Quietly run by lawyers in DIFC. We file your company in any UAE Free Zone, on the UAE Mainland, in Singapore and Australia, or offshore in BVI, Cayman and Panama — at a fixed fee in USD, with a named partner on every matter.
We work the way the best private practices do — privately, attentively, and at speed. A single partner owns your file from enquiry to licence in hand.
Begin a private enquiry →Submit our enquiry form or write directly. A partner will respond within one business day with an initial structure note and an indicative fee schedule.
Sign our engagement letter. Upload passport, address proof and shareholder details to our secure client portal. We arrange notarisation and attestation.
Direct filing with IFZA, DMCC, DIFC, ADGM, ACRA Singapore, ASIC Australia, BVI FSC, CIMA or Registro Público. No sub-agents, no resold licences, no markups.
Trade licence, MOA and share certificate delivered. Introductions to two or more partner banks — local and international — with a prepared KYC pack.
The default for solo founders and small teams. Light, fast, low-friction.
The world's most-awarded free zone. Premium JLT address, strongest banking acceptance.
A premium Sheikh Zayed Road address. Fully digital licensing, strong fit for e-commerce.
The original UAE free zone. Port-adjacent, for logistics, trading and industrial activity.
English common-law jurisdiction. Preferred for VC-backed startups, holding cos and funds.
Common-law financial hub. Required for licensed financial services activity in the UAE.
DED LLC. Trade across the UAE without a distributor. Required for retail, F&B, government work.
ADDED LLC. Strongest fit for government contracting, oil & gas services, large local footprints.
Private Limited (Pte Ltd). The Asia-Pacific gateway. Strong tax treaties, blue-chip banking, fintech-friendly.
Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd). Onshore credibility, Pacific gateway, pathway to Business Innovation visa.
BVI Business Company — the global default for venture holding vehicles and joint ventures.
Cayman Exempted Company. The fund and feeder-vehicle standard for hedge and venture funds.
Panama Corporation. Territorial taxation, strong Latin-American banking access.
Dubai mainland virtual-asset regulator. Required for crypto issuance, exchange, custody and advisory operating from Dubai.
HK Limited company — for businesses where China nexus is genuinely decisive. SFC VASP and HKMA Stablecoin frameworks available.
All-in fees include government / regulator charges and ArxSetup professional fees for a single-shareholder structure, year one. Itemised quote provided on enquiry.
The BVI Business Company is the corporate vehicle your US, UK and Singaporean investors expect to see — every venture lawyer in San Francisco, London and Singapore has a BVI template on file. Tax-neutral, English common law, simple to maintain, and instantly recognised on a cap table. We file approximately 60% of our offshore work in BVI for this reason alone.
A side-by-side of the structures we are asked about most. For a tailored matrix against your activity, request a proposal.
| Feature | IFZA | DMCC | ADGM | Singapore | Australia | BVI | Cayman |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Free Zone | Free Zone | Free Zone | Onshore | Onshore | Offshore | Offshore |
| Time to licence | 5–7 days | 10–15 days | 2–4 weeks | 3–5 days | 1–3 days | 5–7 days | 7–10 days |
| Corporate tax | 0%* | 0%* | 0%* | 0–17% | 25–30% | 0% | 0% |
| Residency visa | Yes | Yes | Yes | EP path | 188 path | No | No |
| Tier 1 banking | High | Very high | Very high | Excellent | Excellent | Possible | Possible |
| Venture / fund use | Medium | High | Very high | Very high | High | Standard | Standard |
| Audit required | Optional | Yes | Yes | Conditional | Conditional | No | No |
| Local director | No | No | No | Required | Required | No | No |
| Min. capital | None | USD 13,600 | None | USD 1 | USD 1 | USD 1 | USD 1 |
| From | USD 10,120 | USD 17,800 | USD 26,500 | USD 3,500 | USD 1,800 | USD 4,200 | USD 10,500 |
* UAE Corporate Tax of 9% applies above USD 102,000 profit (AED 375,000) unless the company qualifies as a Qualifying Free Zone Person. Singapore and Australia require a local resident director, which ArxSetup can provide as a nominee service from USD 5,500 / year.
Our professional fee is separate from government and free-zone charges, which are passed through at cost and itemised in every quote. All fees in USD.
For solo founders, consultants and remote operators.
For operating businesses opening UAE banking and hiring a small team.
For holding structures, family offices, multi-jurisdiction groups and funds.
All retainers are quoted in writing before engagement. We do not commence work, and do not collect fees, until our engagement letter is countersigned.
Legal, accounting and compliance retainers — available standalone or alongside incorporation. Itemised pricing in USD, monthly billing.
Drafted by our in-house counsel. Tailored to your jurisdiction and activity.
UAE Corporate Tax, VAT, and bookkeeping handled by qualified accountants.
The recurring obligations that keep your licence in good standing.
Services may be retained standalone or bundled with incorporation. All fees are quoted in writing in USD. Volume discounts apply for multi-entity groups.
Request a service quoteUAE corporate banking has tightened materially. Our partners pre-screen your structure against each bank's risk appetite, prepare the KYC pack, and brief the relationship manager — so 98% of our clients open their first account on the first attempt.
We compared three setup houses. ArxSetup was the only one that advised us when not to incorporate offshore. That honesty earned us as clients.
IFZA licence in six days, Wio account open the week after. Compare that to the three months our previous agent quoted.
They structured our Singapore parent and ADGM operating company. Our Series A closed without a single legal-diligence comment on the corporate side.
Our Cayman Master/Feeder closed within seven weeks of engagement, including CIMA registration and the Section 4(3) exemption. The fund documentation pack was investor-grade out of the box.
They filed the Cayman Foundation, the BVI Issuer and the UAE operating company in parallel. Three weeks from kickoff to fully-wired token-launch architecture. Every Tier 1 exchange accepted the issuer first time.
Our family holding structure spans BVI, Cayman and ADGM. ArxSetup explained every choice in plain language, ran transparent fee budgets, and now coordinates the annual compliance across all three.
Don't see your question here? Our partners answer technical questions within one business day.
Ask a partner →Australia Pty Ltd: 1–3 days. Singapore Pte Ltd: 3–5 days. IFZA and Meydan: 5–7 days. DMCC: 10–15 days. JAFZA: 3–5 weeks. ADGM: 2–4 weeks. DIFC: 4–8 weeks (regulator dependent). Offshore (BVI, Cayman, Panama): 5–14 days.
All times are measured from the moment our KYC team clears your documents, not the day you first enquire.
Our files are run by qualified lawyers, not call-centre agents working from a template. Every matter has a named partner on the engagement letter who owns the file from enquiry to bank account. We don't sub-contract, we don't resell other agents' licences, and we don't quote a low headline fee and bill the difference later.
If price is the deciding factor for you, there are excellent volume agencies in the UAE — we will happily refer you. Our clients hire us because the cost of a structuring mistake, a rejected bank application, or a missed tax filing is materially greater than the difference in our fee.
No. The complete licence application can be done remotely from anywhere in the world, with notarised passport copies. A short visit of three to five days is required only when you want to issue a residency visa to yourself, attend Emirates ID biometrics, or meet a Tier 1 bank in person. Singapore and Australia can be incorporated entirely remotely.
Mainland. Choose this if you plan to sell directly into the UAE — retail, F&B, government work, healthcare, large-scale services.
Free zone. Choose this if you serve international clients or operate through a UAE distributor. 0% tax on qualifying income, 100% foreign ownership, simpler setup.
Offshore. Choose this if you are building a holding structure, IP vehicle, or non-resident SPV. No UAE residency, no UAE office, no UAE trading.
Singapore or Australia. Choose this if you serve Asia-Pacific clients, are raising from regional VCs, or want immigration optionality alongside a credible onshore licence.
9% applies to profits above USD 102,000 (AED 375,000). Qualifying Free Zone Persons may keep 0% on qualifying income, subject to substance tests and the de minimis rule on non-qualifying revenue. We assess your activity at enquiry stage and structure accordingly. We also handle CT registration and ongoing filings — see our Accounting & Tax services.
Once your licence is issued we prepare a bank-ready KYC pack — corporate structure chart, source-of-wealth narrative, expected transaction profile, and supporting evidence. We then introduce you directly to a named relationship manager at two or more partner banks matched to your structure. You meet the bank; we stay in the loop and unblock any follow-up.
Singapore and Australia are onshore jurisdictions with global treaty networks, top-rated banking, and strong investor familiarity — Pte Ltd and Pty Ltd are universally recognised structures. They also open immigration pathways (Singapore EP/EntrePass, Australia Subclass 188). UAE Free Zones still win on tax (0% qualifying) and speed, and they integrate with UAE residency. Many of our clients use both — Singapore parent, UAE operating.
BVI and Cayman are the global standard for venture-backed parent companies and fund vehicles — your investors' lawyers will already have their standard documents ready. They're also tax-neutral with no substance requirement beyond a registered agent. Singapore is onshore — higher trust but higher cost and substance obligations. Choose offshore for pure holding; choose Singapore for trading-on-trust structures.
Your partner remains on the file. We send proactive reminders for licence renewals, audit deadlines, ESR and CT filings, VAT, and immigration milestones. Optional retainers cover bookkeeping (from USD 475 per month), VAT filing, audit, PRO services, and visa renewals — see our Services section above.
Every member of the firm is subject to written confidentiality and AML obligations. Client documents are stored in a SOC 2 Type II-aligned environment located in the EU and UAE. We never share or sell data and we delete records on request after the regulatory retention period.
Submit our enquiry form or write directly. A partner will respond within one business day with a tailored structure note and an indicative fee schedule. There is no charge for the initial consultation.