Practical guide
Share transfer
Changing shareholders is a licence amendment, not a private agreement. It requires an amended memorandum, notarisation for mainland companies, authority approval, and — where a shareholder holds a visa through the company — an immigration file adjustment.
In practice
Transferring shares in a UAE company
Why the private agreement is not enough
A share purchase agreement between the parties records what you intend. The company is not changed until the licensing authority's register is changed, and until then the outgoing shareholder remains the shareholder of record for every purpose that matters — banking, liability and tax.
The immigration consequence
If the outgoing shareholder holds a residence visa sponsored through their shareholding, that visa is affected. Sequencing the transfer and the visa change in the wrong order can leave somebody without valid status.
- Mainland
- Amended MOA, notarised, with authority approval
- Free zone
- Zone-specific process, generally with board and shareholder resolutions
- Bank
- Must be notified; mandates and signatories usually need updating
- UBO register
- Must be updated within the prescribed window
- Corporate tax
- Ownership changes can affect group and loss positions
- Timeline
- Two to six weeks depending on the authority
The sequence
How it runs.
Agree terms and price
Including what happens to any shareholder loans, which are separate from shares.
Obtain any pre-emption waivers
The MOA or shareholders' agreement may give existing shareholders first refusal.
Prepare and notarise the amendment
Mainland transfers are notarised; free zones use their own forms.
Update the authority and the UBO register
The transfer is effective on the register, not on signature.
Update bank mandates and visas
In that order, and before the outgoing shareholder leaves.
Questions
Through a formal amendment to the company's constitutional documents, approved by the licensing authority. For mainland companies this involves a notarised amended MOA; free zones have their own process. A private agreement alone does not transfer ownership.
Typically two to six weeks depending on the authority, and longer if a corporate shareholder's documents need attestation.
Yes, where a shareholder holds their visa through the shareholding. Sequence the transfer and the visa changes carefully so nobody is left without valid status.
One question
Where are you in this?
Then this is the cheap moment to get it right. Structure, jurisdiction and activity codes are the decisions that are expensive to reverse once a bank account and six visas hang off them.
Answer five questionsOr just ask usMost of what goes wrong at this stage is a document mismatch rather than a refusal — the wrong activity on the licence, an unattested certificate, a name that does not match the trade. Usually fixable faster than it looks.
Tell us what is stuckOr just ask usWe quote a single all-in figure with every government fee itemised beside our own, before you commit to anything. No commission from any authority.
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