Setting up a business in Dubai: licences, costs and timeline

Setting up a company here is genuinely fast. What catches people out is the sequence and the parts of the cost that nobody puts in the first quote. I have watched founders pay for a licence in the wrong jurisdiction and then pay again nine months later to move.

This is the version I wish someone had given me. Treat every number as a typical range rather than a fixed price, because fees move, authorities update their packages, and your activity changes everything.

Mainland, free zone or offshore

Mainland

A licence issued by the Department of Economic Development of the emirate you register in. You can trade directly with the UAE market, work with government entities, and open offices anywhere. Most commercial and professional activities now allow full foreign ownership, though a defined list of strategic activities still carries local ownership requirements.

Mainland suits you if your customers are here: retail, restaurants, clinics, contracting, agencies serving local clients, anything requiring a physical presence or government contracts. It typically costs more and carries a physical office requirement tied to your visa quota.

Free zone

There are more than forty free zones across the emirates, each with its own authority, activity list and pricing. Full foreign ownership, streamlined incorporation, customs advantages inside the zone, and packages that start meaningfully cheaper than mainland.

The constraint is trading scope. A free zone company selling directly into the mainland market generally works through a distributor or agent, or registers a mainland branch. For consultancies, media, e-commerce, tech and holding structures this rarely matters. For a retailer it matters a great deal.

Zone choice is not interchangeable either. DMCC, DIFC, DAFZA, Meydan and IFZA in Dubai, ADGM and Masdar in Abu Dhabi, RAKEZ, SHAMS, Ajman and Fujairah elsewhere. They differ on cost, reputation with banks, visa quotas, activity lists and whether you need physical desk space. Bank onboarding in particular is easier from some zones than others, which is a practical consideration people discover far too late.

Offshore

RAK ICC and JAFZA Offshore. No UAE residence visas, no local trading, no physical office. Used for holding assets, owning property where permitted, and international structuring. If someone offers you an offshore company as a way to live and work in Dubai, walk away.

Licence categories

• Commercial: buying and selling goods, trading, general commerce, e-commerce.
• Professional: services delivered through expertise. Consulting, marketing, IT, design, legal and medical practices. Usually the cheapest route and the one most founders arriving alone will use.
• Industrial: manufacturing, processing and assembly. Requires facility approvals and generally the longest timeline.

Some activities need approval from a sector regulator before the licence is issued: health authorities for clinics, media authorities for publishing and broadcast, education authorities for training. Those approvals sit on the critical path and can add weeks.

What it actually costs

Advertised packages usually cover the licence and registration and stop there. Here is the fuller picture, in typical ranges.

• Free zone licence: roughly AED 12,000 to AED 30,000 a year for a basic package, higher in premium zones like DIFC and DMCC.
• Mainland licence: roughly AED 15,000 to AED 35,000 a year including DED fees and initial approvals, before office costs.
• Establishment card and immigration file: typically AED 1,500 to AED 3,500.
• Visa quota or e-channel registration: varies by zone and headcount.
• Each residence visa: roughly AED 4,000 to AED 7,000 including entry permit, status change, medical and Emirates ID.
• Flexi-desk or virtual office: often bundled, otherwise AED 5,000 to AED 15,000 a year. A real office in Dubai starts well above that.
• Document attestation and legal translation: AED 1,000 to AED 5,000 depending on your home country and how many documents you need.
• Corporate bank account: no fee to open, but most banks require a minimum balance, commonly AED 25,000 to AED 500,000 depending on the bank and structure.

A realistic all-in first year for a solo consultant on a free zone licence with one visa usually lands somewhere between AED 25,000 and AED 45,000. Anyone quoting you AED 6,000 total is quoting the licence and nothing else.

The step order

Sequence matters more than speed here. Doing these out of order is what causes the delays people complain about.

1. Decide the activity first. Everything downstream, jurisdiction, licence type, visa quota and bank appetite, follows from the activity code you choose. Choose it too narrowly and you will amend it later at cost.
2. Choose jurisdiction and legal structure based on that activity and on who your customers are.
3. Reserve the trade name. Rules are strict: no abbreviations of personal names, no religious references, no country names without approval.
4. Get initial approval from the authority, plus any sector regulator approval.
5. Sign the MOA or the incorporation documents, usually in person or through a notarised power of attorney.
6. Secure the office or flexi-desk and get the tenancy or lease registered where required.
7. Licence issued. This is the moment people celebrate, and it is roughly the halfway point.
8. Establishment card and immigration file, then the visa process: entry permit, status change, medical, Emirates ID, visa stamping.
9. Corporate bank account. Start preparing this documentation early, not after the licence lands.
10. Corporate tax registration and VAT registration where applicable.

Realistic timelines

• Free zone licence, simple professional activity: three to ten working days once documents are complete.
• Mainland licence: two to four weeks, longer with external approvals.
• Residence visa per person: one to three weeks after the establishment card, assuming the medical goes smoothly.
• Corporate bank account: three weeks to three months. This is the genuine bottleneck and the part no consultant can guarantee, whatever they tell you.

Add buffer around public holidays. Ramadan and the Eid periods change working hours across every authority.

Corporate tax and VAT, briefly

UAE corporate tax applies to business profits above a threshold, with a headline rate of 9 percent and a zero rate on profits below the threshold. Qualifying free zone entities can access a zero rate on qualifying income, subject to strict substance and activity conditions that are easy to fall out of accidentally.

VAT registration is mandatory once taxable supplies exceed the mandatory threshold, with voluntary registration available at a lower level. Registering voluntarily can help credibility with larger clients and lets you reclaim input VAT, though it also brings quarterly filing obligations.

Both regimes have specific definitions, deadlines and penalties for late registration. Confirm your position with a tax advisor rather than a formation agent, and confirm it again if your activity or ownership changes.

The mistakes I see most

• Picking the cheapest free zone without checking whether banks are comfortable with it. A cheap licence with no bank account leaves you unable to trade.
• Choosing an activity too narrowly, then paying to amend when the business evolves in month four.
• Underestimating visa costs. Founders budget the licence and forget that each family member carries a full visa cost.
• Free zone licence, mainland customers, no distributor. Discovering the restriction after signing the first client contract.
• Arriving with unattested documents. Degree certificates and marriage certificates often need attestation from the home country before you land, and doing it remotely afterwards is slow.
• Treating the bank account as an afterthought. Prepare a clean business plan, evidence of source of funds, and a coherent story about your customers and suppliers before the first meeting.
• Trusting one agent's word on tax. Get the tax position from a tax professional.

The licence is the straightforward part. Sequence, jurisdiction fit and bank readiness are what decide whether you are trading in six weeks or six months.

Getting help with it

You can absolutely do this yourself, particularly a straightforward free zone licence. What you are paying an advisor for is the sequencing, the relationships with the authorities and banks, and someone who has seen your specific activity go through before.

Once you are set up, the next question is usually how anyone finds you, which is where marketing and social media comes in, and where the networking events we run tend to earn their keep for new arrivals. If you want a straight conversation about which route fits your business, get in touch and we will go through it properly.