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I'm confused between commerical, professional and service.

It'll be a joint venture with an Emirati citizen. In Sharjah. And our primary income will be from advertisements on the website.


Thanks for the advise, folks!

do you have to host it in the UAE?

To actually have the website up and running you don't really need a license from anyone even if you are hosting it in the UAE. If you will be mainly dependant on international traffic and ad network programs for ad revenue then you don't need a legal entity in the UAE since your payments will come from US/Europe companies who don't really require a legal entity. You could have the checks written to a person or a company.

But if you will be dealing with companies in the UAE then you will need to have a company registered here and a bank account. You can register as a local entity at the Dubai Economic Department since you have an Emirati Partner, or you could opt for a freezone entity at one of the many freezones (Hamriyah in sharjah, Dubai Silicon Oasis, etc .. )

I am not sure about the process of registering a business in Sharjah but its probably better (more efficient) to register it in Dubai.

good luck !