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SEC://AMICABLE-PHASE · CASE FILES SERIESBRIEFING: FOREIGN CREDITOR
Dubai DCA / Debt Collection AgencyContact Us, Free Review
ACTIVE CASE
#AE-2026-01184
DAY 00 · 09:14 GST
Debt collection agency · Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Your Dubai debtor is ten minutes from our desk. Your invoice is one file away.

A Dubai-registered B2B collection agency working for creditors abroad. Amicable recovery first, then the payment order under Federal Decree-Law 42/2022, in onshore or DIFC courts. You never fly here. We are already here.

Case desk open · Dubai · GST +4
Scroll · the file opens below
The direct answer

Dubai DCA is a Dubai-registered B2B collection agency working for creditors outside the UAE. We recover commercial debts from UAE companies through negotiation first, then the payment order (Amr Al Ada') under Federal Decree-Law 42/2022, in onshore or DIFC courts depending on the contract. Commercial claims carry a 10-year limitation. Fees are contingent: no recovery, no fee.

You shipped to a Dubai trading company, the invoice is 140 days old, and the emails stopped six weeks ago. Your bank cannot help and your lawyer at home cannot serve papers here. Fifty-eight per cent of the files we open for overseas creditors settle before a court sees them, because the demand arrives bilingual, on local letterhead, from an office ten minutes from the debtor. Here is how the first sixty days go, and what happens if they don't.

Amicable window
60 days
Before we recommend a payment order. Most files never need one.
Court systems
2
Onshore Dubai Courts or DIFC. The jurisdiction clause decides. We check before anything is filed.
Limitation
10 years
Commercial claims under the UAE Commercial Transactions Law. Long, but interest is not automatic.
Security cheque
Enforceable
Since 2022 a bounced cheque is an executive instrument, not a police matter. Better for you.
Chapter I

The First Sixty Days

Case AE-2026-01184 · AED 412,000 · Creditor: Rotterdam
Day 01 · Intake

The trade licence tells the truth before the debtor does

Before the first call we pull the debtor's licence from the Dubai DED or the free-zone registry (DMCC, JAFZA, DIFC). Active, expired, under liquidation, or a fresh licence with the same directors changes everything about the next fifty-nine days.

How we verify a UAE company →
CAM 01 · REGISTRY
DED · DMCC · DIFC
DEDTrade licence 5541-2019ACTIVE
MOECommercial registerMATCH
DMCCSister entity, same directorsFLAG
BANKSecurity cheque on fileHELD
Debtor profiled · demand authorised
Day 03 · Demand

A demand that arrives on local paper

Bilingual, from a Dubai address, quoting the contract, the invoices and the interest the court would award. Foreign letterhead gets filed. Local letterhead gets answered, usually by the CFO, usually within a week.

CAM 02 · DEMAND
BILINGUAL · AR/EN
Invoice bundle
INV-2211 · 2214 · 2219AED 412,000
Statutory interest, if litigated
142 daysAED 8,650
Demand served
Deadline14 days
RECEIVED
Day 09 → 60 · Negotiation

Pressure that rises on a schedule

Calls in Arabic and English, a meeting at their office if they are in Dubai, the cheque question raised at exactly the right moment. Day 60 ends in one of three ways: funds, a signed instalment plan, or a payment order filed with your documents already in order.

CAM 03 · NEGOTIATION
LIVE
Settlement probability84%
DAY 09CFO reached. Disputes quantity on INV-2214. We ask for the delivery note. He has it.
DAY 18Meeting, Business Bay. Cheque mentioned. Room gets quieter.
DAY 31Offer: 60% now, 40% in 45 days. Countered.
DAY 44Instalment plan signed, cheque retained as security.
Chapter II

Two Court Systems, One File

If Day 60 ends without funds
ROUTE A

Payment order, onshore

Best for documented, undisputed debts with a Dubai-mainland debtor and no DIFC clause.
InstrumentAmr Al Ada' · FDL 42/2022
TimelineWeeks, if unopposed
Court feesScaled to claim value
ROUTE B

DIFC Courts

Best when the contract opts into DIFC, or the debtor sits inside the Centre. English-language, common-law.
LanguageEnglish
Small claimsFast track available
WatchJurisdiction clause
ROUTE C

Cheque execution

Best when you hold a bounced security cheque. Straight to the execution court, no merits hearing.
Since2022 reform
LeverageHighest
NeedsOriginal cheque + bank return
Chapter III

Seven Emirates, Every Free Zone That Matters

Coverage · Dubai desk, execution follow-up across the UAE
SAT 02 · UAE COVERAGE GRID
LIVE · 7 EMIRATES
DUBAIDESK · DMCC · JAFZA · DIFCABU DHABIADGM · KIZADSHARJAHRAK · RAKEZFUJAIRAHAL AINARABIAN GULFGULF OF OMAN▸ EXECUTION FOLLOW-UP · SHARJAH INDUSTRIAL 4WRIT SERVED · ASSETS TRACED▸ FUNDS CONFIRMED · ADGM ENTITY · ABU DHABIAED 214,000 · DAY 41▸ REGISTRY SWEEP · RAKEZ · RAS AL KHAIMAHLICENCE STATUS · CROSS-EMIRATE MATCH
DubaiMainland · DMCC · JAFZA · DIFC
Abu DhabiADGM · KIZAD
SharjahSAIF · Hamriyah
Northern EmiratesAjman · RAK · Fujairah · UAQ
Debrief

Questions Creditors Ask Before Placing a File

7 answers · mirrored in FAQPage schema

Can a foreign company collect a debt in Dubai without a local lawyer?

Yes for the amicable stage, which is where most files close. Court filings need UAE-licensed representation, which we arrange inside the same file, on the same contingency terms.

How long does a payment order take in the UAE?

Typically weeks rather than months when the debt is documented and undisputed. If the debtor raises a genuine dispute, the court refers the claim to ordinary proceedings, which is why the sixty-day amicable stage matters.

Is a bounced cheque still a crime in the UAE?

Mostly no since the 2022 reform. It became a directly enforceable instrument instead: you present it to the execution court without a merits hearing. For creditors that is better, not worse.

What does debt collection in Dubai cost?

A contingency percentage of what we recover, agreed before we start. Court fees are advanced only if you approve the legal stage, and they are recoverable from the debtor in most judgments.

DIFC or onshore court, which one applies to my contract?

The jurisdiction clause decides. No clause usually means onshore Dubai Courts unless the debtor is a DIFC entity. We confirm before any filing, because filing in the wrong court costs months.

Can you collect from a free-zone company?

Yes. Free-zone status changes the registry we check and sometimes the court, not the enforceability of the debt.

What is the limitation period for commercial debts in the UAE?

Ten years for commercial claims under the Commercial Transactions Law. Long enough that old invoices are still live, short enough that a debtor's licence may have lapsed first. Move early.

Place a file. Within 48 hours we tell you whether it will pay.

Free review of the invoices, the contract and the debtor's licence status. No retainer, no obligation, no flight to Dubai.

Place a File, Free Review
SourcesFederal Decree-Law No. 42/2022 on Civil Procedure (payment order provisions) · Federal Decree-Law No. 14/2020 amending the Commercial Transactions Law (cheque reform) · Federal Decree-Law No. 50/2022 Commercial Transactions Law (limitation) · Dubai Courts · DIFC Courts · Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism · DMCC, JAFZA, DIFC, ADGM registries. Figures in the case file are illustrative.