Company Registration in Fujairah Creative City Free Zone - Business Starting & Setup

The new free zone Fujairah Creative City was founded in 2007 and is primarily focused on the creation of service companies and media business companies. The emirate of Fujairah is located on the shores of the Gulf of Oman of the Indian Ocean, 150 km off Dubai. An international airport and one of the largest ports in the UAE contributed to the dynamic development of this emirate and made it possible to create optimal environment for attracting investors from all over the world.

Fujairah Creative City offers a wide selection of options both in terms of type of licence for companies and visa packages for company employees.

• Can use Latin characters.
• Must not be identical or similar to the name of an existing company.
• Must have an ending indicating the legal form (“FZE”).

Company registration in Fujairah Creative City includes the following steps:

1. Select a company name to be checked for availability (at least 2 names), the structure of the company (directors, members) and type of licence (Broadcasting, Media and Marketing, Publishing, Event Management, Media Support Services, New Media Services, Consultancy, Business InfoPay fees for services;rmation, Production, Music & Entertainment, Information Technology, Design, Education);
2. Pay fees for services;
3. Provide the documents for directors / shareholders / attorneys (either originals or notarized copies);
4. Prepare and submit a set of documents for company registration, get the documents signed by the officers and shareholders of the company;
5. Receive the certificate of registration, articles and seal in the specified address.

The UAE does not have public company registries that would contain details of shareholders or directors. Information about free zone companies can only be obtained at the request of a local court.

The register of shareholders and directors of the company is not accessible to third parties.

Upon registration the company and the Free Zone administration necessarily sign an office lease agreement. The address of such office is considered the official registered office address of the company. At the same time, the company is free to rent additional offices, industrial premises or warehouses in the territory of free zone.

Companies are required to have a common seal.

The redomiciliation of companies either to or from the UAE is permitted.

The director (manager) can only be an individual, the minimum number of directors is one. Directors are required to obtain a UAE residence visa.

Directors’ details are submitted to the Free Zone administration, but are not accessible to third parties.

The secretary can only be an individual. Can be the same person as director.

If the secretary is not specifically indicated when filing a company registration application, the first director is assumed to act as secretary.

Details of the secretary are not accessible to public.

The minimum number of members/shareholders in the company is 1. They can be individuals or legal entities, and there are no residency requirements.

Fujairah Creative City does not require a local shareholder in the company’s structure.

If the shareholder is an individual, then such a person must be over 21 years old.

Despite that many jurisdictions consider creating a public register of beneficial owners, the UAE does not have one yet. This means that there is no open access to the beneficial ownership information. It is stored by a service provider, namely a company registration agent, trustees, lawyers, accountants and other professionals, subject to strict confidentiality. Information about the beneficial owner can only be disclosed to regulatory authorities (for example, during inspections for its availability) or by court order.

Fujairah Creative City does not have minimum share capital requirement.