When talking about UAE many of you already know well that the UAE is one of the very useful and secure solutions for banking - be it corporate or private account. The country offers various banks with different services whereby you can open an account for residents as well as non-residents of the country. However, there are certain points to know to be able to use the banking services without any difficulties. Thus, we have combined some practical tips which you shall know to open your bank account in Dubai, UAE, and operate it without any difficulties.
- Know the list of documents and requirements. When you consider opening an account in the UAE, you need to know the documents you need to provide at the time of the account opening. Apart of the documents you also need be aware of other requirements of the bank. Thus, our tip – check the list of documents a particular bank would require from you before initiating the account opening process. The documents bank requires shall be in Arabic or English or translated to one of these languages.
- Make sure to have your necessary background/information. Each bank needs to know your professional and business background, the source and nature of funds which would come to your account and what type of activities are expected on the account. Our tip – provide the Dubai bank with all the applicable info at the time of account opening. Such info shall include your professional background and business experience, previous and current businesses, your business partners, etc. This would make your future banking operations easier, and you would not experience any difficulties as the bank would be informed in advance on the type and nature of your bank account transactions.
- Choose the right bank. When choosing a bank in Dubai do not follow the rules of account opening ease or other secondary factors. Such elements may be quite unimportant when compared with other factors, which you do not think about at the time of account opening, but which may become crucial for you later. Our tip – to omit any difficulties in the future make sure you put together all your real requirements and make sure to know if the bank can provide you with the services you need.
- If you need a corporate account – consider opening a local company. The UAE banking system is mostly designed for operations with private accounts or accounts of the companies registered in the UAE. Our tip – if you need an account in the UAE for a foreign entity – it would be much easier to open a daughter company in the UAE and open an account for it. Useful info to know - such company may be a free zone onshore company in the UAE which, apart of having a bank account in the UAE, can be efficiently used due to its special tax regime.
- Plan your visit and time to be spent in the UAE for account opening. If you decide to open an account without any assistance of some consulting company in the UAE – plan your tips in advance and schedule a necessary time to complete the account opening procedure. Our tip – the time which may be required from you if you handle the account opening yourself is 4 to 6 weeks thus plan it accordingly.
- If you want a personal account with minimum balance - consider UAE residency. Only a limited number of banks in the UAE offer account openings for UAE non-residents whereby such banks require certain minimum account balance. Our tip - if you have the UAE residency visa – your choice on the UAE banks becomes virtually unlimited, and you can open an account with a very low minimum balance.
- Fulfill the minimum balance requirements. As already mentioned above, each UAE bank has certain minimum account balance requirements means the certain amount of money shall be kept on your account all or most of the time. Our tip – this requirement is not just a formal thing, but the real requirement. You need to know - if you do not fulfill it – you can face certain difficulties in getting bank support, or your account can be simply closed by the bank. Thus, keep the required minimum balance on your account.
- Make at least some movements on the account at least once every six months. The UAE banking has some specifics in terms of dormant accounts. Means if your account has no movements whatsoever for the period of more than 6 months it can become dormant which results that you may need to come to the bank in person to re-activate your account. Our tip – the simple solution is just making some small transfers which can be absolutely minimal amount – say, for example, USD 10,-, before the each period of account inactivity for 6 months in order for the account not to become dormant.
- As long as you may need your account in Dubai – keep it valid. Opening new bank accounts in UAE and other countries becomes harder and harder from year to year. Banks keep strengthening their regulations for new accounts. Our tip: the regulations for the existing bank account do not change so much, thus, if you already have an account in the UAE, keep it alive as long as you may potentially need it.
- If you definitely do not need your account anymore – do not leave it open – close it. There may be the situation that you do not need your corporate or personal account in the UAE anymore. However, if you keep it open, you may end up accumulating certain negative balance/debt on it due to the yearly bank service charges. Our tip – do not just leave your account if you do to need it. You need to know that is it much safer to close it to omit possible future debts and obligations.
Hope the info we have compiled is useful for you. If you believe we did not cover some cases and the difficulties you face are not mentioned in our overview – please get in touch with us, and we send you the info you need.
