No authority in Dubai publishes a single “business setup fee.” The Department of Economy and Tourism prices a mainland license dynamically from your activity codes, legal form and license term, and every free zone quotes from a calculator rather than a fixed table. What is fixed and published is the federal layer underneath: a work permit application costs AED 50 and the two-year permit itself AED 250, AED 1,200 or AED 3,450 depending on your company’s MOHRE classification, and a business center may not charge you more than AED 72 in commission for handling it.
That gap between the fixed federal layer and the negotiable authority layer is where almost every misleading “setup from AED 12,500” number lives. This guide separates the four cost layers a Dubai company actually pays, shows which numbers can be verified against an authority’s own page and which can only be quoted, gives the one Dubai free zone that publishes its full price list openly as a worked example, and sets out the ongoing costs that start in year one and that setup packages almost never include.
Why Nobody Can Quote You One Dubai Setup Fee
Dubai’s mainland licensing authority does not publish a consolidated fee schedule. The license price is assembled from your chosen activity codes, the number of activities on one license, the legal form, and the license duration, so two companies in the same office can pay materially different amounts.
This is not a research failure, it is how the system is designed. Fees are quoted per application through the Invest in Dubai portal after the activity list is fixed, which is why every published mainland figure you will find online is a consultancy’s observed range rather than an official price.
We attempted to retrieve a mainland fee schedule from the Department of Economy and Tourism directly for this guide. The department’s own domains did not resolve from our network and the Invest in Dubai portal returned an access refusal to automated retrieval, so no mainland license fee in this article is presented as verified. Where a mainland number appears below it is labeled indicative and you should treat it as a planning placeholder, not a price.
Free zones are different only in degree. Most quote through a calculator and confirm the final figure after activity approval. A minority publish real numbers, and those are the ones this guide uses as evidence.
The Four Cost Layers of a Dubai Company
Every Dubai company, mainland or free zone, pays into four separate buckets. Setup packages typically price the first and part of the third, then leave the rest to appear later.
| Layer | What it buys | Who sets the price | Published? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. License and registration | The trade license, company registration, trade name, and the facility that satisfies the address requirement | DET (mainland) or the free zone authority | Rarely |
| 2. The company’s files | The MOHRE labor establishment card and the separate immigration establishment card | MOHRE, and ICP or GDRFA | Yes |
| 3. Per-person residency | Work permit, entry permit, status change, medical, Emirates ID, insurance | MOHRE and ICP federally, plus the zone’s handling charge | Federal part yes |
| 4. Ongoing compliance | Corporate tax registration and filing, VAT once you cross the threshold, bookkeeping, audit, annual renewal | FTA thresholds are statutory; service pricing is commercial | Thresholds yes |
The practical consequence is that a quoted “package price” is almost always layer 1 plus one seat of layer 3. If you are comparing two proposals, the only honest comparison is layer by layer, and the first question to ask a provider is which of these four they have priced.
Layer 1: The License Itself
Mainland: priced per application, not per list
A mainland license through DET is issued against a specific set of activity codes. Adding activities, choosing a legal form that requires a memorandum of association, and picking a longer license term all move the number, and the office requirement moves it far more than the license fee does, because a mainland company generally needs a real leased premises registered on Ejari rather than a desk.
Two costs that are frequently left out of mainland comparisons: the memorandum notarization for a multi-shareholder company, and the fact that adding a business activity later is a paid license amendment, not a free edit. If you know a second line of business is coming, pricing it in at the start is usually cheaper than amending in month seven.
Where mainland genuinely wins is that it does not restrict you to trading inside a zone, and since the ownership reforms most activities allow full foreign ownership without a local partner, which removed the recurring sponsor fee that used to sit invisibly in mainland budgets.
Free zone: one Dubai zone publishes the whole list
Meydan Free Zone publishes its license and add-on pricing openly, which makes it the only usable worked example of a full Dubai free zone cost stack. Its standard license starts at AED 12,500 and its 60-minute Fawri license at AED 15,000, with three business activity groups and a flexi-desk included.
Those are the authority’s own published figures rather than an agent’s quote, so they are worth reading closely. The table below is taken from Meydan Free Zone’s published cost breakdown and its pricing page.
| Item | Published price (AED) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Standard license | From 12,500 | Includes up to three activity groups and a flexi-desk |
| Fawri express license | From 15,000 | Single shareholder only, issued in under 60 minutes |
| Each activity beyond three | 1,000 | Per additional activity |
| Visa allocation | 1,850 per allocation | Buys the right to a visa slot, not the visa. Up to six per license |
| Employment visa | 3,500 | Charged on top of the allocation |
| Investor or partner visa | Around 4,000 | The owner’s own residency |
| Medical test and Emirates ID assistance | 2,250 | Per person |
| Dependent visa | 6,000 | Per dependent |
| Shared office | 15,000 per year | Dedicated desk is 3,500 per month; dedicated office 30,000 per year |
| Innovation fee and knowledge fee | 10 each | Fixed Dubai government dirham fees |
The zone’s own caveat matters as much as the numbers: it states that final pricing is confirmed only after business activity approval, immigration clearance and document verification, and that remaining charges are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Read that as an honest warning that the headline is a floor, not a ceiling. Our detailed Meydan Free Zone guide covers the conditions attached to the Fawri route. Buying a business that already trades is the alternative to setting one up, and its own cost and risk profile is set out in buying an existing business in the UAE.
Zones that do not publish, including several of the largest, are not necessarily more expensive. They simply move the price discovery into a sales conversation, which is why the comparison you actually need is which free zone fits the business you are building rather than which advertises the lowest entry number.
Layer 2: The Two Establishment Cards Nobody Distinguishes
A UAE company needs two different establishment cards, and almost every setup guide treats them as one. The MOHRE establishment card opens your labor file. The immigration establishment card opens your company’s file with the residency authority. You cannot sponsor anyone without both.
The MOHRE side is the cheaper surprise. MOHRE states that issuing the establishment card is free of charge through its website and app, with only government fees applicable, lists a Ta’qeem fee of AED 406, caps any business center’s commission at AED 72, and gives a service completion duration of two working days.
Read that alongside a typical PRO quote for “establishment card processing” and the arithmetic becomes uncomfortable. The ministry’s own position is that the service is free online, and that a service center may charge a maximum of AED 72 for handling it. If you are quoted several hundred dirhams for the same step, you are paying for convenience, not for a government fee. Our guide to what PRO services actually do and what they should cost goes further into where those margins sit.
The immigration card is the one that gates residency. It is issued by the residency authority rather than MOHRE, has its own fee and validity, and must be renewed independently of the trade license. We cover the sequence and the documents in the guide to opening your company’s immigration file.
Layer 3: What a Visa Actually Costs
The federal work permit fee is fixed and public, and it depends on your company’s MOHRE classification rather than on the employee. MOHRE charges AED 50 for the work permit application in all categories, then AED 250 for a two-year permit in Category 1, AED 1,200 in Category 2 and AED 3,450 in Category 3.
| MOHRE fee line | Amount (AED) |
|---|---|
| Work permit application, Categories 1, 2 and 3 | 50 |
| Two-year work permit, Category 1 | 250 |
| Two-year work permit, Category 2 | 1,200 |
| Two-year work permit, Category 3 | 3,450 |
| Business center commission, capped per service | 72 |
The spread between AED 250 and AED 3,450 for the identical permit is the single largest controllable cost in a growing UAE company, and it is a function of classification, not of hiring. A company that keeps its classification high pays a fraction of what a Category 3 company pays for every single permit, every two years. MOHRE also states that except for the federal fees, the service is free through its website and smart app.
On the free zone side there is a structural difference worth planning around: the visa allocation and the visa are billed separately. In the Meydan example above, AED 1,850 buys the right to a slot and AED 3,500 buys the employment visa that fills it, so a three-person team is buying six line items, not three. How many slots you can hold at all is a function of your facility, which is the mechanism explained in our guide to how the company visa quota is calculated, and the reason the flexi-desk versus office decision is a visa decision before it is a real estate one.
If you plan to put staff on your license, the process itself, including the offer, the permit and the medical, is set out in the guide to hiring your first employee through MOHRE.
Layer 4: The Costs That Start in Year One
Corporate tax registration applies from the moment you have a license, and VAT becomes mandatory once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000 in a rolling twelve months. Voluntary VAT registration opens at AED 187,500.
Both thresholds are statutory rather than discretionary. Article 7(1) of the Executive Regulation of the VAT Decree-Law sets the mandatory registration threshold at AED 375,000, and Article 8(1) sets the voluntary threshold at AED 187,500. Article 7(2) then gives you thirty days from becoming liable to file the registration application, and Article 7(3) states that where a person does not file despite being required to, the Authority will register them with effect from the date they first became liable and impose penalties.
That thirty-day clock is the expensive one, because it runs from the moment the threshold is crossed rather than from the end of a financial year. The mechanics of getting registered are covered in our guides to the VAT registration threshold and process and corporate tax registration on EmaraTax.
Budget also for the record-keeping obligation, which is not optional and is not free once you outsource it. The retention period and the revenue level at which audited financial statements become mandatory are set out in the bookkeeping and audit requirements under UAE corporate tax. Finally, the license renews annually and renewal is a separate cost from setup, usually lower but never nil.
Two Modeled Cost Stacks
The following two stacks are modeled illustrations built from the published components above. They are not quotations and the mainland lines in particular are indicative, since no mainland license fee could be verified against an official page.
| Component | Solo consultant, Dubai free zone | Three-person mainland trading company |
|---|---|---|
| License and registration | AED 12,500 published floor | Indicative only, quote required |
| Facility | Flexi-desk included | Leased premises plus Ejari, the largest single line |
| Establishment cards | Free via MOHRE online plus AED 406 Ta’qeem, plus the immigration card | Same federal lines |
| Residency | 1 allocation at 1,850 plus around 4,000 investor visa plus 2,250 medical and ID | 3 permits at 50 + 250 to 3,450 each by classification, plus per-person medical and ID |
| Year-one compliance | Corporate tax registration, bookkeeping | Corporate tax, likely VAT registration, bookkeeping, possible audit |
The instructive part is not the totals, it is that the free zone stack is dominated by fixed authority pricing while the mainland stack is dominated by the lease and the MOHRE classification. Those are the two variables to negotiate. Everything else is close to fixed.
Where Setup Budgets Actually Go Wrong
- Treating a visa allocation as a visa. They are separate line items in most free zones, and a team of five needs both, five times.
- Buying the cheapest license, then discovering the quota. The facility determines how many people you can sponsor, so an entry package can cap your headcount before you hire anyone.
- Paying government-fee prices for free government services. MOHRE publishes that the establishment card and permit services are free through its own channels, with a AED 72 commission cap at a business center.
- Ignoring MOHRE classification. The same permit costs AED 250 or AED 3,450. On a ten-person company that is a five-figure difference every renewal cycle.
- Forgetting the exit. Closing a company is a paid, procedural process, and letting a license lapse is not the same as closing it. See free zone license cancellation and liquidation.
- Paying a provider before checking it. Deposits paid to unlicensed intermediaries are a recurring loss. Our guide on verifying a UAE setup provider before you pay sets out the checks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest way to set up a company in Dubai?
The lowest published entry point in a Dubai free zone that discloses its pricing is AED 12,500 for a standard license including three activity groups and a flexi-desk. That figure excludes residency entirely. If you need one visa, add the allocation, the visa itself and the medical and Emirates ID processing, which in the same zone’s published list come to roughly AED 8,100 more.
Is a mainland or a free zone license cheaper in Dubai?
Free zone is normally cheaper to start because the facility requirement is satisfied by a flexi-desk, while a mainland company generally needs leased premises registered on Ejari. Mainland becomes competitive when you need to trade freely across the UAE market without a distributor, since the alternative is a second structure.
Why can nobody give me an exact Dubai trade license fee?
Because DET prices the license against your specific activity codes, legal form and license term rather than from a fixed table, and does not publish a consolidated schedule. Any exact mainland number you see online is an observed range from a service provider, not an official price.
How much does a UAE work permit cost?
MOHRE publishes AED 50 for the work permit application in all categories, and AED 250, AED 1,200 or AED 3,450 for the two-year permit depending on whether the employer sits in Category 1, 2 or 3. A business center may charge a maximum commission of AED 72 for the service, and MOHRE states the service is otherwise free through its website and app.
Do I need two establishment cards?
Yes. The MOHRE establishment card opens the labor file and the immigration establishment card opens the company’s file with the residency authority. Both are required before you can sponsor anyone, and they renew on separate cycles from each other and from the trade license.
When do I have to register for VAT?
Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies exceed AED 375,000 in a rolling twelve-month period, and voluntary registration opens at AED 187,500. You have thirty days from becoming liable to file the application, and the Authority can backdate your registration to the date you first became liable and impose penalties if you miss it.
Is corporate tax registration a setup cost?
Registration itself is done through EmaraTax rather than bought as a service, but the compliance around it is a real annual cost: bookkeeping, the return, and audited financial statements once you pass the revenue level that requires them. Setup packages that quote a “corporate tax starter” line are selling the service, not the registration.
What is a visa allocation and why is it billed separately?
An allocation is the right to hold one residency slot under your license, capped by your facility type. The visa that fills the slot is a separate charge. In Meydan’s published pricing an allocation is AED 1,850 and an employment visa is AED 3,500, so each employee triggers both.
Does a longer license term reduce the cost?
It can. Meydan publishes a discount of up to 15 percent for multi-year licenses compared with the one-year option. The tradeoff is that you commit capital upfront and lose flexibility if the activity or the zone turns out to be wrong for the business.
Are renewal costs the same as setup costs?
No. Renewal is normally lower because registration and name reservation are one-time, but it is never nil, and it recurs for the license, both establishment cards, each residency visa on its own two-year cycle, and the facility lease. Budgeting only for setup is the most common planning error in year two.
Official Sources
- MOHRE Recruiting a Worker From Overseas (work permit fees by category)
- MOHRE Issuance of Establishment Card (fees, duration, commission cap)
- Federal Tax Authority VAT Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision 52/2017 and its amendments), Articles 7 and 8
- Meydan Free Zone Pricing and cost calculator
- Meydan Free Zone Company setup cost breakdown
- Invest in Dubai the mainland licensing portal (fees quoted per application)
Information current as of August 2026. The MOHRE service pages cited above were read from archived copies of the ministry’s own pages, as mohre.gov.ae was not directly reachable during research. No Dubai mainland license fee is stated as verified in this guide because the Department of Economy and Tourism publishes no consolidated schedule that could be retrieved. Free zone prices are the authority’s own published figures and are confirmed only after activity approval. Verify every figure with the relevant authority before committing funds.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Fees, thresholds and procedures change. Confirm your position with the Department of Economy and Tourism, the relevant free zone authority, MOHRE, ICP or GDRFA, and the Federal Tax Authority, or with a licensed adviser, before acting.
