HOW TO OPEN BANK ACCOUNT IN UAE

Expatriates in the UAE often wonder how to open a personal bank account in Dubai or UAE without any hassle and most importantly quicker, easier and flexible. The process is quite simple and straight forward for those who are currently holding UAE residency visa. They can visit any of the bank’s branches and the account can be opened within 4-5 days.

But what if the person does not hold the residency visa from any of the Emirates (AbuDhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, RAS-Al- Khaimah, UMM Al quwain)?

There are many websites and online forums that discuss such details when it comes to opening a bank account in Dubai for non residents and most of them offer ambiguous and uncertain answers. It is very important to address these concerns.

Firstly, yes it is possible to open a personal account in UAE for non-residents. But, be aware to face certain restrictions and the waiting period for such accounts may extend up to several weeks/months. Non-residents will have to keep in mind the following limitations:

• He/she can only open the savings account; therefore, you are not entitled for a Cheque book facility.
• You will not be able to get a personal loan from the bank.
• No Credit card facilities in general; there are very few banks which may consider providing credit card by making high security deposit in the account.
• Initial Deposits for non-residents are very high
• Many banks might ask you to provide a letter of recommendation from a current UAE resident.
• It is worth noting that not all UAE banks render services to non-residents on opening personal account.
• Sharia law is applicable in regard to inheritance of your personal assets. The Bank account will be frozen incase of any unfortunate circumstances.

In order to overcome the above limitation & restrictions, most people wisely prefer to have a corporate bank account in Dubai for privacy and protection of assets; (Unlike person, the company never dies). The Corporate bank account is possible through Onshore or Offshore Company in UAE. If you haven’t incorporated a company in the Emirates, but you would like to open a bank account in Dubai, it would be a quick and smooth process to achieve the same by incorporating an offshore company. Such account can be facilitated for personal assets protection and also for business operations.

Being the registered agents and with the team of asset managers, business consultants; we can help you to set up a suitable offshore company within a significantly short period of time. There are various offshore jurisdictions like RAKIA, JAFZA, RAK FTZ & Ajman. The Company setup including its operation costs is kept as minimum by the Government. Offshore bank accounts provide you with numerous advantages like Internet banking, Asset protection, family wealth protection, Tax optimization, 100% repatriation of capital and profits, Own/lease real estate properties in UAE, intellectual property & other rights, etc….

To sum up, if you are looking to have one account, we Flying Colour Business Setup Services would be obliged to serve you.