Moving to Dubai: can you continue to work with French clients?
Summary
Introduction
Yes, you can continue working with your French clients after moving to Dubai. No French or Emirati law prohibits an expatriate from serving clients who remain in France, and the location of your clients is not a factor in determining tax residency . The only relevant question is from which territory the work is actually performed and where the decisions are made.
This short answer calls for an immediate nuance. Retaining a French clientele is perfectly legal, but the way you continue to serve them can, in turn, re-establish a tax connection in France : missions carried out on site for several weeks a year, permanent workstation at the client's premises, contracts never transferred to your new structure.
This article addresses the issue from the perspective of the individual working, not the entity issuing the invoices. The purely corporate implications, such as the permanent establishment or the substance of the Emirati entity, are discussed in our article on retaining French clients with a company in the UAE , to which we refer rather than repeating them.
The thresholds, rates, and schemes mentioned here are general guidelines, subject to change and should be verified on a case-by-case basis. They do not constitute legal advice: the applicable answer to your situation depends on your contracts, your organization, and the applicable agreement, and only an individual assessment can determine the best course of action .
The fact that the client is French is not the criterion, the place of business is.
Article 4 B of the French General Tax Code lists four criteria for tax residency: home, principal residence, principal professional activity, and center of economic interests. None of these four criteria mentions nationality or the location of clients. A consultant based in Dubai whose entire order book is French is not a French tax resident solely because of this .
The demonstration works in reverse, which helps to understand it. A French resident who invoices only foreign clients remains fully taxable in France on their worldwide income, precisely because the location of the clientele is not a factor . Tax law considers the individual and the place of business, not their address book.
No ban on invoicing from the Emirates
From a commercial standpoint, nothing prevents a French company from contracting with a service provider established outside the European Union. Trade in services between France and the UAE is unrestricted, and the corresponding financial flows circulate normally as long as they are documented by a compliant contract and invoice . Any difficulties encountered are administrative and banking-related, and never prohibitive.
However, we must accept a shift in the focus of the discussion. What the administration is examining is not your right to work with French citizens, but the consistency between the declared location and the actual location of the work . This consistency cannot be argued; it must be demonstrated with evidence.
Where is the work actually carried out?
The decisive criterion for an asset is the professional activity carried out as the primary occupation. This is not assessed based on the client's location, but rather on the professional's location when they deliver their service. A developer, consultant, or engineer who designs, analyzes, and writes from an office in Dubai is carrying out their activity in the Emirates , even if the deliverable is used in Paris.
In cases where a person has multiple jobs, the text considers the one to which they dedicate the most time, not the one that generates the highest income. This point is frequently misunderstood by expatriates who maintain a residual but lucrative French job. Time spent is the primary factor; the amount is only a secondary consideration .
Working time as a unit of measurement
Thinking in terms of days worked, rather than days of attendance, changes how you prepare a file. Two weeks of family vacation in France don't carry the same weight as two weeks of billable work for a Parisian client, even if the calendar shows the same number of days. An annual breakdown distinguishing between days worked in the Emirates, days worked in France, and days not worked is the most useful document in the file.
The case of occasional travel
Regular trips to France do not, in themselves, undermine the Emirati residency. A quarterly steering committee meeting, an annual presentation, or a few scoping workshops remain occasional interventions linked to work carried out elsewhere. The shift occurs when these visits become the normal mode of service delivery, rather than simply accompanying the work .
When an entirely French clientele becomes a topic
The fourth criterion of Article 4 B, that of the center of economic interests, is most often invoked in cases involving expatriate consultants. It refers to the location where the individual has made their principal investments, from where they manage their assets, and from where they derive the majority of their income . A clientele comprised exclusively of French clients naturally fuels this discussion.
The nuance lies in how this center is assessed in practice. The analysis considers the source of income, but also the location of assets, accounts, investments, and means of production. An expatriate whose invoicing is in France but whose company, accounts, employees, and assets are in the Emirates presents a very different profile from one who has only moved their address .
Revenue concentration: an indicator, not a verdict
Dependence on a single client, especially a former employer, is the most closely scrutinized situation because it resembles a prolonged employment relationship in a different form. Gradually diversifying, opening client accounts in the Gulf region or Asia, and documenting local prospecting efforts are concrete solutions. These are not legal requirements, but they are factors that are taken into account in the overall assessment .
Some entrepreneurs whose clientele remains predominantly European are considering alternative locations, both for reasons of time zone and applicable tax treaty. A transfer of tax residence to Cyprus is sometimes better suited to businesses focused on the European Union, while a transfer of tax residence to Dubai is more appropriate for truly international activities and organizations capable of working remotely.
On-site missions in France: the tipping point
Working on-site at a French client's premises is not prohibited, but each day worked in France has two distinct effects. First, it contributes to the attendance record used to determine your primary residence. Second, it generates income corresponding to work performed in France , which the 1989 Franco-Emirati convention generally allows to be taxed in the country where the work is carried out.
The second effect is the one expatriates least anticipate. A service performed partly in France may, depending on its nature, be subject to specific withholding tax rules when provided by a service provider not established in France. This issue should be addressed before the contract is signed , not when the invoice is issued.
Keep an attendance and billing log
Best practice is to maintain, from the first year, a table cross-referencing dates of attendance, the client involved, and the nature of the work performed. Boarding passes, border crossing records (Emirati and French), hotel bills, and access badges form the evidentiary basis. This task may seem tedious, but it is much easier to maintain throughout the process than to reconstruct three years later .
The table below summarizes the configurations we most frequently encounter and the treatment they require. It should be read as a framework for analysis, not as a guarantee of results.
Work configuration | Activity deemed to have been carried out | Key point of vigilance |
Working from Dubai, deliverables transmitted remotely | United Arab Emirates | Proof of attendance and office |
A few days of mission in France | Mainly in the Emirates | Annual calculation of working days |
Long-term assignment at a French client site | Partially in France | Taxation of working days in France |
Permanent work position at the client's premises | In France for this part | Risk of permanent establishment |
Single client, former employer | According to the actual place of execution | Reclassification as an employment relationship |
Emirati company managed from France | France, seat of effective management | Company taxable in France |
No single line in this table constitutes an automatic conclusion. Each situation combines several of these configurations, and it is their relative weight over a full year that determines the analysis.
Rewrite contracts and invoices before leaving
A contract signed when you were based in France no longer reflects your current situation. Continuing your assignment under the old contract, with the old company, address, and bank account is tantamount to documenting your continued presence in France. Therefore, the contractual transfer is the first step in a professional expatriation , even before addressing banking matters.
Three clauses deserve particular attention. First, the identity of the service provider, which must be the Emirati entity or yourself as a resident of the Emirates. Second, the place of performance, which must accurately reflect reality, including any on-site work required. Finally, the payment terms, which must be made to the contracting entity's account: an honest clause is always better than one drafted to appease the authorities .
VAT: B2B reverse charge and retail customers
For intangible services provided to a French company subject to VAT, the tax is generally due in the recipient's country and self-assessed by the client, with the invoice issued without VAT and clearly stating so. This mechanism is well known to accounting departments and presents no difficulty as long as the client's VAT number is valid and verified .
The treatment differs for individual clients and for services related to a building, event, or training program located in France. These cases require a specific analysis, sometimes registration, and cannot be resolved by a standard form copied from an online template. The VAT regime is determined on a service-by-service basis, never globally .
What your French client needs to check on their end
A well-prepared expatriation can sometimes run up against the caution of French finance departments. Switching suppliers to an entity located outside the European Union triggers a client onboarding process: proof of existence, beneficial ownership, bank details, and sometimes proof of tax residency. These requests do not reflect suspicion but rather an obligation of due diligence incumbent upon the client .
The questions posed by a financial management team
Three questions consistently arise: is the entity legitimate, does the payment abroad correspond to actual services rendered, and is the French company at risk of reclassification if the service provider was previously an employee? Providing clear documentation—extracts from the register, contracts, and proof of substance—addresses most concerns. A well-prepared supplier file expedites payments while also securing the relationship .
It must also be accepted that some public or highly regulated clients refuse, for internal reasons, to contract outside of Europe. This refusal is not fiscal, it is contractual, and it should be anticipated before departure rather than after. Many entrepreneurs therefore maintain a portion of their business in Europe, even if it means comparing other locations based on the actual geography of their market, from transferring tax residence to Mauritius to transferring tax residence to Malta , each with its own specific requirements.
How the Emirati tax system affects your fees
In the UAE , the absence of personal income tax remains a defining characteristic, but it no longer means a complete absence of taxation. A 9% corporate tax has been in effect since June 2023 on profits exceeding a certain threshold, and it also applies to business activities conducted through a company. Therefore, fees received by your company are subject to a tax regime, albeit a low one .
Qualifying income, a condition for the reduced rate
The Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZ) status allows, under certain conditions, the application of a zero tax rate to some income. It requires adequate substance in the UAE, income falling within qualifying categories, compliance with a de minimis threshold for non-qualifying income, and transfer pricing documentation. Services rendered to foreign clients may be eligible, but qualification is assessed on a transaction-by-transaction basis .
This point has a direct consequence on how to organize a French clientele. Locating the business in a free zone without an office, without employees, and without a physical presence exposes it both to rejection of the zero tax rate by the Emirati side and to challenges to the substance of the transaction by the French side. The requirement for consistency between tax policy and physical organization is the same on both sides of the relationship .
Prove that the work is being done from Dubai
A solid application consists of four main sets of documents, compiled without waiting for any formal request. Proof of life and residence comes first: Emirati lease, electricity and internet bills, Emirates ID, and records of entries and exits from the country. These documents prove nothing on their own, but their absence is immediately noticeable .
Four families of coins to keep
Next come the documents proving business operations: contracts specifying the location of work, minutes of remote meetings, logs of connections to collaborative tools, and travel logs. Then comes the document proving business operations: the lease for the office or workstation in a business center, contracts for any collaborators, and locally maintained accounting records. Finally, there is the tax documentation, primarily the tax residency certificate issued by the Federal Tax Authority , the French tax return for the year of departure, and tax assessments for subsequent years.
This file is useful both in the event of an audit and in the day-to-day relationship with a client or bank. We detail the general evidentiary rationale for leaving France in our article on how to cease being a French tax resident . This article focuses on how maintaining a French clientele adds to this requirement.
Testimony from a consultant based in Dubai
A 38-year-old cybersecurity consultant, who had been living in Dubai for two years, had retained all three of his French clients, including a major account representing nearly two-thirds of his revenue. His move was well underway: rented apartment, office in a business center, company in a free zone, spouse and children living there. He nevertheless feared that the exclusively French composition of his clientele might jeopardize his relocation.
The review revealed two weaknesses, unrelated to the nationality of his clients. He worked at his major client's site one week per month, with an assigned workstation and a personal badge, which made his situation more akin to a regular presence in France. Furthermore, his contracts remained in the name of his former French company and were never transferred to the Emirati entity .
The restructuring involved three projects completed in just a few months: renegotiating contracts on behalf of the Emirati company with a place-of-performance clause that accurately reflected reality, reducing on-site visits to two quarterly meetings and switching all other meetings to videoconferencing, and implementing a documented and archived time-tracking system. The clientele remained French; only the organizational structure changed .
His remark at the end of the assignment sums up the issue well. He had spent months wondering if he had the right to keep his clients, when the real question was where he was working for them . This shift in perspective is often the main benefit of a preliminary study.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to invoice a French client from a company in Dubai?
Yes. No law prohibits a French company from using a service provider established in the Emirates, nor does it prevent an expatriate from retaining their long-standing clients. What is regulated is the location where the activity is carried out and the legal identity of the entity issuing the invoice, never the client's origin .
How many days can I work in France per year?
There is no universally applicable tax-free allowance. Each day worked in France counts both towards determining your main residence and the corresponding income for tax purposes. Therefore, the best practice is to keep your total time spent in France well below half a year and to meticulously document each trip . The appropriate allowance depends on your applicable tax agreement and your business structure.
Should I invoice with or without French VAT?
Intangible services provided to a French company subject to VAT are generally invoiced without VAT, with the client responsible for self-assessing the tax. Services provided to private individuals, or those related to real estate or an event in France, are subject to different rules and require a case-by-case assessment .
Can my former employer become my client after I leave?
It's possible, but it's the most scrutinized setup, especially if the mission, hours, and tools remain those of salaried employment. It requires a truly independent service, a standalone contract, and ideally, other clients on the side .
Should you close your French company to work with French clients?
Not necessarily. Maintaining a French entity remains possible, but its management must not be exercised from Dubai to the point of moving its effective management headquarters there, and its relative economic weight is taken into account in assessing the center of economic interests.
Is a certificate of Emirati tax residency sufficient to reassure my clients?
It helps, particularly with withholding tax matters and when establishing a supplier relationship, but it does not, on its own, establish that your business is conducted in the Emirates. It must be combined with the contract, proof of presence, and the substance of the entity .
Conclusion
Continuing to work with French clients after an expatriation to Dubai is not only possible, it's the most common situation among the professionals supported by Coreway Consulting. The risk never stems from the network of contacts, but rather from how the service continues to be delivered, contracted, and invoiced after departure. The issue is organizational before it is fiscal .
Three key steps cover the essentials: formalize the contract in the name of the entity actually operating the business, track and document the days spent in France, and give the Emirati presence a visible and verifiable substance. This method requires neither sham arrangements nor fictitious registered addresses, only consistency and traceability. It aligns with the logic described in our approach to expatriation as an entrepreneur in Dubai .
Each situation is unique: the nature of the services, household composition, assets remaining in France, and the actual proportion of on-site interventions all influence the conclusions, sometimes significantly, and only an individual assessment can determine the outcome for your specific case.
You are relocating to Dubai and wish to ensure the continuity of your work for French clients. You can request a personalized assessment from Coreway Consulting to have your contracts, travel arrangements, and organizational structure audited.
