# Canadian wishing to move to Dubai unsure of options



## *wood (Nov 9, 2009)

Hi there,

I spent a month in Dubai in early '08 and enjoyed myself quite a bit, made some great friends, etc. I saw some great (and not so great) aspects of Dubai. 

At this point I am strongly considering moving to DXB and am wondering what my options are in my situation and how feasible they are. I am 21 years old, male, Canadian citizen.

All I absolutely require is permission to reside in Dubai. Work Visa is not 100% necessary as I am self-employed (own my own online investment business) and my income is largely passive. 

Unfortunately I have no secondary education diploma so I could not imagine a local firm wanting to employ me nor could I imagine the compensation to be anything worth my time.

Any ideas on the different ways to legally reside in DXB and the associated costs with each method? I've heard of starting a business, buying property, buying a visa (not sure if this is legitimate or not.) Any explanation or further thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you very much.


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## boyinblue (Nov 8, 2009)

> Hi there,
> 
> I spent a month in Dubai in early '08 and enjoyed myself quite a bit, made some great friends, etc. I saw some great (and not so great) aspects of Dubai.
> 
> ...


I have been into online business myself.. I think your best bet would be to come here on visit.. (no secondary school diploma needed for that  ) and if you can spare 30k.. 40k AED an year, give a name to your online business and open an office at a free zone.. that wont only entitle you to live here but infact would let you sponsor visas.. 

Hope that helped


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## Xpat (Nov 12, 2008)

Hi a Canuck from tdot here,

Well since you already have experience in business, get here and get a business licence in free zone and get investor's visa, i have business licence from non-freezone and it can be pain in the arse. 

Leme know if I can help u in anyway


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## *wood (Nov 9, 2009)

OK so as I imagined with Dubai the best bet is to enter again as a visitor and then once present do all the applications for visa/license/etc.

Any recommendation on which free zone is the easiest and least expensive to get a visa from? An idea of the setup and recurring costs would be great. Taking a look at the DIC, KV, DMC, etc sites but not all of them are super informative.

Also an important question I forgot to ask: How long are you allowed per year are you allowed to stay outside of the UAE for while still maintaining your visa/being a resident?


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## boyinblue (Nov 8, 2009)

*wood said:


> OK so as I imagined with Dubai the best bet is to enter again as a visitor and then once present do all the applications for visa/license/etc.
> 
> Any recommendation on which free zone is the easiest and least expensive to get a visa from? An idea of the setup and recurring costs would be great. Taking a look at the DIC, KV, DMC, etc sites but not all of them are super informative.
> 
> Also an important question I forgot to ask: How long are you allowed per year are you allowed to stay outside of the UAE for while still maintaining your visa/being a resident?


DIC, KV, DMC would go costly on you. If you just want something to make your stay legal and dont really wanna business setup.. Get RAK free zone. when last I personally checked, these guys were charging 25k an year, that included a small office. water electricity you gota pay.

6 months outa UAE, and thats gonna finish things up. This rule has been made this month. I really dont know about business visas though. When the rule came out public the government mentioned that it doesn't apply on certain conditions, they didnt elaborated those certain conditions though. Good luck in Dubai dude


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## *wood (Nov 9, 2009)

Wow - with RAK free zone you can get setup for 20,000 AED? Sounds almost too good to be true.

The 6 month rule is too bad - so it sounds like maintaining the visa requires you to stay in UAE at least half the year. I was hoping to spend perhaps 3 months per year within the UAE.


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## boyinblue (Nov 8, 2009)

*wood said:


> Wow - with RAK free zone you can get setup for 20,000 AED? Sounds almost too good to be true.
> 
> The 6 month rule is too bad - so it sounds like maintaining the visa requires you to stay in UAE at least half the year. I was hoping to spend perhaps 3 months per year within the UAE.


you better check this rule dude. I think so it should not be imposed to businessmen.. if you really are into serious money then there could be a way.. Spend a million bucks (AED) and buy a flat, 99 yr lease in a freezone.. that would entitle you to UAE resident visa.. you can go surfing at holland for 10 years and come back again without any prob.. there are several ways bro.. money speaks


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## *wood (Nov 9, 2009)

Would rather not invest a large sum of money, especially in Dubai real estate as I do not have much faith in it.


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## *wood (Nov 9, 2009)

Has anyone gone through the process by starting a free zone company? Any through RAK by chance?

Also if you know where I can clarify the visa question that would be great. Wondering if I can spend 9 months of the years outside of UAE but as long as it is broken up (say 5 months at the beginning, 4 months at the end of the year) I should be fine, right?


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## boyinblue (Nov 8, 2009)

*wood said:


> Has anyone gone through the process by starting a free zone company? Any through RAK by chance?
> 
> Also if you know where I can clarify the visa question that would be great. Wondering if I can spend 9 months of the years outside of UAE but as long as it is broken up (say 5 months at the beginning, 4 months at the end of the year) I should be fine, right?


yep, as long as you are coming back before 6 month completion that would be no problem


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

You can get a reputable company to manage the whole process for you. I used (and still use) these guys:

Welcome to Baker Tilly MKM!

I'm set up in Jebel Ali Free Zone, but they'll be able to set you up in any of the free zones in the UAE and handle all the bureaucratic paperwork on your behalf, as well as finding you a small office.

Not sure if I'm allowed to post up a link of this nature on here, but they're certianly worth giving a call/e-mail to see how they can help you.


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