UAE has scrapped the need to have UAE nationals as sponsors, thus allowing expatriate investors 100 per cent ownership with effect from December 1, 2020.

The long-awaited 100 per cent ownership by foreign nationals of companies licensed and registered in the UAE is allowed as per Cabinet Resolution No. 16 of 2020.

The new law amended 51 articles and added new ones, mostly focusing on the regulation of provisions of establishing companies with limited liability shareholding. The amendments exempt expatriate investors from the minimum percentage ownership of UAE nationals.

As per the Commercial Companies Law, foreign shareholders were limited to owning a maximum 49 percent in a ‘limited liability company’ (LLC) operating as an onshore UAE business. This required an Emirati individual or 100 per cent Emirati-owned company to hold the balance 51 per cent share as a local sponsor.

The amended law allows natural and legal persons to establish companies without the need for a specific nationality. The law, however, will not apply to some companies that are excluded based on decisions by the Cabinet and those that are either wholly-owned by federal or local governments or their subsidiaries.