Start a Business in the UAE in 30 Days

A first-time founder's playbook for setting up a company in the UAE in a planned 30 days, written as a week-by-week plan with decision tables and worksheets. '30 days' is a planning target that you test against real quotes, not a promise: approvals and timelines vary by emirate and authority, and the playbook says so.

What is inside

• 57 pages in 10 chapters: test the idea and set your limits; the first decisions (activity, customers, owners, name, location); mainland, free zone and other routes as decision tables; applications and approvals in a general sequence with a tracker; bank account, visas, insurance and company documents; accounting and tax set-up; money before revenue; first customers and the first invoice; your compliance calendar; and the 30-day plan with a slip plan.
• A day-by-day table for days 1 to 30, with a task, an owner and the evidence to keep for each day.
• Cost worksheet, six-month cash plan and runway arithmetic, with a worked example for a made-up start-up.
• 23 fill-in worksheets with model answers (Word and PDF): idea test, afford-to-lose, quote comparison, route scoring, bank readiness, VAT watch, price floor, compliance calendar and decision record.
• A bank of 66 questions grouped by who you ask: licensing consultant, bank, landlord, accountant, lawyer and insurer (Word).
• 'Verify the current rule' callouts that name who to ask: the authority, your PRO, the FTA, your accountant or your lawyer.

Facts it states Only well-established VAT points: 5% VAT, the AED 375,000 mandatory and AED 187,500 voluntary registration thresholds, the 30-day window to apply, the 28th-day return deadline and the 14-day tax invoice rule. For corporate tax it says only that a federal tax exists and is administered by the FTA. It gives no government or free zone fee, capital figure, visa quota or processing time. Every such number in the examples is a made-up figure or a blank for you to fill from a quote.

Who it is for Founders, people leaving employment to start a business, and owners restructuring. No accounting knowledge is needed.

What it is NOT: it is not legal, tax, immigration or accounting advice, it does not tell you what any rule, fee or deadline is for your case, it promises no result, and it leads to no exam or certificate. UAE rules change, so every rule outside a small set of well-established VAT and employment points is sent to the official source or your adviser. All companies and figures are made up. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government body, bank or platform.

Requirements: a PDF reader and Word or a compatible editor. Version 1.0, written November 2026. Single business use.