Our head office has moved from Hong Kong to Dubai, but our Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant was created in Hong Kong. We want the UAE entity to buy licenses locally, preferably without migrating everything to a new tenant.
Is there a billing arrangement that could work, and what should we consider if a tenant-to-tenant migration is necessary?
Start with a UAE cloud solution provider that handles customers across regions. Ask them to check your specific tenant country, legal entity and billing requirements, rather than just whether they sell Microsoft 365 in the UAE.
Some providers may be able to arrange cross-region billing, but that does not necessarily mean they can sell UAE licenses directly into a Hong Kong tenant. Get the proposed arrangement and any restrictions confirmed before making changes.
I'd exhaust the billing options before treating migration as the fix. Ask Microsoft and potential providers what options exist for the current tenant, including direct billing, and whether any tenant country change is supported for your situation. Don't assume a provider can simply remove the country restriction.
If you do need a new tenant, scope it as more than a license move. Check Entra ID identities, application registrations and integrations alongside the Microsoft 365 workloads. Azure resources and dependencies need their own review too.
Inventory what has to move, what needs rebuilding or reconfiguration, and what users will need to change. Then test a small set of accounts and applications before committing to a cutover plan. The effort can vary a lot depending on what's in the current tenant.
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x7~spareclip_492:
It is also worth asking whether they can invoice the UAE entity while procuring licenses through the appropriate regional arrangement. Those are separate questions.