This page lists the primary sources Symbol Consulting works from — both in advisory practice and in the material published on this site — covering UAE company setup, corporate tax, banking and residency, and states what each one is used for. Naming the source behind a figure is a condition of publishing it here; for the working standard in full, see How We Prepare This Analysis.
Official and regulatory sources
- UAE Ministry of Economy: commercial companies framework, foreign-ownership rules and the wider business-regulation context.
- Federal Tax Authority (FTA): Corporate Tax and VAT — registration thresholds and deadlines, the Qualifying Free Zone Person regime, filing obligations and penalties, via the EmaraTax platform and FTA decisions.
- DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre): the common-law regime, its regulator and registrar, and fund, foundation and company structures within the centre.
- ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market): the Abu Dhabi common-law jurisdiction, its direct application of English law, and its SPV, holding and foundation regimes.
- GDRFA and ICP (Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security): residency and visa rules, including Golden and Green visa criteria and Emirates ID procedure.
- Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE): bank licensing, KYC/AML expectations, corporate account-opening rules and the fintech and payment-services framework.
- WAM (Emirates News Agency): official government announcements and the confirmed text of decisions and appointments.
- Free-zone authorities — DMCC, IFZA, JAFZA, RAKEZ: licence types, cost structures, ownership and activity rules specific to each free zone.
Legal instruments
Where a rule rests on a specific instrument — a Federal Decree-Law, a Cabinet Decision, a Ministerial Decision or an FTA decision — we work from the official text on the government legislation portal, not from an uncontrasted third-party summary. Corporate Tax, Small Business Relief, the Qualifying Free Zone Person regime and the Personal Data Protection Law are each grounded in their named instrument.
Secondary sources, used with care
Analyses from established professional firms and the specialised economic press are used only as contextual reference, and only where a figure can be traced back to a primary source. A number that circulates across several outlets without any of them identifying its origin is treated as unverified.
How volatile data is re-verified
Certain figures change frequently and date fast: penalty amounts, visa salary thresholds, free-zone licence costs and practical bank-account timelines. Before each publication or relevant update, we check these again against the most recent primary source available; we do not automatically reuse a figure from an earlier piece. When the available data is not current as of the publication date, we say so and state the data’s origin date.