Frequently Asked Questions

If you have opted for a license package with visas, once your license registration is done, your company establishment card will be issued, then you may apply for visas under the company sponsorship.

The first step is to apply for an entry permit. This is essentially a temporary visa that allows you access to the UAE for up to 60 days. Once you have obtained your entry permit you can enter the country to make your full visa application. It is best not to leave the UAE and re-enter until you have obtained your residency visa. Doing so can cause difficulties with immigration.

If your application is successful, you will receive your entry permit via email.

Once you have your entry permit, you must activate it. This is known as a status change and can be done in one of three ways. You can opt for an in-country status change which requires you to send your passport to UAE immigration services who will stamp and activate your visa.

Alternatively, you can activate your entry permit via an out of country status change – this an option if you are out of the country when making your visa application. Here you simply present your passport and entry permit to immigration at a UAE airport. It is then stamped and activated.

Finally, you can activate your entry permit via what is known as a border run. Here you would leave the UAE by land and then re-enter, once again presenting your visa to an immigration official who will stamp and activate it. This option is only available if you already hold a passport that permits visa-on-arrival access to the UAE.

With your entry permit activated, you will then need to undergo a standardized medical test. This includes a blood test and x-ray.

Providing you pass your medical you can then apply for an Emirates ID card. As part of this process you may be required to visit an immigration center to submit biometric information such as your fingerprints and eye scan.

Finally, your residence visa will need to be issued and stamped. To complete this final stage you must submit your passport to immigration. They will then affix and stamp your visa in your passport before sending it back. This process usually takes around two weeks.

There are many great benefits of holding a UAE residency visa. As well as being able to live and work in the Emirates, as a resident you are also able to open a personal bank account with zero income tax and access other financial facilities, apply for a UAE driving license, access government health services and facilities, enrol your children in government and private schools and travel visa free to destinations including Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Azerbaijan if needed.

No, we only require a color copy of the passport for issuing the e-visa. The original passport is required only at the stages of visa amendment and residency stamping.

• Employment E-Visa Application (processing time- 2-3 working days *subject to Government approval )
• Once visa is issued, you can entry the country using E-visa; or Visa Amendment for applicants within the UAE who do not wish to exit the country
• Medical Test
• Applying for Emirates ID
• Residency Stamping (processing time- 2-3 working days)
• Work Permit/ Labour Card (processing time- 2-3 working days)

All new and renewal visa applications must be submitted to and processed by Creative City or one of our official agents.

Entities must perform the following:

1. Maintain in their headquarters each the following registers:
   • Partners/Shareholders (state the information about the ownership interests and voting rights held by each individual);
   • Real Beneficiaries (provide the reason behind being Real Beneficiaries and the date they termed as one.
   • Directors and Nominee Directors.
   • And other important documents and UBO forms submitted to authorities.
2. Submitting undertaking to create the registry and ensure accuracy of data (which gives establishments with complex structures to start the procedures for determining their Ultimate Beneficial owner and keep their data in registers and also submit to their relevant Regulatory Authority.
3. Notify the relevant licensing authority of any amendment regarding the initial information given, provided within fifteen (15) days of such change or amendment.
4. Submitting the Ultimate Beneficial Owner declaration form in the systems of licensing authorities to avoid penalties

If entities failed to comply with the UBO Resolution, the UAE Ministry of Economy has announced major penalties for non-compliance to be imposed.

However, it has been assured by the ministry that, any data submitted will be kept with utmost confidentiality with no access to anyone for any purposes including the employees of the entity itself, except in case of an investigation and the required disclosure to specific official entities, according to strict internal policies and Regulations.

To submit your declaration please visit:

UBO

Before registering for the two stages, you must prepare the following:

• Authorization letter from the institution you represent (download the form).
• A copy of the passport, resident VISA, Emirates ID.
• A copy of the commercial trade license (for companies).
• Download the «Google Authenticator» application on the phone. (This application contains the password for the SACM protection system, which is a password that changes every minute)

• Combating money laundering practices and crimes
• Strengthening the efforts made by the concerned authorities to combat money laundering
• Combating terrorism financing and financing of suspicious organizations
• Avoid violating the law and register your establishment in the approved systems to combat money laundering.

Prevent money laundering risks and help combat financing of terrorism & illegal organizations

• Protect your investments and register your establishment in anti-money laundering systems to avoid penalties and fines.
• For more information, please visit the Ministry of Economy website.

www.economy.gov.ae

• Combating money laundering practices and crimes
• Strengthening the efforts made by the concerned authorities to combat money laundering
• Combating terrorism financing and financing of suspicious organizations
• Avoid violating the law and register your establishment in the approved systems to combat money laundering.

Prevent money laundering risks and help combat financing of terrorism & illegal organizations

• Protect your investments and register your establishment in anti-money laundering systems to avoid penalties and fines.
• For more information, please visit the Ministry of Economy website.

www.economy.gov.ae

Investores may use informal nominee arrangements through which friends, family members or associates allege to be the beneficial owners of corporate entities. This can be particularly challenging given the informal and private nature of such arrangements. Discovering informal ties between the real beneficial owner and the nominee where there is no formal document, nor other proof that joins them together would require investigative practices that are beyond the reach of most company registries. This issue can be at least partially addressed by placing obligations on the nominees to disclose to the company registry the identity of the person on whose behalf they are acting and enforcing sanctions for false declarations as provided by the UAE law governing beneficial ownership.

Obscuring the relationship between the beneficial owner and an asset differs from the establishment of complex ownership and control structures in that, rather than aiming to create distance via legal complexity, it attempts to create a false or misleading picture of the true ownership and control structure. Techniques most often used to achieve this include the use of formal and informal nominees.

Informal nominee shareholders and directors perform the same function as formal nominee service providers, however their connection with the true director, shareholder, or beneficial owner is often of a personal, rather than of a professional, nature. Informal nominees commonly include spouses, children, extended family, business associates (who are being controlled by the actual owner or controller of the company), and other personal associates otherwise unrelated to the beneficial owner’s business interests. The reliance on familial nominees may stem from the ease with which the true beneficial owner can control and manage their activities.

Indeed, the relationship between an informal nominee and the actual owner or controller of a company or shares can vary significantly. Law enforcement agencies and FIUs have reported instances where foreign students and tourists have been convinced or coerced into establishing companies on behalf of third parties, sometimes in exchange for nominal
payments or other personal benefits. These individuals are recorded as directors or controlling shareholders of these companies, however they are rarely involved in the operation of the company post-formation.

Unlike formal nominee arrangements, informal nominee arrangements will rarely be governed by a contractual agreement. Furthermore, while formal nominees will always seek to insulate themselves from the activities of the legal person or arrangement, informal nominees are more likely to declare to be the beneficial owner of the legal person or arrangement in an effort to maintain the fiction created by the true beneficial owner.