Setting Up an Industrial or Warehousing Business in a UAE Free Zone

Who runs this process

Before you start

• You know your space requirement in square meters and your power and utility needs
• You know whether goods will be stored under customs suspension or cleared on arrival
• Your process does not need an environmental or safety approval you cannot obtain
• Passport copies for every shareholder, and corporate documents if the shareholder is a company

The journey

Each step is marked by who acts: YouEmployerYou + employer

1. 1
   YouYour shortlisted industrial free zones

   Choose the zone by infrastructure, not by package price

   The cheapest zone is rarely the right one for physical operations

   Industrial and warehousing operations are decided by logistics, not by license cost. A zone attached to a deep-water port suits containerized import and export. A zone attached to an airport suits high-value or time-critical goods. An inland industrial zone suits production serving the domestic and regional market where land cost matters more than port proximity. Check power availability, floor loading, ceiling height, and truck access before comparing license prices, because those are the constraints that cannot be fixed later.

   You get

   Shortlist of viable zones

   Fee

   Fee varies, confirm at the official portal · paid by you (Industrial land and warehouse pricing is negotiated per facility and is not published as a standard tariff.)

   Watch out for

   • Comparing zones on license fee when the facility is the dominant cost
   • Committing to a unit whose power supply cannot run the intended equipment

   Manufacturing Or Processing: Production needs power capacity and effluent handling that not every warehouse-oriented zone can supply.

   Full guide: Choose the zone by infrastructure, not by package price

2. 2
   YouFree zone registrar

   Register the company and get the industrial activity approved

   Industrial activities attract extra scrutiny

   Reserve a trade name and register the entity, then have the specific industrial or warehousing activity approved. Manufacturing and processing activities commonly need environmental, civil defence, or safety sign-off in addition to the license, and the zone will usually coordinate those. Describe the process accurately at application, because an activity granted for assembly does not cover chemical processing, and correcting it later is a paid amendment.

   You get

   Certificate of incorporation · Trade license with the industrial or warehousing activity

   Fee

   Fee varies, confirm at the official portal · paid by you (Industrial license packages are quoted per project. No government-wide rate exists.)

   Watch out for

   • Describing the process loosely and receiving an activity that does not cover it

   Full guide: Register the company and get the industrial activity approved

3. 3
   YouFree zone leasing team

   Take the facility, which also sets your visa quota

   Leased from the zone, not the open market

   You lease a warehouse unit, or a plot on which you build. The facility agreement is what unlocks your visa allocation, and industrial operations are staff-heavy, so this is the number to model against your shift pattern rather than your first hires. Build-to-suit arrangements add months but give you the specification you need. Fit-out, racking, and utility connection are separate from rent and are usually the larger figure in year one.

   You get

   Lease or land agreement · Visa quota allocation

   Fee

   Fee varies, confirm at the official portal · paid by you (Warehouse and land pricing is negotiated. Fit-out and utility connection are separate and frequently underestimated.)

   Watch out for

   • Sizing the facility for launch volume and hitting the visa ceiling within a year

   Full guide: Take the facility, which also sets your visa quota

4. 4
   YouDubai Customs, via the Dubai Trade portal

   Register for a customs code, then decide about a bonded warehouse

   The customs code comes first and gates the warehouse license

   Register the company as a customs client to obtain the customs code that appears on every declaration. Separately, a Customs Warehouse License lets you store goods under the supervision of Customs for a specified period without paying customs duty, which is the mechanism behind bonded storage. Dubai Customs interconnects the warehouse license service with business registration, so the customs code is a precondition. The license is charged at a flat annual rate that differs sharply between a private warehouse serving your own goods and a public warehouse serving third parties.

   You get

   Customs client registration and customs code · Customs Warehouse License where taken

   Typical time

   1 working day for the customs client registration

   Fee

   AED 25,000 · paid by you (Customs Warehouse License: AED 25,000 for a private warehouse and AED 150,000 for a public warehouse, on both new issue and renewal, plus AED 20 Knowledge and Innovation fees. Separately, customs client registration is AED 100 plus AED 20, renewing at AED 25. Customs duty is 5% of the CIF value.)

   Watch out for

   • Applying for the warehouse license before the customs code exists, when the services are interconnected
   • Taking a public warehouse license when a private one covers the actual operation, at six times the cost

   Duty Paid On Arrival: No Customs Warehouse License is needed. Duty is paid when the goods enter, which is simpler but ties up cash.

   Bonded Customs Warehouse: A private warehouse at AED 25,000 a year suits your own goods. A public warehouse at AED 150,000 a year is for storing third-party goods under bond.

   Full guide: Register for a customs code, then decide about a bonded warehouse

5. 5
   You + employerFree zone immigration desk, then ICP or GDRFA

   Open the immigration file and staff the operation

   This is the visa-heavy step

   The company obtains an establishment card and then sponsors residence visas against its allocation. Industrial and warehousing operations carry the largest headcounts in this route set, so quota is the binding constraint rather than a formality. Each worker runs through entry permit, medical fitness test, Emirates ID biometrics, and the residence visa, and labour accommodation standards apply where workers are housed.

   You get

   Establishment card · Residence visas and Emirates IDs

   Fee

   Fee varies, confirm at the official portal · paid by you (ICP publishes itemized establishment card fees; GDRFA Dubai does not publish an equivalent itemized schedule we could retrieve.)

   Watch out for

   • Hitting the facility-derived visa ceiling mid-ramp and having to upgrade the lease

   Full guide: Open the immigration file and staff the operation

6. 6
   YouFederal Tax Authority

   Confirm the tax position, which is unusually favorable here

   This route has a real 0% case, unlike most

   Manufacturing of goods or materials and processing of goods or materials are both named Qualifying Activities, and logistics services are as well. Manufacturing is defined to include the production, improvement or assembly of products from raw materials or components. Processing covers preparation, treatment, transformation or conversion into another form for commercial or industrial use or sale. Logistics services means storing and transporting goods on behalf of another person without taking title. That makes this one of the few free zone routes where the 0% headline genuinely reflects the rules, provided you meet the other Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions.

   You get

   Corporate tax registration · A defensible qualifying-income position

   Fee

   Free · paid by you (Corporate tax registration carries no service fee. Late-registration penalties are separate and significant.)

   Watch out for

   • Selling direct to consumers alongside the industrial activity, since transactions with natural persons are an Excluded Activity
   • Losing Qualifying Free Zone Person status, which costs the status for that tax period and the following four

   Third Party Logistics: Logistics services qualify only where you do not take title to the goods. The moment you buy and resell, you are in the distribution rules instead.

   Warehousing And Distribution: Distribution qualifies only in or from a Designated Zone and only where goods go to a customer who resells or processes them, or to a public benefit entity.

   Full guide: Confirm the tax position, which is unusually favorable here

Documents checklist

Where this goes wrong

What comes next

• Open a business bank account
• Register for corporate tax on EmaraTax
• Hire your first employees