Virtual Office is a concept meant for individuals or SMEs who wish to
keep costs as low as possible. It is designed for those in need of
accessibility to office space and business services as and when needed. A
virtual office set-up is a cost-effective solution for small businesses
planning to relocate their business or even for those planning to work
from home.
Virtual Office set up is a minimal set up that
provides the investor a business license to legally operate as a
business, open a corporate bank account and get a UAE residence visa.
Usually, virtual offices are set up by freelancers with limited
financial resources and minimal staff requirements. To put it in short,
Virtual office gives you the option of owning a prestigious business
address, without investing on traditional office space.
Location
Lately, Dubai has grown to be a popular jurisdiction in setting up virtual offices for businessmen and SMEs, aiming to support their business activities. However, Free Zones in Dubai, do not offer this type of set up. Dubai Free Zones require physical office space within the free zone boundaries, as they prefer established companies with solid track record, rather than individual small type investors. Hence, only Free Zones in the Northern Emirates offer the cost-effective minimal set-up of virtual office, with majority of them even having waived the share capital requirement.Just as the name indicates, Virtual Office comes without physical office space. But, as per the current laws in the UAE, it is mandatory for every business to have a commercial space. The free zones in Dubai that are offering Virtual Office set ups provide business centers with hot desks, wherein, the clients can visit as and when they wish, taking up whatever space is available at that time. In fact, some virtual offices at free zones also provide conference room facilities that can be hired on an hourly basis.
In a virtual office set-up, you can work either from your residence, or anywhere else, but, you are not allowed to use home/residential address in your business cards or on your website, as it is against the law.
Other Rules for a Virtual Office set-up
Every Free Zone operates by their own rules and regulations, and accepts tenants that are directly registered with them. In case you wish to switch from one free zone to another, the company will have to terminate the whole process, and will have to restart again with another free zone. Therefore, it would be good to have a clear idea of the business its expansion plans that you intend to do, and as to when it may outgrow the virtual set up.In case, your business activity has been registered as a service based business, you can work with any other company in the UAE (free zone or mainland). As per the law, if you own an E-Office Trading License, you may have to appoint a service agent, wherein 51% of that company will have to be owned by an Emirati. Thereafter you can event import/export goods within the UAE mainland.
Usually the free zone would require at least half a page description on the proposed business to check it complies with their respective regulations. While some only offer virtual office set ups for service companies, other offer E-Office Trading Solutions too.
Source : http://www.guide2dubai.com/business/virtual-office-dubai.asp
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