would be able to hold property as an asset... which seems to be what you want. Note also (and slightly off point) trading companies cannot actually 'trade' in UAE without a local partner.

Last point is that the vast majority of the cost is the rental of office infrastructure which they MAKE you take - of the 30k, 20k is for a flexi desk which can be used 10 hours per week in RAK plus remote access, telephone answering, fax, email PO Box etc. This is the cheapest option - obviously you can spend more on a proper office in RAK or at the Fairmont in Dubai....

In conclusion - if you wanna hold property assets in an offshore company, you can do it for peanuts and it will 'hide' your investments etc. If you actually just want residency, you will pay for it - no surprises there then ;0)

Cheers

 

[haider_dubai]

Just to add in the valuable advices give by my friend , i have a general trading company for 2 years in Sharjah airport free zone , i have some property in the company name also , i have just added a real estate buy sell licence in my general trading company it cost my 15K, it will give me a option of buying a nd selling properties for others also , it will work as a real estate trading licence. all the best

Hey all,

I will be in Dubai very soon and I am planning to set up an offshore company in Ras Al Khaimah. I heard some things about it but not enough to get a full idea what's it all about. Basically i am planning to do this in order to secure my real estate investments and to be entitled for a proper bank account as well as for -maybe- a residence visa. In addition it's anonymus, which is also a good point! Plus i have invested with someone else together and in case of death of anyone of us two we don't have to worry about Dubai Law etc because the company just owns the properties...

So my question now: Does anyone here has made any experiences yet about this specific issue? How much will it cost approximately, where can i do it and does it make sense?

Any help will be appreciated very much!
thank you, waiting for numerous replies

 

[jayee]

Cost of offshore registration in JAFZA, Dubai is also minimal. You may want to consider JAFZA as an alternate option too.

 

[DAYFox]

Hi DAYFox,
...

In conclusion - if you wanna hold property assets in an offshore company, you can do it for peanuts and it will 'hide' your investments etc. If you actually just want residency, you will pay for it - no surprises there then ;0)

Cheers

First of all thanks a lot for ur answers!

The last sentence from Doobedoo is what i actually just want! I only want to hold property assets in an offshore company to secure my investments. I dont want to deal in property or sell property for someone else or want flexit office space! The only thing i would need is a proper bank account -not just a savings account- for rent collection and other bank investments. By the way, for what would I need a residence Visa when i am not planning to live in Dubai? Right now i have four properties in Dubai (3 Businessbay, one also office space) and one City of Arabia. Back in 2006 all of these developers promised me Visas, with which opening a proper bank account wouldn't be a problem at all. Maybe I will still get one, but I am not too sure about that because of the law change these days...
Well, where and what would be the best option for me to fulfill all my requirements? And what would it cost?

Last but not least I found a german company which is offering all that what i want in Ras Al Kaimah. I am not sure if the company itself knows what its all about... For u to get an idea i post two links:

1) the offer translated from german into english with google translation

Übersetzte Version von http://www.hallodubai.com/offshorefirma.html

2) original german version

..::Offshore-Firma in Ras Al Khaimah gründen (IBC)::..

Would be nice if you could scan this offer for me

thank you so much for ur help guys!

 

[Doobedoo]

First of all thanks a lot for ur answers!

The last sentence from Doobedoo is what i actually just want! I only want to hold property assets in an offshore company to secure my investments. I dont want to deal in property or sell property for someone else or want flexit office space! The only thing i would need is a proper bank account -not just a savings account- for rent collection and other bank investments. By the way, for what would I need a residence Visa when i am not planning to live in Dubai? Right now i have four properties in Dubai (3 Businessbay, one also office space) and one City of Arabia. Back in 2006 all of these developers promised me Visas, with which opening a proper bank account wouldn't be a problem at all. Maybe I will still get one, but I am not too sure about that because of the law change these days...
Well, where and what would be the best option for me to fulfill all my requirements? And what would it cost?

Last but not least I found a german company which is offering all that what i want in Ras Al Kaimah. I am not sure if the company itself knows what its all about... For u to get an idea i post two links:

1) the offer translated from german into english with google translation

Übersetzte Version von http://www.hallodubai.com/offshorefirma.html

2) original german version

..::Offshore-Firma in Ras Al Khaimah gründen (IBC)::..

Would be nice if you could scan this offer for me

thank you so much for ur help guys!

Hi DAYFox,

Sounds like you don't need a residency visa - people say you need one to open a bank account but you can do that without a visa (just a savings account without a chequebook).

As for actually setting up in RAK FZ - my advice would be to go direct - going through another organisation would simply add cost (many companies offer services to help you set up but all that happens is that you pay three times the amount and it's no more simple).

Try rakca.com or rakftz.com.

Good luck

 

[halotron]

Hi DAYFox,

Sounds like you don't need a residency visa - people say you need one to open a bank account but you can do that without a visa (just a savings account without a chequebook).

As for actually setting up in RAK FZ - my advice would be to go direct - going through another organisation would simply add cost (many companies offer services to help you set up but all that happens is that you pay three times the amount and it's no more simple).

Try rakca . com or rakftz . com.

Good luck

Hiya Doobedoo,

First of all, thank you for taking the time answering questions, it is really appreciated.

I'd just like to expand a little bit on my understanding of the whole company registration.

Just like the guy asking the original question, I have a property which I want to 'envelope' in a company for tax purposes. I obviously want to be the sole owner. I don't want or need a visa, as I don't want to work or live over there (for the next 3-5 years at least)

What I cannot understand is what type of company do I need precisely - is it a general trading company IN a free trade zone? Is this what is usually known as an IBC (International Business Company)? Is it what rakca . com refer to as an 'offshore company'?

The site mentioned (rakca . com) actually seems to be simply a company selling registrations or rather, acting on your behalf helping with the process, call it facilitation or whatever or even just faxing the forms that you filled in. And they don't tell you their charges.

The actual company registration seems to be with RAKIA, correct?
I'm looking at this webpage:
rak-ia . com/en/company-formation-charges.aspx

What is troubling me is that I cannot see anything called Offshore company or IBC or similar and the charges are actually horrendous. Am I looking at the right stuff and at the right place at all, please??

If I look at this page -
rasalkhaimah-offshore.growthstock . net/offers.html
I get totally different (lower) prices and I'm actually getting confused at what is what, what is the correct name for the company that I want and am I going to buy the correct thing or not...

Could some one voice an opinion, please?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[vonjaegeribc]

Hiya Doobedoo,

First of all, thank you for taking the time answering questions, it is really appreciated.

I'd just like to expand a little bit on my understanding of the whole company registration.

Just like the guy asking the original question, I have a property which I want to 'envelope' in a company for tax purposes. I obviously want to be the sole owner. I don't want or need a visa, as I don't want to work or live over there (for the next 3-5 years at least)

What I cannot understand is what type of company do I need precisely - is it a general trading company IN a free trade zone? Is this what is usually known as an IBC (International Business Company)? Is it what rakca . com refer to as an 'offshore company'?

The site mentioned (rakca . com) actually seems to be simply a company selling registrations or rather, acting on your behalf helping with the process, call it facilitation or whatever or even just faxing the forms that you filled in. And they don't tell you their charges.

The actual company registration seems to be with RAKIA, correct?
I'm looking at this webpage:
rak-ia . com/en/company-formation-charges.aspx

What is troubling me is that I cannot see anything called Offshore company or IBC or similar and the charges are actually horrendous. Am I looking at the right stuff and at the right place at all, please??

If I look at this page -
rasalkhaimah-offshore.growthstock . net/offers.html
I get totally different (lower) prices and I'm actually getting confused at what is what, what is the correct name for the company that I want and am I going to buy the correct thing or not...

Could some one voice an opinion, please?

Thank you all in advance!

Hi

My first post on the forum but I know alot about IBCs in RAK.

The Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority is a government authority owned by RAK. Part of RAKIA is RAK offshore which deals with setting up International Business Companies (IBCs). RAKIA can also set up freezone companies and other bits and pieces.

RAK offhsore registers the companies and generate all the relevant paperwork.

However you can't call RAK offshore direct and ask them to create a company. RAK offshore only work through registered agents, one of which I work for.

The costs of registering the companies include RAK offshore costs plus whatever fees the licensed agent charges. These will vary greatly depending upon the services offered.

Offhshore companies do not include a visa.

They only take 1-2 days to setup once the paperwork is received which includes reference letter from your bank, proof of your home address, passport copy and the Articles Of Assocaition (which we would create for you on your behalf). Share capital can be anything you like, and you don't need to physically deposit this amount in a bank.

You can open a corporate bank account as well, but acceptance will depend upon the bank and their rules/regulations. Some banks require you to physically come to the UAE and some don't, and this can change without notice in our experience.

Hope this helps.

vonjaegeribc