For Canadians with shares, companies, partners or family interests in the UAE — and for the corporate, commercial, financing and regulatory matters that cross between the two.
Most of them start with a document someone else drafted, under a legal system the reader was not trained in. The firm reads it against both.
You own, or are being offered, shares in a UAE mainland or free-zone company. You want to know what the position actually protects, what you must report in Canada, and what happens if the relationship changes.
A Canadian company forming a joint venture with a UAE group, a UAE partner coming into a Canadian business, or co-founders with one on each side. Structure, governance, contributions, exit, and which law governs the venture — settled before the term sheet, not after it.
A Canadian company opening in the UAE, a UAE group entering Canada, or capital and operations moving in either direction — and the two corporate structures have to work together rather than side by side.
A shareholders’ agreement, a share transfer or a commercial contract governed by UAE law and drafted under a civil-law system. You need to know what it does before you sign it — not what a Canadian version would have done.
Supply, distribution, agency, franchise, licensing and services agreements between Canadian and UAE parties. Governing law, forum, payment terms and enforceability chosen on purpose, because a clause that works in Ontario may not work in the UAE, and the reverse.
Licensing, foreign-ownership rules, sector regulation and compliance in either market — including regulated financial activities such as payments, lending, collections and advisory, and the regulated industries where the firm’s principal spent more than a decade as General Counsel. Which regulator, which licence, and what the structure has to look like to obtain it.
A Canadian company raising from Gulf investors, a UAE company raising from Canadian ones, or a founder raising on both sides at once. Company-side readiness, the investor’s documents read by someone who knows what they expect, and a structure that qualifies for the investment protections now in force.
A document you were pressed to sign, a partner acting without you, a transfer you did not agree to. The firm advises on where you stand and the steps available short of litigation, and coordinates litigation counsel where a dispute needs it.
Shareholder and intercompany loans, bank facilities and security packages that cross the border, and the corporate side of setting up a finance-related business in either market. The documents have to work under both systems, and the structure has to satisfy whichever regulator the activity attracts.
Fauri Law is licensed in Canada and in the UAE. A cross-border matter is handled by one firm across both markets rather than split between two, each seeing half.
A consultation to understand the situation, then a review of the documents and your position under both systems, delivered in writing with the steps recommended. Scope is confirmed after intake and conflict review and set out in an engagement letter before any work begins.
Discuss a Canada–UAE matterTransactions, structuring, regulatory work and ongoing corporate support beyond the initial review are scoped separately. The firm does not litigate in either jurisdiction; where a dispute requires it, the firm coordinates with litigation counsel. Canadian and UAE tax advice is provided by your accountants, with whom the firm works directly.
Two matters from the past year, described without identifying detail. Both began with a consultation and a written review. Both continued.
A Canadian resident was offered a minority shareholding in a UAE free-zone company under a shareholders’ agreement governed by UAE law. The firm reviewed the constitutional documents and the agreement against both systems, identified what the minority position actually protected, and advised on the terms to change before signing. The matter continued beyond the initial memo.
A Canadian shareholder in a UAE company was presented with a document that would have removed her interest, signed under pressure. The firm advised on the standing of the document under UAE law, the rights that survived it, and the steps available from Canada short of litigation. The matter continued beyond the initial memo.
Fauri Law Professional Corporation, Toronto, since 2020. Fauri Law FZE, Abu Dhabi, licensed 2025 · Licence No. 4425587.01. The principal, Khaled El Fauri, leads a small team across both offices and brings more than a decade of senior in-house experience across the UAE and Canada, including as General Counsel to industrial, financial and aerospace groups in Abu Dhabi.
Two bilateral agreements now sit behind Canada–UAE business. One protects investment and is in effect. The other opens trade and has been agreed but not yet brought into force. The distinction matters to anything you sign this year.
Canadian merchandise exports to the UAE reached $2.8 billion in 2025, up about ten percent on the year, with a further $445 million in commercial services. Roughly 60,000 Canadians live in the UAE. The agreements formalise a relationship that was already the largest Canadian export market in the Middle East.
Global Affairs Canada, 24 July 2026Sources: Global Affairs Canada, news release, 24 July 2026; Government of Canada, Canada–United Arab Emirates relations, updated June 2026. Figures are the governments’ own. Accessed 2 September 2026. This section describes the agreements in general terms and is not advice on any specific investment or transaction.
Submitting intake does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Work begins after conflict review, scope confirmation and written engagement terms.
The agreement, the constitutional documents, and a paragraph on the situation — by email or through the intake. Fauri Law runs a conflict check in both jurisdictions.
A consultation to confirm what you need and how the firm would approach it. An engagement letter sets the scope and the terms before any work begins.
The documents are read against both systems. You receive a written memo: where you stand, what the documents actually do, and the steps recommended.
Negotiation, drafting, structuring, licensing, or coordination with your accountant and other counsel — run from Toronto or Abu Dhabi as the matter requires.
The initial memo usually identifies the next step. These are the ones that follow most often — each scoped and engaged separately.
Under either system — the terms to change, the protections to add, and the version that says the same thing in both.
View Shareholder AgreementsThe vehicle, the governing law, contributions, reserved matters, deadlock and exit — agreed before the partners commit.
View Governance & StructuringCompany-side readiness and investor documents for a Canadian company raising from the Gulf, or a UAE company raising from Canada — structured so the investment qualifies for the protections available.
View Venture FinancingAn acquisition, sale or reorganisation with a Canadian party on one side and a UAE party on the other.
View M&ASupply, distribution, agency, franchise, licensing and services agreements between Canadian and UAE parties, with the governing law and forum chosen on purpose.
View Commercial TransactionsLicensing, foreign-ownership and sector rules in either market, and the corporate structure that satisfies them — handled as advisory work.
View Advisory & TransactionsNot for a matter handled here. Fauri Law is a licensed law firm in both Canada and the UAE, and the principal is qualified in common law and in civil law, so the Canadian and UAE sides of a matter are read together by one firm. Where a matter needs input outside the firm’s practice — Canadian or UAE tax, litigation, immigration — the firm brings it in and coordinates it, rather than handing you to a second firm.
Yes. Fauri Law FZE is licensed in the UAE to provide legal services and advises on UAE corporate, commercial and regulatory law directly. The practice is corporate and commercial and non-contentious: the firm does not appear before UAE or Canadian courts, and says so on every page.
Two things, at different stages. The investment protection agreement between Canada and the UAE has been in force since 19 May 2026; it protects qualifying investors and investments, and whether yours qualifies depends on how it is structured. The trade agreement — the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement — was concluded on 24 July 2026 after 47 days of negotiation, and covers goods, services and investment. It has not yet been signed into force; it goes through legal review, signature and ratification in both countries first, and no date has been announced.
The practical consequence: structure new investments so they qualify for the protection that already exists, and do not write a contract this year on the assumption that tariff or market-access changes are already in effect. Build the conditions in instead.
Yes, on either side. The questions that decide a cross-border joint venture are settled early: where the vehicle sits — Canada, a UAE free zone, the UAE mainland, or one on each side; which law governs the venture agreement and where disagreements are resolved; what each partner contributes and how that is valued; which decisions are reserved; what happens on deadlock; and how a partner leaves. A venture agreement drafted under one system and read by a partner trained in the other is where most of these go wrong, and it is the reason the firm reads it under both.
Yes. Which authority licenses the activity — a free zone, the emirate’s economic department, or a sector regulator — and what the ownership and corporate structure must look like to obtain and keep the licence are corporate questions, and the firm handles them as advisory work. The principal spent more than a decade as General Counsel inside regulated UAE groups, which is where most of the firm’s regulatory judgement comes from. Sector regulators in either country are approached with the structure already in the shape they expect.
The governing law and the forum, which decide where any disagreement is resolved. How shares transfer and what exit rights exist. Reserved matters and who actually controls decisions. What happens on death, incapacity or departure. And how the agreement interacts with the memorandum and articles of association registered with the free zone or the emirate’s economic department, because in the UAE the registered documents can matter more than the agreement.
A Canadian reader’s instincts about a shareholders’ agreement will be right about some of these and wrong about others. That gap is the reason the memo exists.
Free zones — ADGM, DIFC, DMCC, IFZA, RAKEZ, KEZAD and others — are separate licensing authorities with their own company regulations and registers; ADGM and DIFC also have their own common-law-based courts. Mainland companies are licensed by the emirate’s economic department under the federal Commercial Companies Law. The rules on foreign ownership, share transfer, filings and the shape of the documents themselves differ between them, and between one free zone and another.
Which one you hold shares in changes what the documents say, where they are registered, and what you can do with them. It is the first thing the firm establishes.
In general terms: a Canadian resident holding foreign property above a cost threshold files Form T1135 with the CRA, and an interest in a foreign corporation can make it a foreign affiliate with its own annual reporting and tax consequences. These are tax matters for your accountant. The firm’s role is to make sure the corporate documents and the tax reporting describe the same thing, and it works directly with your accountant to do that.
In general terms: UAE federal corporate tax at 9% applies to taxable income above AED 375,000, and has since 2023. A free-zone company may qualify for a 0% rate on qualifying income if it meets the conditions for a qualifying free-zone person, which depend on its activities and substance. Whether a particular company qualifies is a question for your UAE tax advisor; the firm works alongside them so the corporate structure supports the position being taken.
You send the documents and a paragraph on the situation. After a conflict check in both jurisdictions and a consultation, an engagement letter sets out the scope and terms. The review is delivered as a written memo — where you stand under both systems, what the documents actually do, and the steps recommended — usually within two to three weeks of engagement, depending on the documents. See Fees & Engagement for how the firm scopes and engages.
The firm does not litigate in either jurisdiction. Where a shareholding or a venture has gone wrong, the firm advises on where you stand, the corporate and negotiated steps available, and — where a dispute needs it — coordinates with litigation counsel in the relevant jurisdiction so that the corporate advice and the litigation strategy are the same strategy.
Yes. For a company with entities or operations in both countries, Ongoing Counsel Support configures defined annual counsel capacity after intake, run from whichever office the matter needs.
Yes. The firm serves both sides of the corridor equally, from a licensed office in each country. If you are in the UAE — a company with a Canadian shareholder or partner, a group or investor entering Canada, a founder raising from Canadian investors, or a corporate service provider or consultancy with a client to refer — everything on this page applies to you in the other direction. The Abu Dhabi office page has the local details, and the firm can be reached there by WhatsApp.
Yes, and it is usually better if the firm does. Cross-border matters go wrong when the corporate advice, the tax advice and the local advice are given separately and never reconciled. The firm works directly with your Canadian and UAE accountants and with any other counsel involved. See Working with professional advisors.
Send the documents and a paragraph on the situation. You will hear from the principal, not an intake queue, the same business day in either time zone.