To activate a UAE Stripe account, users must upload specific business and identity documents for verification via their Stripe Dashboard. For businesses, this includes trade licenses, memorandums of association, and proof of an active bank account. For individuals, color copies of passports, Emirates IDs, and residence visas are required for company representatives and all owners with 25% or more ownership in the business.
Activating your UAE account
As part of your account setup, we must upload specific business and identity documents for verification.
Documents must be uploaded via your Stripe Dashboard and verified by Stripe before your account can begin to process payments.
To check your account's outstanding verification requirements:
- Check your Dashboard for notifications
- Go to Settings > Business details for more information
See also: Using the API to upload UAE verification documents.
Required Business/Legal Entity Documents
For sole establishments, free zone establishments or branches of sole establishments, we require:
- Trade license or freelancer permit issued within the UAE
For LLCs, free zone LLCs or branches of LLCs, we require:
- Trade license or freelancer permit issued within the UAE
- Memorandum of association (or equivalent document) which shows the beneficial owners of your business and the split of shares between owners
- Proof of active bank account such as a bank account statement (dated within the last six months)
If any holding companies have 25% or more ownership of your business, you'll need to upload a memorandum of association or equivalent document for these entities as well. We will continue to request the MoA of nested entities until all individual beneficial owners have been identified.
In addition, if the company representative of your Stripe account is not a named manager or ultimate beneficial owner listed on your trade license or memorandum of association, we must submit a Power of Attorney document for the company representative. This document must be dated within the last three months.
See: Verification of businesses in the UAE.
Required Personal Documents
For the company representative and all individual owners with 25% or more ownership in your business, you must submit a color copy of specific identity documents, as outlined below:
- Passport, Emirates ID: for UAE nationals or GCC nationals living in the UAE
- Passport, Emirates ID and Residence Visa: for non-GCC and non-UAE nationals living in the UAE
- Passport: for individuals not living in the UAE
Any individual who ultimately owns 25% or more of your business will need to be added as an owner on the Stripe account. This includes individual owners from any holding companies that ultimately own a significant portion of your business (25% or more).
See: Owner verification in the UAE
Document requirements
You may submit:
- Copies and scans in PDF format or a picture of the original physical document in JPEG or PNG format.
- Screenshots aren't acceptable.
- The format must be no more than one step removed from the original document. Images can't be processed, converted, or embedded in other files.
Renewing expired documents
We are required to keep up to date with expired documents, including expired trade licenses and identity documents.