Renowned relocation strategist and YouTuber Toumas Kijova sat down with GenZone co-founders Kevin McKenzie and Shayan Nasiri for an in-depth Q&A on moving to Dubai and building a business in the UAE.
Toumas has extensively documented his own move from Finland to Dubai on his channel, and after receiving hundreds of questions from his audience about relocation, company formation, and taxes, he decided to put them directly to the experts he works with rather than answering them himself.
In this conversation, Kevin and Shayan break down the entire journey: the realistic four-week timeline from company registration to residency and banking, the real difference between free zone and mainland companies, how the UAE’s 9% corporate tax actually works, what it takes to become a UAE tax resident, and why simply registering a Dubai company while living abroad doesn’t legally reduce your taxes.
They also share the costly mistakes they made during their own moves from Canada, the income level at which relocating starts to make financial sense, and what daily life in Dubai is really like for entrepreneurs and families.
Note: This interview was recorded in 2024. UAE tax and licensing rules have evolved since then, so wherever something has changed, you’ll find a 2026 Update note in the relevant section, and a dedicated 2026 section at the end covering GenZone’s newest services. Watch the full interview below.
Meet the founders
Toumas: Before we start, why don’t you introduce yourselves?
Shayan Nasiri: Thank you for having me. My name is Shayan, I’m a partner consultant at GenZone.
Kevin McKenzie: And my name is Kevin. I’m also a partner consultant here at GenZone, where we help people relocate from whatever country to the UAE, specifically the best city in the world, Dubai. It’s full of opportunities, the quality of life is really nice, and honestly, if you’re a business person with an online or even in-person business, it just makes sense to move here.
Both founders relocated from Canada, where combined tax rates can exceed 50% for top earners. Toumas himself made the move from Finland via the UK, another jurisdiction where entrepreneurs routinely hand over close to half of what they earn.
Why entrepreneurs are leaving high-tax countries for Dubai
Toumas: I think that’s the best way to describe Dubai, it just makes a lot of practical sense. If you have an online business and you’re sitting in the UK or Finland paying all these taxes, you look at Dubai and think: I can have 0% or 9% tax while having the lifestyle, the weather, everything. That’s why I personally moved here, and now a lot of my friends are moving with me as they see the benefits.
Kevin: It’s a business decision at the end of the day. You’re going to save a lot of money moving here. You might think it’s expensive to live in Dubai, but it’s not. It’s actually cheaper than major cities like London, New York, or Toronto, and you’re saving so much money in taxes.
Shayan: And a point most people don’t think about: not only are you saving that money in taxes, but you’re also getting the opportunity to invest it today and let it compound. “If you invest 100K of tax savings, that money in 40 or 50 years could be millions, depending on your investment. It’s not just the tax savings, it’s the growth on that.”
The founders also pointed to where tax money goes in the West. Government departments are often incentivized to spend their full budgets or lose them the following year, meaning much of what high earners pay in is used inefficiently. As Kevin put it, when you’re paying 40 to 50% tax, “you have a secret business partner, and in some cases they own more of your business than you do.”
Kevin: Honestly, even if Dubai had the same taxes as Canada, I would still move here. The weather is gorgeous year-round, and if you’re in the business space, the networking opportunities are just so good. You’re surrounded by other entrepreneurs who can help you get where you want to be.
The setup process: how long does it actually take?
Toumas: Let’s say I’m sitting in Canada or the UK and I want to move to Dubai. What does that process look like, and how long does it take?
Kevin: It’s a very straightforward process if you do it the right way. Roughly:
- Week 1: Register your business
- Week 2: Your entry permit is issued (you can start all of this from abroad, you don’t need to be in the UAE)
- Week 3: Once you’re in the country, complete your residency process: medical appointment, biometrics, then your Emirates ID is issued
- Week 4: Open your bank accounts
“In total I would say four weeks including banking. However, if you make mistakes, it could be a lot longer.”
Shayan: The delays you hear about, people taking months to move here, only happen when it’s not done the first time properly. We’ve had clients whose business was registered in the wrong place entirely. There’s no way to simply transfer a company from one jurisdiction to another; you have to shut it down and set up a totally new one, paying all those expenses again. “It’s so important to do it right the first time.”
Toumas shared his own cautionary tale: when he first moved, nobody told him he couldn’t leave the UAE while his residency application was processing. He arrived at the airport for a flight back to London and was turned away at the border, costing him a rebooked flight, an extra hotel stay, and VIP processing fees.
A single piece of missing advice cost him over $1,000. By his own estimate, he spent 200 to 300 hours researching the process himself; with the right consultant guiding him, it would have taken less than five.
Opening bank accounts in Dubai
Toumas: You mentioned banking. What’s the process to open a bank account, both personally and for the business?
Kevin: We have an expert banking team that handles the entire process. For a personal account, we have a personal banker at Emirates NBD who will open your account in literally one session, around 30 minutes. By the time you leave, you’ll have your account open and your banking details, and the physical card will be delivered a couple of days later. With digital banks, it can all be done online.
For business banking, whether it’s Wio Bank, RAKBANK, Emirates NBD, or Emirates Islamic, we have a streamlined process where the whole thing usually takes about a week. “If you were to try to do this alone with conventional banks, it could sometimes take months.”
Both founders, and Toumas, described the DIY banking experience the same way: repeated branch visits, missing-document runarounds, and slow processing because the bank has no relationship with you. Shayan: “That’s exactly why we got into this business. Nobody on the market provided the experience we wanted when we moved, so we came into the space to provide that Western-style, one-stop-shop service.”
2026 Update: Banking for new UAE residents has become noticeably easier, particularly with digital-first banks. GenZone now has a formal VIP onboarding partnership with Wio Bank, and has opened over 2,500 client bank accounts to date. The core advice stands: your company setup determines whether banks will approve you, so structure it correctly before you apply.
Free zone vs mainland: which company type do you need?
Toumas: One thing people are confused about is the two types of businesses, free zone and mainland. What’s the difference?
Kevin: The key difference is that a mainland company is the only one allowed to do physical commercial business in the mainland. A barbershop, a retail store, anything with a physical storefront needs a mainland licence.
But one big misconception is that free zone companies can’t offer services to the mainland. That’s incorrect. “As long as it’s a professional service, say you have a consulting business and a mainland client wants your services, that’s totally okay.”
Most people register in a free zone because the cost is much lower. A mainland company must rent a physical office, which is an annual cost, not a one-time fee, while a free zone setup includes a flexi-desk arrangement.
Shayan: “If you have an online business or a professional service, the free zone is totally the right fit.”
2026 Update: The rules here have moved further in favor of free zone companies. In March 2025, Dubai’s Executive Council issued Resolution No. 11 of 2025, which, for the first time, allows free zone companies to operate in mainland Dubai through a DET-issued branch license (AED 10,000/year), a dual license operating from the free zone, or a temporary permit for specific activities (AED 5,000, up to six months).
The Department of Economy and Tourism published the list of eligible activities in September 2025. In short, the free-zone vs. mainland decision is now even more flexible: a free zone company can start lean and add mainland access later without restructuring. Talk to the GenZone team about whether your activity qualifies.
The 9% corporate tax, explained
Toumas: What’s the deal with the 9% corporate tax?
Kevin: The general idea is that the 9% corporate tax applies to business profits above AED 375,000 (around $102,000). But what a lot of people don’t know is that there’s a Small Business Relief: if your business does less than AED 3 million in revenue, and that’s revenue, not profit, you can elect to be exempt from corporate tax entirely.
Shayan: And you have to claim it, it’s not automatic. You need proper bookkeeping and accounting in place, and you elect the relief at the end of the year. Also important: “you have to register for corporate tax no matter what, whether you’re making one dollar or ten million dollars. People get confused because VAT has a registration threshold; corporate tax doesn’t. If you don’t register, you can get fined.”
Kevin: And even if you do pay the 9%, it’s only on profit above the threshold. If you made $200K net profit, your effective rate works out closer to 4.5%, not a full 9%. You can also deduct a reasonable salary for yourself under the arm’s-length principle.
Can you keep living in Canada and pay 0% tax through a Dubai company?
Toumas: People often ask: can you form a company in Dubai at 0% tax but keep living in, say, Canada?
Shayan: You can physically do it, but you cannot legally reduce your taxes that way. If you’re living in Canada and controlling a Dubai company from Canada, that company is treated as a Canadian company. “You’re illegally avoiding taxes, and it’s a sour pill for people once you tell them.”
Toumas: The way I explain it: a company isn’t necessarily taxed where it’s registered, it’s taxed where it’s managed and controlled. A company can be born in the UAE, but if it lives in Canada, Canada will tax it like any other Canadian company. Western governments figured out this loophole long ago; everyone would just register in the Cayman Islands.
Kevin: Exactly. Where you live, where you’re tax resident, is where you’re taxed. If you’re the sole shareholder, your company will be taxed in the jurisdiction where you have tax residency. That’s why the move itself matters.
How many days do you need in the UAE to be a tax resident?
Toumas: How long does someone need to spend in the UAE to be considered a tax resident?
Kevin: There are two types of tax residency certificates:
- 90 days physically present in the UAE (with a UAE company or residence) gets you a domestic tax residency certificate.
- 183 days, six months, gets you an international tax residency certificate, which is what’s used for double-tax-treaty purposes if, say, Canada tries to claim you as a tax resident.
Shayan: If you go the 90-day route, it’s really important not to spend too much time in any other single country. If you spend 3 months in Dubai and then 5 months in Finland, the Finnish authorities will reasonably ask why you shouldn’t be taxed there.
Toumas: Often, it’s more important to make sure you’re non-resident in your home country than it is to be resident in Dubai. It all starts with properly exiting your previous tax system, then you establish your ties here. You need a holistic approach.
Kevin: And that’s exactly how we work. We’re not just a business setup company; we can give you the framework and put you in touch with vetted tax experts from your own country to make sure your exit is done properly and legally.
How much should you be earning before Dubai makes sense?
Toumas: People ask: how much should you be making before you move to Dubai?
Kevin: Purely as a tax decision, I’d say around $70,000 a year is where it at least breaks even. But personally, I’d still move here at $50K as an entrepreneur, because I know I’d make more money here through the network alone.
Toumas: What I like about Dubai is you can almost curate your reality, live very cheaply or go full luxury. The math starts making real sense around $6,000 to $8,000 a month, and above $10K a month it makes a lot of sense. And whatever you think you’re losing, like “free” healthcare back home, you can buy back with your tax savings, at higher quality, and still come out far ahead.
Kevin: If you’re making $200K in a high-tax country, you might be handing over $70,000 or more of it. That’s money that could be compounding for you instead.
Lifestyle, safety, and moving with a partner
Toumas: Can you move here with your significant other if you’re not married?
Shayan: Absolutely. Dubai is very progressive. A lot of clients assume you can’t move in with your partner unless you’re married, and that’s simply not the case. You can dress how you want, go to clubs, and drink if you’re not Muslim. “Dubai is like the West without all the problems of the West, with amazing weather and 0% personal income tax.”
Kevin: And without the crime. Everyone here made an active decision to improve their lives and grow their businesses. You’re surrounded by growth-minded people. We’ve helped many families relocate, not just individuals, and we haven’t had a single client who regrets moving here.
The founders also confirmed you don’t have to live in the same emirate where your company is registered. You can register your free zone company in Dubai (which they recommend) and live in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, or Ras Al Khaimah. And Dubai’s location is a genuine lifestyle asset: you’re a short flight from Europe, Asia, and Africa, so many residents use Dubai as their base and travel during the hottest summer months, while keeping their UAE tax residency, as long as they follow the day-count rules above.
Toumas: One thing I’ll add, I moved here as soon as I left my 9-to-5, and I still wish I’d moved sooner. As soon as I went all-in on my business from here, it started skyrocketing. Seeing the sun every single day, the skyline, the people around you, it pushes you to keep going.
2026 Updates: What’s new at GenZone
Since this conversation, GenZone has grown from a Dubai business setup consultancy into a full international structuring partner, trusted by 3,000+ entrepreneurs, with over 1,100 companies formed and 2,500+ bank accounts opened. Two developments in particular deserve their own section.
US LLC formation for non-resident entrepreneurs
Alongside Dubai company formation, GenZone now helps non-resident entrepreneurs set up US LLCs, the go-to structure for founders anywhere in the world who need access to US payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, US business bank accounts, and the credibility of an American business entity.
The service covers the full journey: LLC formation, EIN registration, ITIN processing (over 600 ITINs issued to date), and US banking approvals. For many clients, a Dubai company and a US LLC work together, with the Dubai structure providing residency and tax efficiency and the US LLC providing frictionless global payments.
GenZone LaunchPad
In June 2026, GenZone announced the GenZone LaunchPad, a first-of-its-kind digital platform that unifies Dubai company formation and US LLC setup into a single client portal. Every stage of the journey, company formation, visa and residency applications, banking setup, corporate tax registration, and ongoing compliance, license renewals, is tracked in real time, in one place, with real advisors behind every step.
As Kevin McKenzie put it at the announcement: “The GenZone LaunchPad represents everything we’ve perfected operationally, brought together in a platform that gives clients transparency, control, and confidence.”
For existing clients, GenZone LaunchPad means every document, renewal date, and compliance deadline lives in one dashboard. For new clients, it means the four-week process described in this interview is now even more transparent than when Kevin and Shayan first mapped it out.
Ready to make the move?
The core message of this interview holds: Dubai remains one of the most practical places in the world for entrepreneurs to base themselves, but the difference between a four-week setup and a four-month headache is doing it right the first time.
Book a free consultation with the GenZone team to talk through your situation: your business, your home-country exit, your residency plan, and whether a Dubai company, a US LLC, or both is the right structure for you.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. UAE tax rules, including Small Business Relief, which expires for tax periods ending after 31 December 2026, are subject to change. Always confirm your position with a qualified adviser for your specific circumstances.