October 5, 2023 • 45 mins
Hey, I'm Aaron Henriques, a seasoned entrepreneur and business investor from the United Kingdom. Following the requests from people who watched my video on setting up a freezone company in Dubai, in this episode, I delve deep, detailing the full UAE residency visa process. This is tailored specifically for entrepreneurs and investors who have established a freezone company in Dubai or who are considering it in the future.
I'll guide you through my personal experience of obtaining a residency visa in Dubai as a new Dubai freezone company owner from the UK. From the must-know steps before landing in Dubai, navigating the visa medical procedure, demystifying the costs of the UAE residency visa, to the intricacies of the visa application process and the challenges I encountered securing my Emirates ID, I've got you covered on every front!
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Hey there! I'm Aaron Henriques, a British entrepreneur, business investor, private pilot, and former police officer from London. For over a decade, I've operated remote service-based businesses, gaining expertise in leadership, strategic thinking, digital marketing and idea generation. Sharing my journey and lessons learned, I hope to help others succeed faster than I did. I hope this is useful for you or someone else you know!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm
(00:00):
Aaron Henriques, and
I'm going to talk to you
about my experience
getting the residency visa
set up for Dubai
and the United Arab Emirates.
Overall, Recently, back in Dubai,
where I got my UAE
resident's visa sorted out,
and I've been in the UK
now for two or three months.
And the last video I did
(00:21):
on setting up the company
seems to come really well.
A lot of people have asked
about the visa process.
They said,
This is what this video is about.
And those of you
who've been waiting a while, sorry,
but I've been busy,
I've got a business to run
Now, just before I get started,
I want to make it really clear
the process, the I've been through is
as a business owner,
someone setting up a company in the UAE,
(00:43):
a free zone company particularly,
and that is the process that I followed
that is in relation to that.
Now, I do not know for sure,
but I imagine the majority of the process
is the same for people
who are coming in as employees.
For companies
that already exist in the UAE,
I imagine the process is very similar.
If it's not identical.
(01:03):
Now to be even clearer,
I've applied as a business owner.
We have a
so-called like investors
visa is what the title is on my visa,
but it's exactly the same thing
as any of free zone business owners visa,
where you might be title
general manager, partner,
managing director or whatever
their equivalent is or whatever it is,
(01:24):
is exactly the same.
But what it is not
it's not a golden visa.
So in my previous video
I mentioned about the fact
that maybe I ended up
being scammed after all,
but it turns out I wasn't.
I've now got my memorandum
and association
of articles for my company with a visa,
which is one of the free zone
companies in Dubai.
(01:44):
I have my UAE trade license here
and my certificate of formation.
So business has been formally set up,
which is great news.
So I wasn't scammed
and for all the people
that I've sent over to Twitter
who've contacted me for any other video,
there's a number of them
ready, set up their companies to.
And if you haven't seen that video
already, look back
through there somewhere.
(02:05):
The last few
videos, there's some videos in between
where I've shown like
my first few days in Dubai.
But the last podcast episode
was in relation to that.
Now, because I've had so many questions,
had a lot of comments on YouTube.
I've had multiple people
contact me via email, WhatsApp.
I don't know how they get my details,
So I'm going to be covering
(02:25):
a lot of the questions
that I've been asked throughout this.
K, the residency visa process.
It wasn't a smooth process
or it wasn't as smooth a process
as setting up the company.
it was a bit confusing and costly
and there were things that I was paying
for which I'm still not even now.
I'm not quite sure
if I've paid twice for something or not,
but I'm just whatever.
(02:46):
I paid it and it's done now, weirdly.
Well, I think it's weird
just coming from the UK.
I sponsored myself through my own company
to get my visa, so
that's how the system works there.
So you set up your own company,
you can sponsor yourself and also other
if you take on other employees,
you can sponsor them to come
and get the visa in the UAE.
But whether you are coming in
as an employee
(03:06):
or whatever,
you're going to need a sponsor
and an employment contract.
If you are setting up your own company
anyway, Now, as I said before,
there may be slight differences
and might be a few extra bits
that you have to go through
if you are coming in just as an employee
but benefit as part of this big policy.
This is stuff that I didn't know
that you'd have to go through,
which is worth sticking around for
(03:28):
just listening to that anyway.
So I thought about the structure
of this video quite a bit,
and I'm going to start with the process.
going through the whole process,
then more about what
the visa allows you to do.
And towards the end of the video,
I'm going to talk about how to keep it
active and a few frequent else
questions that I've been asked.
So it's a bit of a mixed up video.
You might see a clip or two of me
(03:48):
in the past in Dubai.
And if you're listening on audio,
well, if you head over to YouTube,
the whole thing will be the
And really importantly
for a lot of people
watching now, will be covering
those common misconceptions.
Those false beliefs are out there
where people talk a lot of shit
and I'm correcting a lot of those
because I have to do the research
(04:08):
and I might as well share it
with you to show you
how it's actually done the process too.
I've actually been through
quite recently.
Okay.
So first of all, really,
why am I doing this?
I had an idea about setting up companies
and stuff like that,
and I've got companies in the UK already.
And quite recently
the UK government decided it's
going to increase the tax
(04:28):
on all the businesses.
And then the other side of it
when you take your dividends
and whatever.
basically they've been annoying me,
I just find them really annoying
and I think they tax us way too much,
They tax entrepreneurs
way, way, way too much.
And it really prevents
people from being able to grow.
So I don't really need to be any
particular place.
I don't have kids, I'm not married,
(04:49):
anything like that.
I've got the freedom
to move around as I please.
And I just kind of felt like,
well, I'm holding myself back.
I've heard about online, about Dubai
for years.
You know,
I thought about it
many times over the years.
know a couple of people
who've gone over to Dubai
and who is doing Dubai?
Many people have gone to Australia
and America
and wherever
and really for me,
(05:09):
I was thinking about
setting up another company
and is one is a global company.
It's not a UK local
like a UK only business.
And so I thought, well, what should I do?
Do I stay in the UK and pay
a ridiculous amount
of tax on the earnings
and have really slow growth
because I don't,
you know,
I'm getting taxed left, right and center
or do I try and think about setting up
(05:31):
a company in Dubai
now before I decided to set up a company
in Dubai.
In fact, around the time
I decided to set up a company in Dubai,
I had a lot of misconception options
about how the tax situation changes.
And I know from people
contacting me quite recently
since my other video
where I've set about
(05:52):
setting up the company in Dubai,
that there are a lot of people out there
still with misconceptions
about how it works
for tax residency status.
So recently
the UAE changed the investors
visa or business owners visa or whatever
you want to call it,
the Dubai residency visa to two years.
It used to be free
is it's now
aligned to the rest of the other
(06:12):
residency visas
which was like employees or whatever
to two years
now getting the visa doesn't mean
I have to live in Dubai.
So when I said that the company
and even getting the visa
I didn't have to live in Dubai for that
allows me to go
live, work there and do whatever in Dubai
during the two year period.
But what it does require,
unlike the Golden visa,
(06:32):
the normal visa will require you to visit
to be in the country
at least every six months.
So if you leave
for longer than six months,
then I believe the visa will be canceled
and you get a fine as well.
They like to find everything in Dubai.
and that fine is nearly the equivalent
of an economy ticket
from the UK to Dubai.
(06:52):
So when I was going through the process,
I had an absolute ton of questions,
probably like you as well,
hence why you're watching.
And I've heard so many like conflicting
and just completely false information
that online, particularly
from these companies that are,
you know, they're helping
you get your visa and helping you, etc.,
IT companies
and they're putting out all this
false false information,
(07:13):
YouTubers, whatever.
There's so much
rubbish online
about the UAE, for example,
there's a ton of stuff out there
which would indicate that
by getting a
UAE residence visa means you pay
absolutely no tax
where you're from,
which is absolute nonsense.
There are so many variables to it.
And so
this is something that I want to correct,
(07:33):
although I will put in a caveat here.
I'm not here for your tax planning.
It's I had someone contact me
on Instagram
the other day, was asking me about
like what
the actual rules for the visa,
how many days you have to be
in the by whereas
actually that's the wrong question.
It's more about how many days
can you stay in your own country
where you're from?
That's the question.
It's not about how many days
you need to be in Dubai
(07:53):
for anyway,
in the UK there's rules around it.
but generally speaking for me,
I can't be in the UK
for more than 90 days yet as an example.
But residency
and your tax residency
status are also two different things
and it really varies
depending on where you are
and where you're from in the world.
For example,
the Americans got a really bad deal.
They don't really get much benefit
(08:14):
from going to the UAE,
whereas lots of European
countries would do so.
What I'm going to get on to now,
because I've been that
renowned on for a while,
is I'm going to go
through the full process
that I went through during
May and June 2020 free
and covering
the things that I learned along the way.
Now, there's a lot
more moving parts to this
than there was in the company
setup process,
which was a lot simpler, honestly.
(08:36):
So bear with me.
I'm going to try and be as accurate
as I can
and give you as much detailed information
as I can,
which isn't going to be,
you know,
glossy and exciting and fun and,
you know, due to usual YouTube
algorithm stuff
or whatever, it's just going to be
as I experienced it.
So the most frequent question
I keep getting is about how long
(08:57):
the process takes,
how long do you need to be in
Dubai to get through the visa process
to not a company stuff,
just the visa process.
Now What you need to get
is something called an E-VISA.
Now, the visa gives you 60 days
to enter the UAE
and sort out your medical
and all the other requirements
that are needed to get your visa issued.
(09:19):
Now you can apply for your visa
outside of the UAE
and also inside of the UAE.
What I will say,
though, is
if you are inside
the UAE on a tourism visa,
you will need to pay
to cancel your tourism visa
before you can
then apply for your e-visa.
And so it costs more money.
So if you apply before you enter the UAE,
(09:40):
you can get your visa,
which gives you the whole 60 days
to sort out your medical and requirements
and then get your visa issued.
Now, lots of people
want to try and do it
on a really fine line.
And what I would say
is plan for 2 to 3 weeks in Dubai,
the main reason is, is
you cannot leave
before the visa is issued.
So once you enter a visa,
(10:00):
from what I've been told
you cannot leave the UAE
before
your visa is actually issued to you
or you start the whole process again.
And I believe there's a fee
for everything in the UAE.
and you may come across things
that you hadn't expected that may have.
you up now?
For me, that wasn't the issue.
It was all pretty smooth
in terms of time wise.
But yeah, definitely 2 to 3 weeks. right.
(10:22):
So I applied for my visa
when I was setting up my company
and for some reason. I don't know why.
just decided that I knew
the rules of the UAE,
like without even bothering to check.
But for some reason
I just thought that the visa
would let me show up
at some point in the future.
And then my 60 days started from then.
That's not the case.
It is the 60 days start from the day
(10:44):
it's issued,
which actually makes more sense.
I don't know what I was thinking.
And if you don't enter within that time
and do the stuff that you need to do,
it's canceled and you lose your money.
Now, I mentioned about applying
whilst you're in or out of the UAE.
The differences between that,
What I would say
is if you can apply
when you're outside the UAE
because it saves you a bit of money,
but just be mindful that you cannot enter
(11:08):
the UAE on my visa
until it's issued, obviously.
And that can take several days.
So don't plan to
You know,
you're going to the UAE on Monday
and then you decide to apply
for your visa on the Friday
because you may turn up in Dubai
and don't have a visa.
Now, I don't know what happens then,
but you may not have that
visa issued and you cannot enter.
And so if you haven't
entered on that visa,
(11:29):
which I need to stop, by the way,
you're going to have a problem.
And I don't know what
that situation would be,
but all I'm just saying is
give it enough time
so you can apply for your visa
before you enter
the UAE at least, you know,
aim for a week at least.
doesn't take that long.
But just in case, you never know. Okay.
So the first thing you need to do
is complete the visa application
and upload your documents
(11:50):
to whoever you've applied for your visa.
We have I did mine
when I set up my company
so if you're not setting up a company,
don't know where you would
go to do that directly.
So that's what I was saying
about earlier, about
I can't tell you about all the steps
for people
that aren't setting up a company
because Andrew, who I set up with,
which was after
I can't tell you the steps
because I haven't done them,
(12:10):
all I can tell you is what I've done.
So the first part is basic information,
which is where you select like employment
Visa is an investors visa.
A partners visa.
A partners visa is just
if there's more than one person
that you're setting up a company with,
then you have the partners visa.
It's not to do with your
like a relationship,
you like you and your wife or whatever,
then you've got the address, information,
(12:31):
employment, your salary,
the company
you're going to be working for.
Then you upload documents, passport photo
and for the
for the company
and sets up with proof of payment.
You know, they,
they just want you to upload
a screenshot from your bank
just to say
that you've actually sent the money
to them.
don't know why
they can't check the bank statement,
but whatever. That's what they ask for.
Now, of course
(12:51):
you're going to want to know
about the course.
I'm going to cover all of that
at the end of the video.
Right.
It's important point,
but there's so many different parts
where you pay out money for one can do.
I put them all together
in this video so that it's easier
to sort of keep track of that right.
Sound good? Okay.
You also
need a signed employment contract.
Now, of course,
I was sponsoring myself,
(13:12):
so my employment contract
signed by me was to sponsor
my visa to come in.
And you do that
for an establishment card,
you need a work sponsor.
If you don't have your own company,
for example,
you're going to need a work sponsor.
So whoever your employer is going to be,
they'll sort it out for you.
I see a lot of people doing these things.
What are you, bloody cold?
visa runs.
I think they're called literally
that where they're
(13:32):
leaving the country by bus
or something like that and coming back
and whatever.
I don't know how
these people are supporting
and so they must be working illegally.
But anyway, don't do that.
Just get a visa is easy.
Now, if you want to be shown
as an investor on your visa,
it needs to be shown
in your employment contract.
You can't apply for the investors visa.
It doesn't do anything different for you
anyway.
It's just
what is written on the bloody thing.
(13:53):
But you can't have like general manager
on your employment contract
and then apply for investors visa
because it will have to say
you're general manager,
so that makes sense.
Now, the bulk of the fees that I paid for
the visa
were paid directly to the Visa team
and some directly to the medical.
When I went to the medical facility
and then the biometrics and whatever,
which I'm going to come to and I'm
going to write that down
(14:14):
at the end of the video.
Like I said, now for me,
the visa
payment and application
was submitted on a Friday
and I had the visa in my inbox
on Tuesday, literally like 7 a.m.
when I woke up.
They had it ready by then.
UK time
I was still confused about
what happens next though,
there's a lot of steps involved.
(14:34):
In fact,
I sent this really long document
which tells you the different steps
and how to break it down.
But it wasn't really
that clear and simple as setting out
the company has already
said about ten times,
I need to stop saying so.
You need Emirates ID typing Emirates ID
typing is literally
just the application form
for your Emirates ID,
but you need to get it done
(14:55):
a particular center and they stamp it
Well, I think you need to get it done
at a particular center.
I kind of feel like I could have
just filled that in myself.
But whatever they didn't let me do that.
And then they book you the appointment
for your biometrics as well.
So you need a medical button.
Nobody could tell me and I mean nobody.
When I asked so many times,
How long does the medical take
(15:16):
I think some people are getting confused.
They're thinking like, am I saying it?
You know, if I do the medical today,
will it be back in a week
or will it be back in
not two days or five days or whatever?
I couldn't find a way
just to ask them, like,
am I going to be in the medical center
for half an hour
or do I need a whole day?
That was what I was trying to get.
But got into the too difficult box
(15:36):
for everyone.
I was asking.
So clearly it's something to do
with the way I speak English or whatever.
And again, medical insurance,
that's another one
which was mentioned as it was required,
but then I discovered it wasn't the
I don't need it
because company owner I think
and so it's optional for me.
it was a bit confusing even out over
like, like
(15:56):
But these visa gives you 60 days
to sort out all those requirements.
So it's plenty of time.
It's just whether or not
you can give
yourself enough time in the UAE
to get it sorted out.
So if you've seen my blog,
you would have already seen that
I went to the Albert Hall
or a medical center.
This was on the 7th of June 20, 23.
That was the day
after I landed in the UAE, in Dubai,
(16:17):
I landed like really late
at night in Dubai.
And I was going in the morning
to the medical center.
I arrive much later
than I originally planned.
As I was told,
it was like
it's more quiet in the morning,
they suggest on their website,
just like a few of the others
that I actually contacted
before I even left the UK
that you can book appointments,
but it seems like
(16:38):
you can only book appointments
if you're booking like the VIP thing,
which particularly now,
I don't really see the point
of what it was
other than the fact you get to sit
in a different part of the medical center
away from all of the other people
going through visas.
So as I mentioned, like literally
nobody could tell me
how long I'll be there for.
When I got to the center, I asked them,
and I think the best answer I got
was two days
(16:58):
that I would be there
getting my medical done.
So I was like,
okay, well, obviously
I'm not going to be here for two days.
Would that be a bit weird?
But it it wasn't two days.
As I come on to now,
I got ticket number 1215.
When I went there
I knew I'd had to see the medical
and also the Emirates ID typing,
which I did explain
when I went to reception
they gave me ticket 1215, which only said
(17:20):
medical form typing at med medical exam,
blood test for HIV
and an X-ray of the lungs for TB.
So what I did is
I saw the guy at the desk
who complete some forms.
I don't know what he was doing.
Then he was not friendly,
very happy, smiley guy.
Then he sends you to the cashier.
He goes like, Go over there and pay.
So you try to leave it to the cashier.
(17:41):
It's like for only 47 dirhams.
But I'll get through that later
and then back to the desk
to show proof of payment, you know?
Yes, it's been paid.
Then I sit around the corner,
but then I had to put a mask on.
I think relating to COVID
sort of the main part of it,
they didn't care.
But then when you go to the medical bit,
they want you to put a mask on.
So I put my mask on.
This anyway, I put that that Moscow
So another thing
(18:02):
that I was trying to get out of them,
but I couldn't.
So one, I couldn't get out of them
how long it would take to do the medical.
I was looking to get out of them,
what the medical consisted of.
So I kind of went in there a bit
blind, not knowing what was going on
just seemed like as if,
I'd just ask them to, solve.
how to make us immortal or something?
I don't know.
so I'd asked many times about what
the medical was.
(18:22):
I went in there
assuming that it would be something like,
Like to take your blood pressure,
take your weight,
tape around your belly
just to make sure you're not too fat.
And then, take your high
and on your way
and say, yeah, you're either
like at risk of death
in this heat or something like that.
So we won't give you a visa or whatever.
But that was not what occurred
So I went round to the medical section
(18:44):
and I sat down for a while
and then I was invited into a room
and that was when I discovered
what the first part of the medical
really was.
which I could have discovered
had I paid any attention to my ticket.
But ultimately what it was is they sit
you down in a in a room, in a chair
and then they take your blood.
And so I asked the guy
because I was attractive myself.
(19:05):
I don't like people taking my blood.
In fact,
I can't remember the last time
I allowed anyone to take my blood.
I kind of like having my blood
inside of me.
they took the blood
and I asked the guy what that was for.
And that is for HIV.
That's what they're testing for.
Nothing else, apparently just HIV.
Then I got sent round
to another part of the center.
(19:25):
So they've got separate for men
and women on for this part of it.
But understandably,
why was I in the second,
which I think they do here as well.
But the next part of it,
I was sat down for a while.
There's lots of people
I don't know where
they're from, somewhere
like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India.
I don't know, somewhere
like in that region
where if an argument ensued
(19:46):
between security
and one of the people
who were waiting like really rudely.
And there was just this heated argument.
I don't think
security was expecting them to talk back.
managed come out and sort it out.
And then eventually what happened
was I to the photo
because I was trying
to film a vlog, guys,
I took a photo
which I was going to do a video, luckily,
(20:07):
which is photo,
I know I did do a video as well.
I did a video, but I didn't see that.
But when they saw me take the photo,
which was not of anyone,
it was just of how the center looked.
Yeah, I've got told off by security
for that.
And I just sort of had to ignore him
because he was just a bit rude
and I kind of,
I've got a bad attitude
if, if you pissed me off.
yeah, I just had to ignore him a bit
and just put my phone away.
But anyway, the next bit was an x ray.
(20:29):
Now I'm still not sure
if I was meant to take my shirt off.
Well, that's why I was thinking.
Well, maybe you're. You meant to.
I think there was something
lost in translation
because they sent you
to this little tiny, little covered room.
There's lots of these
little covered rooms that go into,
like, one X-ray room,
and they've got hangars there.
And I thought the guy said, like,
not to me,
but to someone else before he gestured
about taking a top off.
(20:49):
And so I took my chain off
because it's an x ray.
I took my my top off,
and then I stood in the room.
But I stood in the room
when there was still someone in there.
But I noticed that
the guy that didn't have his top off,
he was in the room
and I got sent back out
and then I quickly got dressed
and then come and did it
without the thing on.
But anyway,
I don't really know
what I was meant to do.
Still not sure if I meant Toby
top off or not,
but whatever had that done.
(21:10):
And that's to test the tuberculosis
to make sure I didn't have TB.
Thankfully, I don't have TB or HIV.
I was I wouldn't have had my visa issued.
So after that process
and I was still holding onto my thing
like that,
like on my arms, feeling like as if
someone had just sliced my arm open.
But I hadn't. just me.
I don't like needles.
I then realized that they hadn't put
Emirates ID on the thing.
(21:31):
So this is why I mentioned
like I think I might pay twice earlier
for something because I
then had to pay another 386 dirhams
for getting the Emirates ID thing done.
And I kind I've just got this feeling
that had you done it in the one
the difference is like really minimal.
Not as much as that.
So I'm not sure though.
I'm not 100% sure,
(21:51):
but yeah, anyway,
I ended up with ticket 5022 somehow
and I saw the same guy
to do the paperwork.
He sent me up to the cashier again.
I paid the 486 dirhams.
Then he told me I need to attend
biometrics next day,
which was another thing
I didn't know at the time
at another center as well,
so they could themselves
smart center all in one.
That's how they pitched themselves.
(22:12):
But they're not anonymous center at all
because you do have to go somewhere else
to get your biometrics done.
Now, the only thing I'll say about
was ticket numbers.
Don't worry,
I wasn't there that long at all.
ticket numbers seem random.
I think I went from one
ticket number like 1 to 1
0 to 2.
I mean,
it wasn't,
you know,
4000 people or whatever
come in that time.
yeah, I got,
since I got booked the time and date
(22:34):
for the biometrics center the next day,
I wasn't given an option by the way.
I was just told
you will attend on this day and time.
I asked him,
does it have to be that day and time?
Because my friend was coming
that evening from London
and we were meant to do stuff,
but it ended up being pretty quick.
I think in total
it took about an hour and a half
for the entire medical Emirates
ID and all of that
using their standard service. I must add.
(22:56):
That's their standard service.
It wasn't a VIP service.
And like I said,
I think it was just another room.
Now there is a bit of a class system
in the UAE.
Not a bit.
There is one.
I think that is really designed
to separate the two.
Like I just sat among the people
who are from much, much poorer countries
and I, I don't care can give two hoots.
(23:17):
I mean, it's
playing space is no issues really apart
from that one argument
between security or whatever.
But I think the VIP service one
they do to turn around a bit quicker.
I think it's done within 24 hours
to day hours,
but also they have a separate
seating area
so you don't have to sit among the riff
raff like me who are doing it.
But I would just say
pay for the standard service.
I think the VIP was hugely
(23:38):
like way, way, way more money.
And also
they want to like give
you COVID shots as well
with the VIP service.
For some reason, I don't know why, Okay.
So the next day, on the 8th of June,
I was sent to Al Ghazal,
the Al Ghazal Center.
That's what I'm going to say
with confidence.
All I did was take my fingerprints.
They took my fingerprints it aside.
I was just like when I was in the police
(23:59):
before, back in the day,
how we take the fingerprints
on the machine
and then
make sure they stamp your paperwork.
If they don't stamp your paperwork,
none of it will happen.
And also the same for the medical
and the blood test
it needs have stamped it.
I think it says like blood on it
or you need to have your stamps done,
otherwise it won't count
when you do the next part of the process.
But anyway, I went to this center.
(24:19):
I was there 5 minutes in and out.
It was super, super quick.
My father gave me that for ages,
and was it for today.
Then I had to wait for medical
certificate confirmation
from Al Bahar Medical Center
So I sent over the paperwork
with all the stamps and stuff on
and the medical certificate
was issued
on the same day on Thursday
(24:41):
the 8th of June 2023.
So again,
like I mentioned about the VIP service
didn't really matter
because it was done anyway in that time.
But I guess the busier times a year
I was there
quite a quiet time of the year, a busy
at times a year
maybe It does
actually make a big difference
and you might have a different experience
to what I've had depending
on the time of year
(25:01):
that then I uploaded the paperwork
to the Visa team.
so many steps it it
and my visa was finally finally issued
on the 14th of June 2023.
So it's a few days was nearly a week
later.
Now, there's a couple of things
to note for you.
Firstly,
you don't get
stamp in your passport anymore.
(25:22):
The UAE is trying to move
to an all electric system,
so it's sent electronically the visa.
You still get the Emirates.
I'd like a hard
copy card, which I'll show you.
But the visa recent electronically
and the Emirates ID acts as the visa.
You can't have it the visa, basically.
So once you've got the Emirates I.D.,
you can
then register on things
like the UAE Pass, which is like a one
(25:45):
stop shop
system to gain access
to all sorts of different UAE apps.
But via your phone,
maybe online,
online as well on on the Internet
and the I e ICP apps,
which is where you can see
your visa information
and you can see your Emirates ID,
you can see
think you can see any fines
and stuff
that you've been
to have been assigned to your Emirates ID
(26:06):
and a number of things
and they've got a police app as well,
which is nuts,
which you can also sign in
with the UAE pass.
So that UAE pass, once
you've got that authorized
and verified it,
then is like a like a single sign on
for all of these other apps. Basically.
I then received an email
on the 14th of June,
same day that my visa was issued,
saying that my
ID card had been printed,
(26:28):
but I didn't hear anything
about a delivery.
And I must just make it really,
really clear here
this is nothing to do with my free zone.
It's like who I'm registered with.
If they're with the Visa team,
anything like that.
This is now over to don't
if it's a UAE government entity,
I imagine it is.
Or if they subcontract out the work
to like private companies or whatever.
But I didn't hear anything
(26:48):
about a delivery
for few days
and I was approaching the time
for me to go home.
Now, bear in mind
that I'd given myself three weeks.
Okay, so I mentioned the start of this.
I'd given myself three weeks
and I thought that would be plenty
time before I'd have everything done.
The Emirates idea and all that issued.
before I leave now,
just as a point to note
that you can leave the UAE
without the Emirates ID,
(27:09):
you cannot leave the UAE
without your visa, though.
would have been fine
if I didn't get the Emirates ID
I could have left.
It would have been a problem.
I could have just picked it up
the next time I came to the UAE.
So anyway,
I called on the 19th of June 2023
and they confirmed that the carrier
had been given my Emirates.
I'd already
and they gave me
the contact details for the carrier.
(27:31):
So I contacted the carrier
and they said they would deliver.
Two days later.
So I thought do something the next day
and then plan to wait
around the following day for the delivery
to the hotel of the apartments
that I was staying in.
And then when I was at the FCA offices,
I was looking around
like checking out their office space,
meeting a few people there.
I went in there
to get the memorandum thing as well.
(27:52):
This I mean, that's another story.
I had to go back twice
because I forgot my passport.
Some stupid.
But anyway,
I had a phone call
when I was at the FCA offices
drinking a cup of coffee
to say,
Oh, by the way,
I'm 10 minutes away or 15 minutes away
from bringing your Emirates ID to you,
which is
I was like half an hour,
40 minutes away from there
(28:12):
like from the hotel.
not only that, they said
that they could only give it to me
directly.
And I had to sign for it
and share my passport
or whatever, ended up getting that
sorted out amongst my how.
But when they're getting that sorted out,
I got a taxi back
I collected my Emirates ID.
Now here's an important point for you.
Now you've gone to the expense of perhaps
getting your company sorted out,
(28:33):
but now also getting your visa
and going through this process.
You've got to keep it active.
Okay.
And I had a bit of a confusion over
what it meant to keep active.
Was it
you had to spend
six months in the UAE
or was it
that continuously
did you have to spend six months
over the course of a 12 month period
(28:55):
in the UAE?
Did you have to be in the UAE
at least once every six months?
So I didn't know.
And it's something that I clarified
because obviously it's important
to get your visa sorted out.
So from what I was told
and there's always potential
that I may have been given
wrong information.
People right.
So definitely ask when you get your visa
sorted out, just to confirm.
But what I was told
(29:16):
is that sorry for the interruption.
I'm married.
I'm from the future.
Well, future from that video.
It's now October 20, 23.
I'm back in Dubai.
I'm no longer in Hertfordshire.
It turns out I was given
wrong information
and I want to thank Joe 0248
for commenting on the video
when I launched it
(29:36):
the first time on YouTube
After Joe's comment,
it made me think twice
and to go back to the Visa team again
to double check
what I had been told previously.
And really
that was
because I still didn't quite get
why it was so much more
to have investors and partners
visa designation onto the visa.
And it turns out
(29:57):
that there is a good reason
for paying the extra money. After all.
I'm going to now play
what I originally said,
and then afterwards
I'm going to give you
the correct version.
So this is what I originally said.
you must not be outside of the UAE
for more than six continuous months
or you will be fined
and your visa will be canceled.
(30:18):
But that was not completely true.
So I've taken down the original video
and I'm just going to correct it
with this little overlay very quickly
so that you've got the right information
for the people watching. Now.
is that the six month rule applies
for all of the visa designations
except for investors,
(30:39):
visa and partners Visa.
So depending on
what type of visa you have,
if you have
the general visa is six months,
we have a designations that come with it.
unless you do have the investors
or partners designation on your visa.
And then it's a maximum of 12 months
that you can stay outside of the country.
So It's got nothing to do
(31:00):
with the amount of time
you spend inside the UAE
for any period of time.
That's a maximum
you can be outside of the country,
but you have to be back
to keep that visa active
or it will be canceled
and you will be fined.
And they absolutely love
a fine in the UAE.
There's fines, everything.
So make sure you stick to the rules.
So I want to say thanks again to Joe 0248
(31:21):
for pointing that out
and leaving the comment,
taking the time to do that.
Thank you very much, Joe,
because that's now allowed me
to be able to correct it
for everyone else
who's going to watch this video.
So thank you.
So now you can join me further
back in the past
and I'll continue
with the rest of the video
to talk about the rest of the process
and I'll get onto those
FAQs at the end for you.
So thank you very much
(31:41):
for bearing with me.
Apologies for the error
in the first place.
If you did watch it and we'll move on
if you have a golden visa, though,
that is a different process.
imagine the medical
and everything is the same,
but it's different requirements,
different process for a different matter.
You don't have any of that problem.
And that's what
what I think I'll do is probably look
for getting a golden visa next time
(32:02):
when my visa runs out.
If I'm still planning on stay in the UAE,
I think I would probably go
through the golden visa process
instead of maintaining the current
one that I have because it gives one.
It gives you a lot longer
to stay in the UAE
rather than having to renew
every two years.
I think you can get up to ten years
for the Golden visa,
also there's no limits.
I mean, if you want to stay out
(32:22):
of the UAE for a year,
you can go back and it's fine.
onto the fake news.
I think this is an important part
for a lot of people.
It will cover a lot of misconceptions,
a lot of wrong information
that's out there,
potentially a lot of questions.
So let's go through them one by one
So going to cover a few of the main ones
which take, maybe 5 minutes.
And what I'll try to do
is get all of these done,
(32:44):
because since I've made this list,
there's actually a number of others
that have come up
quite frequently
throughout the YouTube
and also through my Instagram
that are not on this list.
So I will go through those
another time in a separate video.
So if you're subscribed,
then you'll be able to know about them
because there's a
lot of wrong information out there,
not just about the visa process
but also about tax.
(33:05):
I can't really talk about tax too much.
I mean, I can tell you bits
about what
I've been told about my situation,
but you're not going to know
the ins and outs of my situation.
it does really vary
depending on your personal circumstances
and of course, where in the world
you're from.
I'll go for a few of these
and then we'll look at wrapping up takes.
One of the main questions
I get asked, which I've already covered,
(33:27):
is how long does
the investor's residency visa last for?
It is now two years.
It's not four years like it used to be.
So two years.
What does the residency
visa allow you to do?
So that allows you to live and work
in the UAE As a resident for two years.
And what that means is you can do things
(33:47):
like you can open a bank account,
you can get a bank loan personal or,
you know, like a car loan.
You can get a mortgage,
you can have visa free access
to several countries around the UAE.
If you have kids,
your children can attend.
Government or private schools in the UAE
You can get a driver's license
and some access
to health services and health insurance,
(34:08):
know, it basically just allows you
to live,
allows you to live
and be like a normal free
human being in the UAE.
Now, the costs
this is important for a lot of people
because a lot of people ask, now
I'm going to start off
with saying that I have a feeling
that there is a novel way
to get these visas issued
with you doing it directly,
this residency visa,
without paying the amount
that I've paid to get this done.
(34:30):
I think that lot of my fee is to do
with basically admin fees
for the company that have done it for me
because when I look on the UAE website,
the cost of the visa itself,
like the official government websites,
the cost of the visa
itself is like
insignificant, like pales in comparison
to what I've actually paid
so that things like the medical process
(34:51):
and stuff
might vary by center,
but I'm on about
just the admin fee initially,
I think explore other options
because you may have other options
and other alternatives available to you.
Site in May June 2020.
Free the cost for me to get my visa
sorted out, my residency visa
with the investors
investors visa sorted out
(35:11):
was 5483 difference.
And I'm going to break that down for you.
So I paid to the Visa team
in my free zone. I'm with with FSA.
I paid free thousand 750 Durham's
for the application,
which included
the visa application from the UK.
if you are applying for that in the UAE.
So you're there on a tourism visa.
(35:32):
Imagine instead of free thousand
750 dirhams, that cost changes
to 5350 dirhams.
That's an extra 1600 dereham's
to change the visa, which is quite a lot.
Where I set it up, I
then had to pay an extra
thousand dereham's
for it to be shown
as an investor
on the visa itself
(35:53):
rather than general manager.
They have a partner designation as well,
which would also cost you
another thousand
if you were wanting to show a partner
and that's like a part of a company.
it's optional to have that.
You can just get general manager
on on there.
The reason why
I didn't get the equivalent of the direct
to the managing director or whatever
it is, is because again, you know,
(36:13):
the UAE have their own rules
and to get managing director on your visa
and your visa for this,
you need to have a business degree,
which I don't have.
I own businesses,
I have I make money from businesses,
but I don't have a business degree.
So by that, I wouldn't
be able to have a managing director
on my visa. For some reason.
But generally speaking,
if you want to save money,
you can go for general manager.
(36:34):
For most owners,
it doesn't make a blind bit of difference
to anything
and I'm actually
why even bother to pay a thousand dirhams
just to get the word investor
put on there instead of general manager?
So I pay directly from my medical,
was 447 dirham from a medical 486
difference from my Emirates ID
typing and biometrics to be done.
(36:55):
And like I mentioned before,
I've got a feeling that had I been a lot
clearer to them at the start
that the overall cost of that
would have been a bit lower,
I'm not sure even to now.
I don't really care, has done whatever.
Another common question is
can you leave the UAE
before the Emirates ID is issued?
Yes, you can.
As I've mentioned,
you just can't leave
(37:15):
before the visa is issued.
Do you need medical insurance
to apply for a visa is another one.
No, you do not.
put a caveat to that. You do not?
Definitely not.
If you are a business owner.
I believe that the rules are different
for workers
in UAE,
where I think the employer
potentially has to pay for that more.
Some indication
they have to have medical insurance.
(37:36):
But as an employer,
are the owner you don't need to
So what's the difference
between the employment visa,
investor visa and partner visa?
The fact is, is of quite I mention
they're all the same thing
Q different names.
They give you two years
as resident in the UAE that's it.
They're different to the green
visa and, the golden visa,
which are issued differently.
I think green visa just work in UAE.
(37:58):
Golden Visa
allows you to invest in the UAE,
but the requirements are a lot higher,
a lot more stringent,
but you do get a lot more freedom
and a lot longer visa
on based on the Golden Visa.
Now, the main question
the main question
that I get probably by far
the most or comments around
it is about the UAE residency visa.
(38:18):
People believe that
the UAE residence
visa means
you automatically do not pay any tax.
It is nonsense.
It is a lie. It's false.
it depends where you
come from in the world
and your personal circumstances
based on the laws
where you are from in your country.
So if you are someone
who is of the belief that, oh,
(38:39):
just go and pay all this money,
a lot of money to get residency visa.
But as someone mentioned, you have day.
They don't plan on spending
any time in the UAE.
They just wanted to keep the visa active
thinking
that means that they won't pay
any tax
on any of their income
where they're from,
as well as no tax on income from company
in the UAE that they plan to set up.
(38:59):
It is wrong, completely wrong.
And you may find yourself
in a lot of trouble
with your local tax authorities
if they caught up with you,
if you got an accountant
they would correct that.
So definitely speak to an accountant 100%
not the case at all.
And it's probably the biggest falsehood
that is out there
on the Internet right now about Dubai,
(39:19):
the biggest false belief
that people have.
There are things called split years.
So if you're from the UK particularly,
I can only talk from that
it seems to split years
which aren't really relevant
if you are going to work in the UAE
or you plan on taking large sums of money
out of a company that you own in the UAE,
that's only when it becomes relevant for.
You
it doesn't change anything
(39:40):
during a split year from your UK income.
if you've got other business
in the UK like me,
I would still pay tax on that.
During that split year
in terms of dividends.
And for me
I would only then not pay dividend tax
after my split year,
I then need to qualify for a full year
as a UAE tax resident.
So as a non UK tax resident,
(40:01):
to be able to then
draw money from my UK company
dividends wise
and then not pay tax on that.
And also the same for income
that I receive the UAE.
that was just a really,
really quick wrap up.
I think I will end up doing a video
on my circumstances
a bit more to say
what the
what the deal is with my circumstances,
but it will differ.
I cannot stress enough.
It will differ to speak to an accountant,
(40:22):
spend a couple of hundred pounds
to speak to an accountant or, couple
hundred dollars whatever,
to speak to an accountant
who can sit down with you.
Go for your exact circumstances
and tell you your exact situation,
what you need to do
to be able to qualify.
If you are looking to
not pay tax in the country
that you come from,
if that's what you're looking to do,
(40:43):
It Would be stupid
to go and pay thousands of pounds
to get a visa set up
and you know, your flights
and accommodation and stuff.
And then only to find out
had you paid 200
quid, you'd have found out
it's not possible for your situation
just because it would be too,
be too much of a drain
on too much of a change
in your circumstances.
You and your family,
whatever, to be able to qualify
makes sense that. Fair enough.
(41:03):
So there you go.
That's the residency process
that I went through in
May and June of 20, 23.
the time you've watched this,
things could have changed.
You know, they probably haven't
if it's like really close to it,
but they could have changed.
So you need to keep up with the times.
You need to look at information
that's readily available out there,
talk to actual professionals
who can guide you.
There are a lot of cowboys and rogues
(41:25):
out there
giving out a lot of false information,
for example,
not related to the visa
process particularly.
But someone contacted me,
I think yesterday, possibly two days ago
from when I'm recording this.
And the person told me that.
they'd spoken
to like
one of these agents
that I kind of mentioned in my,
in the video on setting up companies,
they spoke to some agent
who told them a load of crap, basically.
(41:46):
And he asked me if it's true
where this agent is trying to say
that you cannot set up directly
with the freeze on companies at all
and that you need someone like him
who's qualified to be at the company
on his behalf,
who their third party company,
which is a total lie,
is a complete and utter lie.
Yeah, I know,
because I've set my company up anyway.
So yeah, it's
(42:07):
there's a lot of people out there
talking a lot of shit, basically.
And so you need to be careful.
Look at official
or people who've recently gone
through the process
and who's
just going to tell you the truth
without any agenda.
We're not
trying to sign you up to anything.
Some like,
by the service from me,
you know,
you can get this set up yourself
or buy it from me and I'll do it for you.
Not isolated Ballocks.
(42:28):
And please don't come to me
asking if I can do it for you.
I'm not going to.
busy with my actual businesses
that are real ones.
I set mine up
via the zone company
that I set up my company with.
There are probably other options
out there and like said,
I think there is a way to do this.
I do a lot cheaper
than I've paid to do it.
But I did find out yourself.
(42:48):
I've mentioned green and golden visas
recent like a few times
throughout this video.
And I recently realized
that you can get them set up directly
with the UAE government,
which is a lot cheaper.
It looks like
I haven't been through the process.
I haven't experienced the depth
of actually applying, in total.
I think.
you know, put in the comments
if you've done this yourself,
(43:09):
but in the comments of people
can say that it's been done,
but I think you can do it
for a lot cheaper 400,000 dirhams.
It won't be applicable to a lot
of people.
So people who don't qualify
for the Golden Visa, for example,
they wouldn't,
you know,
if you're looking for golden visas,
accept companies and invest in stuff.
I don't think
the green visa
allows you to do that from what I read.
(43:30):
But if you manage to work it out,
you know,
the free zone
did tell me that I could,
but I decided to use them anyway.
and all I know
as I've kind of like
mentioned a couple of times
now, I'm not sure that it's worth
getting the visa directly
through free zone company.
I don't know that it makes much sense.
couldn't find the information
at the time.
I needed them to get my company set up.
(43:51):
But as for the visa,
it just doesn't appear that I need to
You need the establishment card
to be able to sponsor yourself
to get your visa. Yes, that's correct.
But for example,
golden visas,
it looks like
you don't need to be sponsored for,
but most people are not going to qualify,
to be quite frank, for Golden Visa,
who are applying for business visas.
The next for me
will be the Golden Visa
(44:12):
if I qualify for it
at the end of my visa,
like I've mentioned.
And that would depend on the rules
at the time
without needing like the six month
entry in and out restrictions.
Now it's just a bit of a random tip
I've added on to the end of my notes
here. Okay.
So if you enter the UAE
and you want to get a phone sim,
which you may want to do
because it's really expensive
if you're trying to use like data
(44:32):
and stuff from the UK, from a UK
over in the UAE, it's
going to cost you a ton of money
also for calls as well.
I think calls are like £2 a minute
or whatever.
if you want to get a phone, SIM
Virgin's really popular.
You can do it at the airport
and get it set up and put on your phone
and whatever and sets up.
They do require your ID,
however to get it set up.
So if you give me your passport.
Yeah, fine.
(44:53):
What I didn't realize is
they only give you 30 days,
which you have to renew every 30 days
to keep the number active.
So why should it on
before I left,
which I didn't realize I had to do,
when I got back to the UK,
I then had a notification on my phone
a few days later
saying that I need to upload
my documents again to verify.
(45:13):
Now you can upload for you
to find
the picture of your passport
to re verify your your number.
However, they don't allow
you do it outside of the UAE
and they're not checking your location
by your internet connection.
It requires you to put your GPS on
so you can't fool it.
But by using a VPN,
which I tried to do, it doesn't work.
they've deactivated my phone number,
(45:34):
which is really annoying
because a number of like a state
agents out there
that were meant to call me
only have that number.
I had that number like listed
for some business stuff.
So they've suspended my line
and they gave me like 90 days
and go back to the UAE
to show my Emirates ID.
So all I'm saying to you is basically,
if you do get your visa sorted out
and you get your Emirates ID
(45:54):
before you leave,
if you manage to get it before you leave,
go to the shop
and have them scan in your Emirates ID
card for your number
so that it will
then give you the full two years.
I believe that your Emirates ID last for
to keep your line active.
That's just a tip.
If you do happen to, leave the UAE.
since you stayed with me this long,
unless you're a complete weirdo
(46:14):
and hadn't realized,
you can skip to another video.
if it was helpful for you,
give me a thumbs up.
I'd really appreciate that.
Like, unsubscribe subscribe.
It would really help the channel
and get it out to more people
who are looking for
this information
that aren't looking for the shit
that's out there on YouTube,
which is just full of ballocks
where people are just trying
to sell you their shit.
also, if you want to learn about
how to set up a company in Dubai,
(46:35):
click on this video here
and yeah,
and you can watch the process
that I went through in 2023.
Other than that, I'm Aaron Henriques.
Thanks for staying with me. Goodbye.
Hi, I'm
(00:00):
Aaron Henriques, and
I'm going to talk to you
about my experience
getting the residency visa
set up for Dubai
and the United Arab Emirates.
Overall, Recently, back in Dubai,
where I got my UAE
resident's visa sorted out,
and I've been in the UK
now for two or three months.
And the last video I did
(00:21):
on setting up the company
seems to come really well.
A lot of people have asked
about the visa process.
They said,
This is what this video is about.
And those of you
who've been waiting a while, sorry,
but I've been busy,
I've got a business to run
Now, just before I get started,
I want to make it really clear
the process, the I've been through is
as a business owner,
someone setting up a company in the UAE,
(00:43):
a free zone company particularly,
and that is the process that I followed
that is in relation to that.
Now, I do not know for sure,
but I imagine the majority of the process
is the same for people
who are coming in as employees.
For companies
that already exist in the UAE,
I imagine the process is very similar.
If it's not identical.
(01:03):
Now to be even clearer,
I've applied as a business owner.
We have a
so-called like investors
visa is what the title is on my visa,
but it's exactly the same thing
as any of free zone business owners visa,
where you might be title
general manager, partner,
managing director or whatever
their equivalent is or whatever it is,
(01:24):
is exactly the same.
But what it is not
it's not a golden visa.
So in my previous video
I mentioned about the fact
that maybe I ended up
being scammed after all,
but it turns out I wasn't.
I've now got my memorandum
and association
of articles for my company with a visa,
which is one of the free zone
companies in Dubai.
(01:44):
I have my UAE trade license here
and my certificate of formation.
So business has been formally set up,
which is great news.
So I wasn't scammed
and for all the people
that I've sent over to Twitter
who've contacted me for any other video,
there's a number of them
ready, set up their companies to.
And if you haven't seen that video
already, look back
through there somewhere.
(02:05):
The last few
videos, there's some videos in between
where I've shown like
my first few days in Dubai.
But the last podcast episode
was in relation to that.
Now, because I've had so many questions,
had a lot of comments on YouTube.
I've had multiple people
contact me via email, WhatsApp.
I don't know how they get my details,
So I'm going to be covering
(02:25):
a lot of the questions
that I've been asked throughout this.
K, the residency visa process.
It wasn't a smooth process
or it wasn't as smooth a process
as setting up the company.
it was a bit confusing and costly
and there were things that I was paying
for which I'm still not even now.
I'm not quite sure
if I've paid twice for something or not,
but I'm just whatever.
(02:46):
I paid it and it's done now, weirdly.
Well, I think it's weird
just coming from the UK.
I sponsored myself through my own company
to get my visa, so
that's how the system works there.
So you set up your own company,
you can sponsor yourself and also other
if you take on other employees,
you can sponsor them to come
and get the visa in the UAE.
But whether you are coming in
as an employee
(03:06):
or whatever,
you're going to need a sponsor
and an employment contract.
If you are setting up your own company
anyway, Now, as I said before,
there may be slight differences
and might be a few extra bits
that you have to go through
if you are coming in just as an employee
but benefit as part of this big policy.
This is stuff that I didn't know
that you'd have to go through,
which is worth sticking around for
(03:28):
just listening to that anyway.
So I thought about the structure
of this video quite a bit,
and I'm going to start with the process.
going through the whole process,
then more about what
the visa allows you to do.
And towards the end of the video,
I'm going to talk about how to keep it
active and a few frequent else
questions that I've been asked.
So it's a bit of a mixed up video.
You might see a clip or two of me
(03:48):
in the past in Dubai.
And if you're listening on audio,
well, if you head over to YouTube,
the whole thing will be the
And really importantly
for a lot of people
watching now, will be covering
those common misconceptions.
Those false beliefs are out there
where people talk a lot of shit
and I'm correcting a lot of those
because I have to do the research
(04:08):
and I might as well share it
with you to show you
how it's actually done the process too.
I've actually been through
quite recently.
Okay.
So first of all, really,
why am I doing this?
I had an idea about setting up companies
and stuff like that,
and I've got companies in the UK already.
And quite recently
the UK government decided it's
going to increase the tax
(04:28):
on all the businesses.
And then the other side of it
when you take your dividends
and whatever.
basically they've been annoying me,
I just find them really annoying
and I think they tax us way too much,
They tax entrepreneurs
way, way, way too much.
And it really prevents
people from being able to grow.
So I don't really need to be any
particular place.
I don't have kids, I'm not married,
(04:49):
anything like that.
I've got the freedom
to move around as I please.
And I just kind of felt like,
well, I'm holding myself back.
I've heard about online, about Dubai
for years.
You know,
I thought about it
many times over the years.
know a couple of people
who've gone over to Dubai
and who is doing Dubai?
Many people have gone to Australia
and America
and wherever
and really for me,
(05:09):
I was thinking about
setting up another company
and is one is a global company.
It's not a UK local
like a UK only business.
And so I thought, well, what should I do?
Do I stay in the UK and pay
a ridiculous amount
of tax on the earnings
and have really slow growth
because I don't,
you know,
I'm getting taxed left, right and center
or do I try and think about setting up
(05:31):
a company in Dubai
now before I decided to set up a company
in Dubai.
In fact, around the time
I decided to set up a company in Dubai,
I had a lot of misconception options
about how the tax situation changes.
And I know from people
contacting me quite recently
since my other video
where I've set about
(05:52):
setting up the company in Dubai,
that there are a lot of people out there
still with misconceptions
about how it works
for tax residency status.
So recently
the UAE changed the investors
visa or business owners visa or whatever
you want to call it,
the Dubai residency visa to two years.
It used to be free
is it's now
aligned to the rest of the other
(06:12):
residency visas
which was like employees or whatever
to two years
now getting the visa doesn't mean
I have to live in Dubai.
So when I said that the company
and even getting the visa
I didn't have to live in Dubai for that
allows me to go
live, work there and do whatever in Dubai
during the two year period.
But what it does require,
unlike the Golden visa,
(06:32):
the normal visa will require you to visit
to be in the country
at least every six months.
So if you leave
for longer than six months,
then I believe the visa will be canceled
and you get a fine as well.
They like to find everything in Dubai.
and that fine is nearly the equivalent
of an economy ticket
from the UK to Dubai.
(06:52):
So when I was going through the process,
I had an absolute ton of questions,
probably like you as well,
hence why you're watching.
And I've heard so many like conflicting
and just completely false information
that online, particularly
from these companies that are,
you know, they're helping
you get your visa and helping you, etc.,
IT companies
and they're putting out all this
false false information,
(07:13):
YouTubers, whatever.
There's so much
rubbish online
about the UAE, for example,
there's a ton of stuff out there
which would indicate that
by getting a
UAE residence visa means you pay
absolutely no tax
where you're from,
which is absolute nonsense.
There are so many variables to it.
And so
this is something that I want to correct,
(07:33):
although I will put in a caveat here.
I'm not here for your tax planning.
It's I had someone contact me
on Instagram
the other day, was asking me about
like what
the actual rules for the visa,
how many days you have to be
in the by whereas
actually that's the wrong question.
It's more about how many days
can you stay in your own country
where you're from?
That's the question.
It's not about how many days
you need to be in Dubai
(07:53):
for anyway,
in the UK there's rules around it.
but generally speaking for me,
I can't be in the UK
for more than 90 days yet as an example.
But residency
and your tax residency
status are also two different things
and it really varies
depending on where you are
and where you're from in the world.
For example,
the Americans got a really bad deal.
They don't really get much benefit
(08:14):
from going to the UAE,
whereas lots of European
countries would do so.
What I'm going to get on to now,
because I've been that
renowned on for a while,
is I'm going to go
through the full process
that I went through during
May and June 2020 free
and covering
the things that I learned along the way.
Now, there's a lot
more moving parts to this
than there was in the company
setup process,
which was a lot simpler, honestly.
(08:36):
So bear with me.
I'm going to try and be as accurate
as I can
and give you as much detailed information
as I can,
which isn't going to be,
you know,
glossy and exciting and fun and,
you know, due to usual YouTube
algorithm stuff
or whatever, it's just going to be
as I experienced it.
So the most frequent question
I keep getting is about how long
(08:57):
the process takes,
how long do you need to be in
Dubai to get through the visa process
to not a company stuff,
just the visa process.
Now What you need to get
is something called an E-VISA.
Now, the visa gives you 60 days
to enter the UAE
and sort out your medical
and all the other requirements
that are needed to get your visa issued.
(09:19):
Now you can apply for your visa
outside of the UAE
and also inside of the UAE.
What I will say,
though, is
if you are inside
the UAE on a tourism visa,
you will need to pay
to cancel your tourism visa
before you can
then apply for your e-visa.
And so it costs more money.
So if you apply before you enter the UAE,
(09:40):
you can get your visa,
which gives you the whole 60 days
to sort out your medical and requirements
and then get your visa issued.
Now, lots of people
want to try and do it
on a really fine line.
And what I would say
is plan for 2 to 3 weeks in Dubai,
the main reason is, is
you cannot leave
before the visa is issued.
So once you enter a visa,
(10:00):
from what I've been told
you cannot leave the UAE
before
your visa is actually issued to you
or you start the whole process again.
And I believe there's a fee
for everything in the UAE.
and you may come across things
that you hadn't expected that may have.
you up now?
For me, that wasn't the issue.
It was all pretty smooth
in terms of time wise.
But yeah, definitely 2 to 3 weeks. right.
(10:22):
So I applied for my visa
when I was setting up my company
and for some reason. I don't know why.
just decided that I knew
the rules of the UAE,
like without even bothering to check.
But for some reason
I just thought that the visa
would let me show up
at some point in the future.
And then my 60 days started from then.
That's not the case.
It is the 60 days start from the day
(10:44):
it's issued,
which actually makes more sense.
I don't know what I was thinking.
And if you don't enter within that time
and do the stuff that you need to do,
it's canceled and you lose your money.
Now, I mentioned about applying
whilst you're in or out of the UAE.
The differences between that,
What I would say
is if you can apply
when you're outside the UAE
because it saves you a bit of money,
but just be mindful that you cannot enter
(11:08):
the UAE on my visa
until it's issued, obviously.
And that can take several days.
So don't plan to
You know,
you're going to the UAE on Monday
and then you decide to apply
for your visa on the Friday
because you may turn up in Dubai
and don't have a visa.
Now, I don't know what happens then,
but you may not have that
visa issued and you cannot enter.
And so if you haven't
entered on that visa,
(11:29):
which I need to stop, by the way,
you're going to have a problem.
And I don't know what
that situation would be,
but all I'm just saying is
give it enough time
so you can apply for your visa
before you enter
the UAE at least, you know,
aim for a week at least.
doesn't take that long.
But just in case, you never know. Okay.
So the first thing you need to do
is complete the visa application
and upload your documents
(11:50):
to whoever you've applied for your visa.
We have I did mine
when I set up my company
so if you're not setting up a company,
don't know where you would
go to do that directly.
So that's what I was saying
about earlier, about
I can't tell you about all the steps
for people
that aren't setting up a company
because Andrew, who I set up with,
which was after
I can't tell you the steps
because I haven't done them,
(12:10):
all I can tell you is what I've done.
So the first part is basic information,
which is where you select like employment
Visa is an investors visa.
A partners visa.
A partners visa is just
if there's more than one person
that you're setting up a company with,
then you have the partners visa.
It's not to do with your
like a relationship,
you like you and your wife or whatever,
then you've got the address, information,
(12:31):
employment, your salary,
the company
you're going to be working for.
Then you upload documents, passport photo
and for the
for the company
and sets up with proof of payment.
You know, they,
they just want you to upload
a screenshot from your bank
just to say
that you've actually sent the money
to them.
don't know why
they can't check the bank statement,
but whatever. That's what they ask for.
Now, of course
(12:51):
you're going to want to know
about the course.
I'm going to cover all of that
at the end of the video.
Right.
It's important point,
but there's so many different parts
where you pay out money for one can do.
I put them all together
in this video so that it's easier
to sort of keep track of that right.
Sound good? Okay.
You also
need a signed employment contract.
Now, of course,
I was sponsoring myself,
(13:12):
so my employment contract
signed by me was to sponsor
my visa to come in.
And you do that
for an establishment card,
you need a work sponsor.
If you don't have your own company,
for example,
you're going to need a work sponsor.
So whoever your employer is going to be,
they'll sort it out for you.
I see a lot of people doing these things.
What are you, bloody cold?
visa runs.
I think they're called literally
that where they're
(13:32):
leaving the country by bus
or something like that and coming back
and whatever.
I don't know how
these people are supporting
and so they must be working illegally.
But anyway, don't do that.
Just get a visa is easy.
Now, if you want to be shown
as an investor on your visa,
it needs to be shown
in your employment contract.
You can't apply for the investors visa.
It doesn't do anything different for you
anyway.
It's just
what is written on the bloody thing.
(13:53):
But you can't have like general manager
on your employment contract
and then apply for investors visa
because it will have to say
you're general manager,
so that makes sense.
Now, the bulk of the fees that I paid for
the visa
were paid directly to the Visa team
and some directly to the medical.
When I went to the medical facility
and then the biometrics and whatever,
which I'm going to come to and I'm
going to write that down
(14:14):
at the end of the video.
Like I said, now for me,
the visa
payment and application
was submitted on a Friday
and I had the visa in my inbox
on Tuesday, literally like 7 a.m.
when I woke up.
They had it ready by then.
UK time
I was still confused about
what happens next though,
there's a lot of steps involved.
(14:34):
In fact,
I sent this really long document
which tells you the different steps
and how to break it down.
But it wasn't really
that clear and simple as setting out
the company has already
said about ten times,
I need to stop saying so.
You need Emirates ID typing Emirates ID
typing is literally
just the application form
for your Emirates ID,
but you need to get it done
(14:55):
a particular center and they stamp it
Well, I think you need to get it done
at a particular center.
I kind of feel like I could have
just filled that in myself.
But whatever they didn't let me do that.
And then they book you the appointment
for your biometrics as well.
So you need a medical button.
Nobody could tell me and I mean nobody.
When I asked so many times,
How long does the medical take
(15:16):
I think some people are getting confused.
They're thinking like, am I saying it?
You know, if I do the medical today,
will it be back in a week
or will it be back in
not two days or five days or whatever?
I couldn't find a way
just to ask them, like,
am I going to be in the medical center
for half an hour
or do I need a whole day?
That was what I was trying to get.
But got into the too difficult box
(15:36):
for everyone.
I was asking.
So clearly it's something to do
with the way I speak English or whatever.
And again, medical insurance,
that's another one
which was mentioned as it was required,
but then I discovered it wasn't the
I don't need it
because company owner I think
and so it's optional for me.
it was a bit confusing even out over
like, like
(15:56):
But these visa gives you 60 days
to sort out all those requirements.
So it's plenty of time.
It's just whether or not
you can give
yourself enough time in the UAE
to get it sorted out.
So if you've seen my blog,
you would have already seen that
I went to the Albert Hall
or a medical center.
This was on the 7th of June 20, 23.
That was the day
after I landed in the UAE, in Dubai,
(16:17):
I landed like really late
at night in Dubai.
And I was going in the morning
to the medical center.
I arrive much later
than I originally planned.
As I was told,
it was like
it's more quiet in the morning,
they suggest on their website,
just like a few of the others
that I actually contacted
before I even left the UK
that you can book appointments,
but it seems like
(16:38):
you can only book appointments
if you're booking like the VIP thing,
which particularly now,
I don't really see the point
of what it was
other than the fact you get to sit
in a different part of the medical center
away from all of the other people
going through visas.
So as I mentioned, like literally
nobody could tell me
how long I'll be there for.
When I got to the center, I asked them,
and I think the best answer I got
was two days
(16:58):
that I would be there
getting my medical done.
So I was like,
okay, well, obviously
I'm not going to be here for two days.
Would that be a bit weird?
But it it wasn't two days.
As I come on to now,
I got ticket number 1215.
When I went there
I knew I'd had to see the medical
and also the Emirates ID typing,
which I did explain
when I went to reception
they gave me ticket 1215, which only said
(17:20):
medical form typing at med medical exam,
blood test for HIV
and an X-ray of the lungs for TB.
So what I did is
I saw the guy at the desk
who complete some forms.
I don't know what he was doing.
Then he was not friendly,
very happy, smiley guy.
Then he sends you to the cashier.
He goes like, Go over there and pay.
So you try to leave it to the cashier.
(17:41):
It's like for only 47 dirhams.
But I'll get through that later
and then back to the desk
to show proof of payment, you know?
Yes, it's been paid.
Then I sit around the corner,
but then I had to put a mask on.
I think relating to COVID
sort of the main part of it,
they didn't care.
But then when you go to the medical bit,
they want you to put a mask on.
So I put my mask on.
This anyway, I put that that Moscow
So another thing
(18:02):
that I was trying to get out of them,
but I couldn't.
So one, I couldn't get out of them
how long it would take to do the medical.
I was looking to get out of them,
what the medical consisted of.
So I kind of went in there a bit
blind, not knowing what was going on
just seemed like as if,
I'd just ask them to, solve.
how to make us immortal or something?
I don't know.
so I'd asked many times about what
the medical was.
(18:22):
I went in there
assuming that it would be something like,
Like to take your blood pressure,
take your weight,
tape around your belly
just to make sure you're not too fat.
And then, take your high
and on your way
and say, yeah, you're either
like at risk of death
in this heat or something like that.
So we won't give you a visa or whatever.
But that was not what occurred
So I went round to the medical section
(18:44):
and I sat down for a while
and then I was invited into a room
and that was when I discovered
what the first part of the medical
really was.
which I could have discovered
had I paid any attention to my ticket.
But ultimately what it was is they sit
you down in a in a room, in a chair
and then they take your blood.
And so I asked the guy
because I was attractive myself.
(19:05):
I don't like people taking my blood.
In fact,
I can't remember the last time
I allowed anyone to take my blood.
I kind of like having my blood
inside of me.
they took the blood
and I asked the guy what that was for.
And that is for HIV.
That's what they're testing for.
Nothing else, apparently just HIV.
Then I got sent round
to another part of the center.
(19:25):
So they've got separate for men
and women on for this part of it.
But understandably,
why was I in the second,
which I think they do here as well.
But the next part of it,
I was sat down for a while.
There's lots of people
I don't know where
they're from, somewhere
like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India.
I don't know, somewhere
like in that region
where if an argument ensued
(19:46):
between security
and one of the people
who were waiting like really rudely.
And there was just this heated argument.
I don't think
security was expecting them to talk back.
managed come out and sort it out.
And then eventually what happened
was I to the photo
because I was trying
to film a vlog, guys,
I took a photo
which I was going to do a video, luckily,
(20:07):
which is photo,
I know I did do a video as well.
I did a video, but I didn't see that.
But when they saw me take the photo,
which was not of anyone,
it was just of how the center looked.
Yeah, I've got told off by security
for that.
And I just sort of had to ignore him
because he was just a bit rude
and I kind of,
I've got a bad attitude
if, if you pissed me off.
yeah, I just had to ignore him a bit
and just put my phone away.
But anyway, the next bit was an x ray.
(20:29):
Now I'm still not sure
if I was meant to take my shirt off.
Well, that's why I was thinking.
Well, maybe you're. You meant to.
I think there was something
lost in translation
because they sent you
to this little tiny, little covered room.
There's lots of these
little covered rooms that go into,
like, one X-ray room,
and they've got hangars there.
And I thought the guy said, like,
not to me,
but to someone else before he gestured
about taking a top off.
(20:49):
And so I took my chain off
because it's an x ray.
I took my my top off,
and then I stood in the room.
But I stood in the room
when there was still someone in there.
But I noticed that
the guy that didn't have his top off,
he was in the room
and I got sent back out
and then I quickly got dressed
and then come and did it
without the thing on.
But anyway,
I don't really know
what I was meant to do.
Still not sure if I meant Toby
top off or not,
but whatever had that done.
(21:10):
And that's to test the tuberculosis
to make sure I didn't have TB.
Thankfully, I don't have TB or HIV.
I was I wouldn't have had my visa issued.
So after that process
and I was still holding onto my thing
like that,
like on my arms, feeling like as if
someone had just sliced my arm open.
But I hadn't. just me.
I don't like needles.
I then realized that they hadn't put
Emirates ID on the thing.
(21:31):
So this is why I mentioned
like I think I might pay twice earlier
for something because I
then had to pay another 386 dirhams
for getting the Emirates ID thing done.
And I kind I've just got this feeling
that had you done it in the one
the difference is like really minimal.
Not as much as that.
So I'm not sure though.
I'm not 100% sure,
(21:51):
but yeah, anyway,
I ended up with ticket 5022 somehow
and I saw the same guy
to do the paperwork.
He sent me up to the cashier again.
I paid the 486 dirhams.
Then he told me I need to attend
biometrics next day,
which was another thing
I didn't know at the time
at another center as well,
so they could themselves
smart center all in one.
That's how they pitched themselves.
(22:12):
But they're not anonymous center at all
because you do have to go somewhere else
to get your biometrics done.
Now, the only thing I'll say about
was ticket numbers.
Don't worry,
I wasn't there that long at all.
ticket numbers seem random.
I think I went from one
ticket number like 1 to 1
0 to 2.
I mean,
it wasn't,
you know,
4000 people or whatever
come in that time.
yeah, I got,
since I got booked the time and date
(22:34):
for the biometrics center the next day,
I wasn't given an option by the way.
I was just told
you will attend on this day and time.
I asked him,
does it have to be that day and time?
Because my friend was coming
that evening from London
and we were meant to do stuff,
but it ended up being pretty quick.
I think in total
it took about an hour and a half
for the entire medical Emirates
ID and all of that
using their standard service. I must add.
(22:56):
That's their standard service.
It wasn't a VIP service.
And like I said,
I think it was just another room.
Now there is a bit of a class system
in the UAE.
Not a bit.
There is one.
I think that is really designed
to separate the two.
Like I just sat among the people
who are from much, much poorer countries
and I, I don't care can give two hoots.
(23:17):
I mean, it's
playing space is no issues really apart
from that one argument
between security or whatever.
But I think the VIP service one
they do to turn around a bit quicker.
I think it's done within 24 hours
to day hours,
but also they have a separate
seating area
so you don't have to sit among the riff
raff like me who are doing it.
But I would just say
pay for the standard service.
I think the VIP was hugely
(23:38):
like way, way, way more money.
And also
they want to like give
you COVID shots as well
with the VIP service.
For some reason, I don't know why, Okay.
So the next day, on the 8th of June,
I was sent to Al Ghazal,
the Al Ghazal Center.
That's what I'm going to say
with confidence.
All I did was take my fingerprints.
They took my fingerprints it aside.
I was just like when I was in the police
(23:59):
before, back in the day,
how we take the fingerprints
on the machine
and then
make sure they stamp your paperwork.
If they don't stamp your paperwork,
none of it will happen.
And also the same for the medical
and the blood test
it needs have stamped it.
I think it says like blood on it
or you need to have your stamps done,
otherwise it won't count
when you do the next part of the process.
But anyway, I went to this center.
(24:19):
I was there 5 minutes in and out.
It was super, super quick.
My father gave me that for ages,
and was it for today.
Then I had to wait for medical
certificate confirmation
from Al Bahar Medical Center
So I sent over the paperwork
with all the stamps and stuff on
and the medical certificate
was issued
on the same day on Thursday
(24:41):
the 8th of June 2023.
So again,
like I mentioned about the VIP service
didn't really matter
because it was done anyway in that time.
But I guess the busier times a year
I was there
quite a quiet time of the year, a busy
at times a year
maybe It does
actually make a big difference
and you might have a different experience
to what I've had depending
on the time of year
(25:01):
that then I uploaded the paperwork
to the Visa team.
so many steps it it
and my visa was finally finally issued
on the 14th of June 2023.
So it's a few days was nearly a week
later.
Now, there's a couple of things
to note for you.
Firstly,
you don't get
stamp in your passport anymore.
(25:22):
The UAE is trying to move
to an all electric system,
so it's sent electronically the visa.
You still get the Emirates.
I'd like a hard
copy card, which I'll show you.
But the visa recent electronically
and the Emirates ID acts as the visa.
You can't have it the visa, basically.
So once you've got the Emirates I.D.,
you can
then register on things
like the UAE Pass, which is like a one
(25:45):
stop shop
system to gain access
to all sorts of different UAE apps.
But via your phone,
maybe online,
online as well on on the Internet
and the I e ICP apps,
which is where you can see
your visa information
and you can see your Emirates ID,
you can see
think you can see any fines
and stuff
that you've been
to have been assigned to your Emirates ID
(26:06):
and a number of things
and they've got a police app as well,
which is nuts,
which you can also sign in
with the UAE pass.
So that UAE pass, once
you've got that authorized
and verified it,
then is like a like a single sign on
for all of these other apps. Basically.
I then received an email
on the 14th of June,
same day that my visa was issued,
saying that my
ID card had been printed,
(26:28):
but I didn't hear anything
about a delivery.
And I must just make it really,
really clear here
this is nothing to do with my free zone.
It's like who I'm registered with.
If they're with the Visa team,
anything like that.
This is now over to don't
if it's a UAE government entity,
I imagine it is.
Or if they subcontract out the work
to like private companies or whatever.
But I didn't hear anything
(26:48):
about a delivery
for few days
and I was approaching the time
for me to go home.
Now, bear in mind
that I'd given myself three weeks.
Okay, so I mentioned the start of this.
I'd given myself three weeks
and I thought that would be plenty
time before I'd have everything done.
The Emirates idea and all that issued.
before I leave now,
just as a point to note
that you can leave the UAE
without the Emirates ID,
(27:09):
you cannot leave the UAE
without your visa, though.
would have been fine
if I didn't get the Emirates ID
I could have left.
It would have been a problem.
I could have just picked it up
the next time I came to the UAE.
So anyway,
I called on the 19th of June 2023
and they confirmed that the carrier
had been given my Emirates.
I'd already
and they gave me
the contact details for the carrier.
(27:31):
So I contacted the carrier
and they said they would deliver.
Two days later.
So I thought do something the next day
and then plan to wait
around the following day for the delivery
to the hotel of the apartments
that I was staying in.
And then when I was at the FCA offices,
I was looking around
like checking out their office space,
meeting a few people there.
I went in there
to get the memorandum thing as well.
(27:52):
This I mean, that's another story.
I had to go back twice
because I forgot my passport.
Some stupid.
But anyway,
I had a phone call
when I was at the FCA offices
drinking a cup of coffee
to say,
Oh, by the way,
I'm 10 minutes away or 15 minutes away
from bringing your Emirates ID to you,
which is
I was like half an hour,
40 minutes away from there
(28:12):
like from the hotel.
not only that, they said
that they could only give it to me
directly.
And I had to sign for it
and share my passport
or whatever, ended up getting that
sorted out amongst my how.
But when they're getting that sorted out,
I got a taxi back
I collected my Emirates ID.
Now here's an important point for you.
Now you've gone to the expense of perhaps
getting your company sorted out,
(28:33):
but now also getting your visa
and going through this process.
You've got to keep it active.
Okay.
And I had a bit of a confusion over
what it meant to keep active.
Was it
you had to spend
six months in the UAE
or was it
that continuously
did you have to spend six months
over the course of a 12 month period
(28:55):
in the UAE?
Did you have to be in the UAE
at least once every six months?
So I didn't know.
And it's something that I clarified
because obviously it's important
to get your visa sorted out.
So from what I was told
and there's always potential
that I may have been given
wrong information.
People right.
So definitely ask when you get your visa
sorted out, just to confirm.
But what I was told
(29:16):
is that sorry for the interruption.
I'm married.
I'm from the future.
Well, future from that video.
It's now October 20, 23.
I'm back in Dubai.
I'm no longer in Hertfordshire.
It turns out I was given
wrong information
and I want to thank Joe 0248
for commenting on the video
when I launched it
(29:36):
the first time on YouTube
After Joe's comment,
it made me think twice
and to go back to the Visa team again
to double check
what I had been told previously.
And really
that was
because I still didn't quite get
why it was so much more
to have investors and partners
visa designation onto the visa.
And it turns out
(29:57):
that there is a good reason
for paying the extra money. After all.
I'm going to now play
what I originally said,
and then afterwards
I'm going to give you
the correct version.
So this is what I originally said.
you must not be outside of the UAE
for more than six continuous months
or you will be fined
and your visa will be canceled.
(30:18):
But that was not completely true.
So I've taken down the original video
and I'm just going to correct it
with this little overlay very quickly
so that you've got the right information
for the people watching. Now.
is that the six month rule applies
for all of the visa designations
except for investors,
(30:39):
visa and partners Visa.
So depending on
what type of visa you have,
if you have
the general visa is six months,
we have a designations that come with it.
unless you do have the investors
or partners designation on your visa.
And then it's a maximum of 12 months
that you can stay outside of the country.
So It's got nothing to do
(31:00):
with the amount of time
you spend inside the UAE
for any period of time.
That's a maximum
you can be outside of the country,
but you have to be back
to keep that visa active
or it will be canceled
and you will be fined.
And they absolutely love
a fine in the UAE.
There's fines, everything.
So make sure you stick to the rules.
So I want to say thanks again to Joe 0248
(31:21):
for pointing that out
and leaving the comment,
taking the time to do that.
Thank you very much, Joe,
because that's now allowed me
to be able to correct it
for everyone else
who's going to watch this video.
So thank you.
So now you can join me further
back in the past
and I'll continue
with the rest of the video
to talk about the rest of the process
and I'll get onto those
FAQs at the end for you.
So thank you very much
(31:41):
for bearing with me.
Apologies for the error
in the first place.
If you did watch it and we'll move on
if you have a golden visa, though,
that is a different process.
imagine the medical
and everything is the same,
but it's different requirements,
different process for a different matter.
You don't have any of that problem.
And that's what
what I think I'll do is probably look
for getting a golden visa next time
(32:02):
when my visa runs out.
If I'm still planning on stay in the UAE,
I think I would probably go
through the golden visa process
instead of maintaining the current
one that I have because it gives one.
It gives you a lot longer
to stay in the UAE
rather than having to renew
every two years.
I think you can get up to ten years
for the Golden visa,
also there's no limits.
I mean, if you want to stay out
(32:22):
of the UAE for a year,
you can go back and it's fine.
onto the fake news.
I think this is an important part
for a lot of people.
It will cover a lot of misconceptions,
a lot of wrong information
that's out there,
potentially a lot of questions.
So let's go through them one by one
So going to cover a few of the main ones
which take, maybe 5 minutes.
And what I'll try to do
is get all of these done,
(32:44):
because since I've made this list,
there's actually a number of others
that have come up
quite frequently
throughout the YouTube
and also through my Instagram
that are not on this list.
So I will go through those
another time in a separate video.
So if you're subscribed,
then you'll be able to know about them
because there's a
lot of wrong information out there,
not just about the visa process
but also about tax.
(33:05):
I can't really talk about tax too much.
I mean, I can tell you bits
about what
I've been told about my situation,
but you're not going to know
the ins and outs of my situation.
it does really vary
depending on your personal circumstances
and of course, where in the world
you're from.
I'll go for a few of these
and then we'll look at wrapping up takes.
One of the main questions
I get asked, which I've already covered,
(33:27):
is how long does
the investor's residency visa last for?
It is now two years.
It's not four years like it used to be.
So two years.
What does the residency
visa allow you to do?
So that allows you to live and work
in the UAE As a resident for two years.
And what that means is you can do things
(33:47):
like you can open a bank account,
you can get a bank loan personal or,
you know, like a car loan.
You can get a mortgage,
you can have visa free access
to several countries around the UAE.
If you have kids,
your children can attend.
Government or private schools in the UAE
You can get a driver's license
and some access
to health services and health insurance,
(34:08):
know, it basically just allows you
to live,
allows you to live
and be like a normal free
human being in the UAE.
Now, the costs
this is important for a lot of people
because a lot of people ask, now
I'm going to start off
with saying that I have a feeling
that there is a novel way
to get these visas issued
with you doing it directly,
this residency visa,
without paying the amount
that I've paid to get this done.
(34:30):
I think that lot of my fee is to do
with basically admin fees
for the company that have done it for me
because when I look on the UAE website,
the cost of the visa itself,
like the official government websites,
the cost of the visa
itself is like
insignificant, like pales in comparison
to what I've actually paid
so that things like the medical process
(34:51):
and stuff
might vary by center,
but I'm on about
just the admin fee initially,
I think explore other options
because you may have other options
and other alternatives available to you.
Site in May June 2020.
Free the cost for me to get my visa
sorted out, my residency visa
with the investors
investors visa sorted out
(35:11):
was 5483 difference.
And I'm going to break that down for you.
So I paid to the Visa team
in my free zone. I'm with with FSA.
I paid free thousand 750 Durham's
for the application,
which included
the visa application from the UK.
if you are applying for that in the UAE.
So you're there on a tourism visa.
(35:32):
Imagine instead of free thousand
750 dirhams, that cost changes
to 5350 dirhams.
That's an extra 1600 dereham's
to change the visa, which is quite a lot.
Where I set it up, I
then had to pay an extra
thousand dereham's
for it to be shown
as an investor
on the visa itself
(35:53):
rather than general manager.
They have a partner designation as well,
which would also cost you
another thousand
if you were wanting to show a partner
and that's like a part of a company.
it's optional to have that.
You can just get general manager
on on there.
The reason why
I didn't get the equivalent of the direct
to the managing director or whatever
it is, is because again, you know,
(36:13):
the UAE have their own rules
and to get managing director on your visa
and your visa for this,
you need to have a business degree,
which I don't have.
I own businesses,
I have I make money from businesses,
but I don't have a business degree.
So by that, I wouldn't
be able to have a managing director
on my visa. For some reason.
But generally speaking,
if you want to save money,
you can go for general manager.
(36:34):
For most owners,
it doesn't make a blind bit of difference
to anything
and I'm actually
why even bother to pay a thousand dirhams
just to get the word investor
put on there instead of general manager?
So I pay directly from my medical,
was 447 dirham from a medical 486
difference from my Emirates ID
typing and biometrics to be done.
(36:55):
And like I mentioned before,
I've got a feeling that had I been a lot
clearer to them at the start
that the overall cost of that
would have been a bit lower,
I'm not sure even to now.
I don't really care, has done whatever.
Another common question is
can you leave the UAE
before the Emirates ID is issued?
Yes, you can.
As I've mentioned,
you just can't leave
(37:15):
before the visa is issued.
Do you need medical insurance
to apply for a visa is another one.
No, you do not.
put a caveat to that. You do not?
Definitely not.
If you are a business owner.
I believe that the rules are different
for workers
in UAE,
where I think the employer
potentially has to pay for that more.
Some indication
they have to have medical insurance.
(37:36):
But as an employer,
are the owner you don't need to
So what's the difference
between the employment visa,
investor visa and partner visa?
The fact is, is of quite I mention
they're all the same thing
Q different names.
They give you two years
as resident in the UAE that's it.
They're different to the green
visa and, the golden visa,
which are issued differently.
I think green visa just work in UAE.
(37:58):
Golden Visa
allows you to invest in the UAE,
but the requirements are a lot higher,
a lot more stringent,
but you do get a lot more freedom
and a lot longer visa
on based on the Golden Visa.
Now, the main question
the main question
that I get probably by far
the most or comments around
it is about the UAE residency visa.
(38:18):
People believe that
the UAE residence
visa means
you automatically do not pay any tax.
It is nonsense.
It is a lie. It's false.
it depends where you
come from in the world
and your personal circumstances
based on the laws
where you are from in your country.
So if you are someone
who is of the belief that, oh,
(38:39):
just go and pay all this money,
a lot of money to get residency visa.
But as someone mentioned, you have day.
They don't plan on spending
any time in the UAE.
They just wanted to keep the visa active
thinking
that means that they won't pay
any tax
on any of their income
where they're from,
as well as no tax on income from company
in the UAE that they plan to set up.
(38:59):
It is wrong, completely wrong.
And you may find yourself
in a lot of trouble
with your local tax authorities
if they caught up with you,
if you got an accountant
they would correct that.
So definitely speak to an accountant 100%
not the case at all.
And it's probably the biggest falsehood
that is out there
on the Internet right now about Dubai,
(39:19):
the biggest false belief
that people have.
There are things called split years.
So if you're from the UK particularly,
I can only talk from that
it seems to split years
which aren't really relevant
if you are going to work in the UAE
or you plan on taking large sums of money
out of a company that you own in the UAE,
that's only when it becomes relevant for.
You
it doesn't change anything
(39:40):
during a split year from your UK income.
if you've got other business
in the UK like me,
I would still pay tax on that.
During that split year
in terms of dividends.
And for me
I would only then not pay dividend tax
after my split year,
I then need to qualify for a full year
as a UAE tax resident.
So as a non UK tax resident,
(40:01):
to be able to then
draw money from my UK company
dividends wise
and then not pay tax on that.
And also the same for income
that I receive the UAE.
that was just a really,
really quick wrap up.
I think I will end up doing a video
on my circumstances
a bit more to say
what the
what the deal is with my circumstances,
but it will differ.
I cannot stress enough.
It will differ to speak to an accountant,
(40:22):
spend a couple of hundred pounds
to speak to an accountant or, couple
hundred dollars whatever,
to speak to an accountant
who can sit down with you.
Go for your exact circumstances
and tell you your exact situation,
what you need to do
to be able to qualify.
If you are looking to
not pay tax in the country
that you come from,
if that's what you're looking to do,
(40:43):
It Would be stupid
to go and pay thousands of pounds
to get a visa set up
and you know, your flights
and accommodation and stuff.
And then only to find out
had you paid 200
quid, you'd have found out
it's not possible for your situation
just because it would be too,
be too much of a drain
on too much of a change
in your circumstances.
You and your family,
whatever, to be able to qualify
makes sense that. Fair enough.
(41:03):
So there you go.
That's the residency process
that I went through in
May and June of 20, 23.
the time you've watched this,
things could have changed.
You know, they probably haven't
if it's like really close to it,
but they could have changed.
So you need to keep up with the times.
You need to look at information
that's readily available out there,
talk to actual professionals
who can guide you.
There are a lot of cowboys and rogues
(41:25):
out there
giving out a lot of false information,
for example,
not related to the visa
process particularly.
But someone contacted me,
I think yesterday, possibly two days ago
from when I'm recording this.
And the person told me that.
they'd spoken
to like
one of these agents
that I kind of mentioned in my,
in the video on setting up companies,
they spoke to some agent
who told them a load of crap, basically.
(41:46):
And he asked me if it's true
where this agent is trying to say
that you cannot set up directly
with the freeze on companies at all
and that you need someone like him
who's qualified to be at the company
on his behalf,
who their third party company,
which is a total lie,
is a complete and utter lie.
Yeah, I know,
because I've set my company up anyway.
So yeah, it's
(42:07):
there's a lot of people out there
talking a lot of shit, basically.
And so you need to be careful.
Look at official
or people who've recently gone
through the process
and who's
just going to tell you the truth
without any agenda.
We're not
trying to sign you up to anything.
Some like,
by the service from me,
you know,
you can get this set up yourself
or buy it from me and I'll do it for you.
Not isolated Ballocks.
(42:28):
And please don't come to me
asking if I can do it for you.
I'm not going to.
busy with my actual businesses
that are real ones.
I set mine up
via the zone company
that I set up my company with.
There are probably other options
out there and like said,
I think there is a way to do this.
I do a lot cheaper
than I've paid to do it.
But I did find out yourself.
(42:48):
I've mentioned green and golden visas
recent like a few times
throughout this video.
And I recently realized
that you can get them set up directly
with the UAE government,
which is a lot cheaper.
It looks like
I haven't been through the process.
I haven't experienced the depth
of actually applying, in total.
I think.
you know, put in the comments
if you've done this yourself,
(43:09):
but in the comments of people
can say that it's been done,
but I think you can do it
for a lot cheaper 400,000 dirhams.
It won't be applicable to a lot
of people.
So people who don't qualify
for the Golden Visa, for example,
they wouldn't,
you know,
if you're looking for golden visas,
accept companies and invest in stuff.
I don't think
the green visa
allows you to do that from what I read.
(43:30):
But if you manage to work it out,
you know,
the free zone
did tell me that I could,
but I decided to use them anyway.
and all I know
as I've kind of like
mentioned a couple of times
now, I'm not sure that it's worth
getting the visa directly
through free zone company.
I don't know that it makes much sense.
couldn't find the information
at the time.
I needed them to get my company set up.
(43:51):
But as for the visa,
it just doesn't appear that I need to
You need the establishment card
to be able to sponsor yourself
to get your visa. Yes, that's correct.
But for example,
golden visas,
it looks like
you don't need to be sponsored for,
but most people are not going to qualify,
to be quite frank, for Golden Visa,
who are applying for business visas.
The next for me
will be the Golden Visa
(44:12):
if I qualify for it
at the end of my visa,
like I've mentioned.
And that would depend on the rules
at the time
without needing like the six month
entry in and out restrictions.
Now it's just a bit of a random tip
I've added on to the end of my notes
here. Okay.
So if you enter the UAE
and you want to get a phone sim,
which you may want to do
because it's really expensive
if you're trying to use like data
(44:32):
and stuff from the UK, from a UK
over in the UAE, it's
going to cost you a ton of money
also for calls as well.
I think calls are like £2 a minute
or whatever.
if you want to get a phone, SIM
Virgin's really popular.
You can do it at the airport
and get it set up and put on your phone
and whatever and sets up.
They do require your ID,
however to get it set up.
So if you give me your passport.
Yeah, fine.
(44:53):
What I didn't realize is
they only give you 30 days,
which you have to renew every 30 days
to keep the number active.
So why should it on
before I left,
which I didn't realize I had to do,
when I got back to the UK,
I then had a notification on my phone
a few days later
saying that I need to upload
my documents again to verify.
(45:13):
Now you can upload for you
to find
the picture of your passport
to re verify your your number.
However, they don't allow
you do it outside of the UAE
and they're not checking your location
by your internet connection.
It requires you to put your GPS on
so you can't fool it.
But by using a VPN,
which I tried to do, it doesn't work.
they've deactivated my phone number,
(45:34):
which is really annoying
because a number of like a state
agents out there
that were meant to call me
only have that number.
I had that number like listed
for some business stuff.
So they've suspended my line
and they gave me like 90 days
and go back to the UAE
to show my Emirates ID.
So all I'm saying to you is basically,
if you do get your visa sorted out
and you get your Emirates ID
(45:54):
before you leave,
if you manage to get it before you leave,
go to the shop
and have them scan in your Emirates ID
card for your number
so that it will
then give you the full two years.
I believe that your Emirates ID last for
to keep your line active.
That's just a tip.
If you do happen to, leave the UAE.
since you stayed with me this long,
unless you're a complete weirdo
(46:14):
and hadn't realized,
you can skip to another video.
if it was helpful for you,
give me a thumbs up.
I'd really appreciate that.
Like, unsubscribe subscribe.
It would really help the channel
and get it out to more people
who are looking for
this information
that aren't looking for the shit
that's out there on YouTube,
which is just full of ballocks
where people are just trying
to sell you their shit.
also, if you want to learn about
how to set up a company in Dubai,
(46:35):
click on this video here
and yeah,
and you can watch the process
that I went through in 2023.
Other than that, I'm Aaron Henriques.
Thanks for staying with me. Goodbye.
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