the message board for Dubai English speaking community
vk101 wrote:Thanks for the tips. One business prospect that I've been asked about getting involved with is an online niche job board. My question is with regards to whether it would even need to be registered in Dubai.
no; you don't have to be registred in the UAE - although there are already a number of on-line placement agencies (for dubai), most are viewed with a deal of scepticism if they do not have a local office - jobsindubai being one - postal addess and web is registred in canada.
If it's not based in the UAE, and all that's happening is employers in the niche it's operating in were to pay online to post a job, would it even need to be registered? If not, I wouldn't want the hassle of a 51% UAE National partner, and it seems to be difficult to get into a free zone (to avoid the 51% problem).
not difficult at all, costly yes
I think it'd be the same case as if you were sitting in North America and owning/running an Ebay business that sold exclusively to customers in Dubai - those customers would use their credit cards to pay you, you'd ship to them, and you wouldn't be registered in Dubai or UAE. The differences in this case are no physical goods are being shipped (because the product is a niche job posting), your customers aren't individuals but rather hiring companies, and it's not Ebay but your own website.
What conditions need to be met for a company to require registration in the UAE or Dubai specifically?