Settling in Dubai — questions

I'm in my third year living in Dubai as an expat employee, and the posts I'd been keeping an eye on last year seem a bit out of step with now. Curious what the mood is around registering a business these days.

I'm looking into setting up a consulting company on the side while keeping my job. I'm curious whether anyone has done the paperwork and gone through it alone without an agency, and I also can't tell whether free zone or mainland is better. I'm planning to start without much initial capital.

Business hasn't gone well so I want to wind up the company, but people around me say the closure process is more complicated and slower than you'd think. If anyone has actually been through it, I'd like to know how it goes and how you handled the tax and visa side.

I'm thinking about setting up a company in DMCC and I heard the number of visas you get depends on the type of office. I can't tell whether it's fine to start with a flexi-desk, or whether you have to expand to a bigger office later to get more visas. There's a lot I'm unclear on about tax and selling into the mainland too.

I want to do consulting-ish work online on my own and I can't tell whether it's better to start with a free zone licence or go mainland. Most of my clients are on the Korean side so there'd be almost no local sales.

Right now I just work as a freelancer making online course content, and I'm confused about whether a freelance visa is enough to get established in Dubai or whether I need to set up a company separately. Most of my income comes in through overseas platforms.

I'm setting up a one-person consulting company and I'm confused about the order of applying for the licence versus opening the account. People around me say open the account first, and some posts say the licence comes first, so I don't know which is correct. Anyone who's done it, please tell me the order.

I've read a bunch of posts and I still don't get the practical difference between a free zone and a mainland company. I want to start a small consulting business and I can't work out which one fits. Would appreciate advice from anyone with experience.

I want to run a consulting business online on my own and I can't figure out whether to go free zone or mainland. Most of my clients are going to be in Korea.

I got my free zone licence last year and almost blew past the renewal date, and this time my paperwork is running late again. Is it fine if the renewal is a few days late, or does a penalty hit right away? Anyone who's been through this?

I want to work solo doing consulting — has anyone researched and gone through a free zone licence themselves? I'd like to hear from someone who did it DIY without an agent. I heard the paperwork and process are more complicated than expected, so I want a sense of it in advance.

I started as a small free zone company and my revenue has gone up a bit recently. I've been getting Small Business Relief, and I heard that once you cross the threshold you can't go back even if revenue drops again later, which worries me. Has anyone actually been through this?

I'm preparing to start a business and I'm torn between mainland and a free zone, but everyone just says they each have pros and cons, so I can't decide. I'm thinking consulting for the line of business — advice from people with experience on which is better, please.

I'm preparing to settle in Dubai after retirement and run a small business. An acquaintance who came over earlier says corporate tax has only just started, but what I've heard is that it depends on your financial year. Everything I hear from different places contradicts itself and it's confusing. Could someone lay out exactly when corporate tax starts applying?

안녕하세요. 부모님이랑 같이 알아보고 있는데, 두바이에서 몇 개월 먼저 살아보면서 회사 설립 쪽 상황을 보려고 해요. 유학 준비랑도 같이 맞물려서 고민이 많아요. 혹시 짧게라도 먼저 가서 살아보신 분들 계시면 조언 부탁드립니다.

I'm preparing to start a consulting business on my own in Dubai, but there are so many free zones I don't know what to look at first. I don't have anyone around me to ask, so I'm asking here. Advice from anyone with experience, please.

I want to quit my current job and keep doing consulting as a freelancer, but I don't know whether the licence comes first or the office lease. I already have residency through my spouse's visa so that part is fine, but the rest is a blank.

주재원 발령이 나서 두바이로 가게 됐는데 아이 학년 때문에 시기가 걸려서 고민이 많습니다. 배우자가 같이 가서 현지에서 사업을 시작할지도 알아보라고 하는데, 한국이랑 세금 체계가 다르다니까 무슨 말인지 모르겠고요. 정착 전에 단기로 살아보면서 상황을 보는 방법은 어떨지 조언 부탁드립니다.

I have an expat posting to Dubai coming up soon. My spouse is coming too, and wants to try running a small business there. I need to set a budget first, so I'm comparing mainland and free zone. I vaguely heard mainland licences are issued by an authority called DET, but I don't know the details. From a budget point of view, what should I look at first?

There's no comparing it to job hunting back in Korea, so I'm looking for advice. Company formation is completely new to me, everything I hear from people around me is different, and I don't know what to judge by. How do people here usually get started?