Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

I'm in a dilemma. A friend of mine lives in Dubai and wants to start a consultancy business in the rak free zone. He lacks the qualification to receive the license necessary. So he ask me (I live in US) to see if he can appoint me as manager of his business and therefore piggyback on my business degree. The process will require that I submit copy of my passport info and degree to rakftz.com (looks legit website). I like to help my friend and return a previous favor, but I'm just very nervous about sending passport info to another part of the world that I completely don't know much about and I apologize for being so naive, but I want to be safe and last thing I need is fraudulent activities that will put big liabilities on my name in another part of the world. I do trust my friend to a certain degree and I know he won't try to intentionally harm me, but I'm just not so sure exactly how to protect myself if anything goes wrong?

If anyone can offer an opinion as to how safe info is kept by official offices in Dubai and how serious they treat attempted misuse of information, it would go a long way for me to decide whether to help my friend or not. Thanks in advance.

ck3908 wrote:I'm in a dilemma. A friend of mine lives in Dubai and wants to start a consultancy business in the rak free zone. He lacks the qualification to receive the license necessary. So he ask me (I live in US) to see if he can appoint me as manager of his business and therefore piggyback on my business degree. The process will require that I submit copy of my passport info and degree to rakftz.com (looks legit website). I like to help my friend and return a previous favor, but I'm just very nervous about sending passport info to another part of the world that I completely don't know much about and I apologize for being so naive, but I want to be safe and last thing I need is fraudulent activities that will put big liabilities on my name in another part of the world. I do trust my friend to a certain degree and I know he won't try to intentionally harm me, but I'm just not so sure exactly how to protect myself if anything goes wrong?

If anyone can offer an opinion as to how safe info is kept by official offices in Dubai and how serious they treat attempted misuse of information, it would go a long way for me to decide whether to help my friend or not. Thanks in advance.

In UAE they aske you for your passport information for anything "official", including getting a phone number!

The other part of your question: My opinion: don't do it. Think about it you will be "misrepresenting" your affiliation. What sort of sympathy will go get when you claim someone screwed you and you were trying to "screw" the authorities when you have nothing to do with the business.

Sounds shady...

Effectively, the shady party here would be your friend and his intentions for the license, and NOT the government-owned RAK Free Trade Zone. In my understanding, anyone can open a business, but specific qualifications are needed only for consultancies.

jeez .... i must have drafted at least 4 replies to this query and each time it get more complicated!

yes, you concerns are legitimate. the RAK FZ is also legitimate.

what they are proposing is not entirely legitimate , it is theoretically possible... but you would have to be employed by the company for it to be legitimate, for this to happen you have to actually physically be in RAK, with your passport. you would have to at least visit to clear up the residency and labour card formalities. for example, your passport cannot take the prerequisite medical exam for you, niether can a stand-in as your photo is in your passport.

in real terms you have to visit to complete the formailities, you could then leave and return to the states and the company could continue trading without anyone being any the wiser ... although if you are out of the country for a period longer than 6 months your residency expires!!!

the whole issue needs to be thought through properly and planned properly before continueing

btw your friend can apply for a commercial license rather than a consulting one and they wont require him to have a degree then.

rakftz.com is correct website.

RAKFTZ were more flexible with "consultancies" when they started up but have become more strict due to dodgy setups like your friend is trying to do.

much appreciated.

I've decided not to do it.

By the way, the setup proposed by my friend appear to be at the recommendation of the legal reps at the rak free zone. I know he had spoken to the representatives to find a solution and that is what they recommended. Nevertheless, I decided to email the rak free zone anonymously to see what they would recommend and the customer/inquiry department haven't responded to several of my inquiries. I figure if I can't get a reply from them directly, it is going to be a massive headache if something goes wrong and I need to contact them directly and they are so unresponsive.

thanks all for your input.