How can my business recover unpaid invoices from a company in the UAE?

Stop extending informal deadlines — a year of broken promises means negotiation has run its course, and with signed delivery confirmations you are well placed to escalate. The standard sequence in the UAE is this. First, send a formal legal notice: a written demand, ideally through a lawyer or notary, stating the amount, attaching the invoices and confirmations, and giving a final deadline. A surprising share of corporate debtors pay at this stage, because the notice signals that court is genuinely next. Second, if the deadline passes, UAE civil procedure offers a summary payment-order route for debts that are established in writing — significantly faster than a full trial — and your signed delivery confirmations and unpaid invoices are exactly the kind of paper that route is built for. If the debtor raises a genuine dispute about the work, the matter proceeds as an ordinary civil claim instead. Interest on late commercial payment can typically be claimed as part of the case. Do not let the claim age further; limitation periods apply to commercial debts. A commercial lawyer can assess within one meeting whether your file qualifies for the fast track and what the realistic recovery timeline looks like.