Refund & Cancellation Policy

This policy applies to payments made to Diligence Business Management for business setup, visa, PRO, tax, compliance and related services. It should be read together with our Terms & Conditions. Where a signed quotation or engagement letter sets different terms for a specific piece of work, that document applies.

The two kinds of money you pay us

Understanding this distinction explains almost everything else on this page.

• Our service fee — what you pay DBM for our advice, document preparation, submissions and follow-up. This is the part a refund can apply to.
• Government and third-party fees — amounts we pay onward on your behalf to the Department of Economy and Tourism, free zone authorities, immigration, medical fitness centres, typing centres, translators, attestation offices, insurers and banks. We collect these from you and pass them straight through; we do not keep them.

Government and third-party fees are not refundable

Once a fee has been paid to an authority or third party on your behalf, it cannot be refunded to you, because it is not refunded to us. This applies whether or not the application is approved, and whether the payment was for a name reservation, initial approval, licence issuance, visa quota, entry permit, medical test, Emirates ID, attestation or any similar charge.

We will always tell you before we pay a government fee on your behalf, and the receipt is yours on request.

Refund of our service fee

• Before we begin work. If you cancel after paying but before we have started — no documents collected, no name check run, no submission made — your service fee is refunded in full.
• After work has begun, before submission. Your service fee is refunded less the value of the work already carried out. We will send you an itemised statement of what was done so you can see exactly how the figure was reached.
• After submission to an authority. Once an application has been filed, our work on it is substantially complete and the service fee for that stage is not refundable.

If an application is rejected

Approvals are the authority's decision, not ours — see our terms. A rejection is therefore not in itself grounds for a refund of the service fee for work already performed, and the government fees paid cannot be recovered.

What we will do, at no additional service fee from us, is review the reason for rejection with you and prepare a corrected resubmission where the authority permits one. Any new government fee for that resubmission is payable again.

If the fault is ours

If an application fails or is delayed because of an error we made — a wrong form, a missed deadline, a document we prepared incorrectly — we will correct it at our own cost, and we will not charge you our service fee again for that work. Where our error causes a government fee to be wasted, we will discuss a fair resolution with you rather than leave you with it.

Ongoing and retainer services

Monthly or annual services such as accounting, bookkeeping, tax filing, PRO retainers and office packages may be cancelled with notice as set out in your agreement. Fees for periods already served are not refundable; fees paid in advance for periods not yet started are refunded on a pro-rata basis.

Situations where a refund does not apply

• Where an application fails because information or documents you provided were inaccurate, incomplete, expired or not genuine.
• Where you do not attend a required step — biometrics, medical testing, a bank interview — or do not respond to an authority's request in time, and the application lapses as a result.
• Where you change your chosen jurisdiction, activity or structure after work has started. We will credit what we reasonably can toward the new scope rather than refund it.
• Where a delay is caused by an authority, a bank, a system outage, a public holiday or a change in law or policy.

How to request a refund

Email info@dbmsbusiness.ae with your name, the service concerned, the payment date and amount, and the reason for the request. We will acknowledge it within two working days and give you a written decision, with the calculation, within fourteen days.

Approved refunds are paid within 30 days of the decision, to the same method and account the payment came from. Any bank charges on the return are borne by whichever party caused the cancellation.

If you disagree with our decision

Tell us. Most disputes come from a misunderstanding about which part of a payment was a government fee, and an itemised statement usually settles it. If we still cannot agree, the governing law and jurisdiction clause in our Terms & Conditions applies.

Contact

Diligence Business Management
Office 2511, Aspin Commercial Tower, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Email: info@dbmsbusiness.ae
Telephone: +971 4 824 5954 · WhatsApp: +971 50 504 6228
Office hours: Monday to Saturday, 9:00 to 19:00 Gulf Standard Time (closed Sunday)