Trade anywhere in the UAE
Tied to leased office area
On most commercial and professional activities
| Cost line | Typical range (AED) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Trade name reservation & initial approval | 620 – 1,200 | Higher for foreign or non-Arabic trade names |
| DET licence fee | 7,000 – 15,000 | Varies by activity group and number of activities |
| Market fee | 2.5% of annual rent | Charged on the Ejari value |
| MOA drafting & notarisation | 1,500 – 3,500 | Depends on shareholder count and structure |
| Office / Ejari tenancy | 12,000 – 45,000+ | The main variable; drives your visa quota |
| Establishment & immigration cards | 2,000 – 3,000 | One-off, per company |
| Residence visa (per person) | 4,000 – 6,500 | Entry permit, medical, Emirates ID and stamping |
| External approvals (if applicable) | 1,000 – 15,000 | Municipality, KHDA, DHA, RERA, Civil Defence and others |
| EBL advisory, PRO & documentation | Quoted for your file | Shown separately from government fees |
Indicative 2026 ranges for planning. Exact figures depend on your activity list, legal form, office size and any regulator involved. Every EBL proposal itemises these lines with real numbers for your file.
For the large majority of commercial and professional activities, no. Amendments to the Commercial Companies Law removed the blanket 51% local ownership requirement, and the Department of Economy and Tourism now issues licences with 100% foreign ownership across thousands of activities. A short strategic-impact list — parts of defence, security, certain utilities and a few banking-adjacent sectors — still requires Emirati participation. Some professional licences also use a Local Service Agent, who holds no shares and takes no profit but is paid an annual fee for government liaison.
Mainland visa quotas are tied to office space, not to a package. As a working rule, the Ministry of Human Resources allocates roughly one visa per 9–10 square metres of leased office area, subject to activity and inspection. A small 200 sq ft office might support two to three visas; a 1,000 sq ft office comfortably supports eight to ten. Because the quota scales, mainland becomes more economical than free zone once your headcount passes four or five people.
Ejari is Dubai’s tenancy registration system. Your commercial lease must be registered in Ejari before the DET will issue or renew a mainland licence, and the registered area is what the immigration authority reads when it sets your visa quota. In practice the tenancy is the single largest and least flexible cost in a mainland budget, which is why we size it against your hiring plan rather than your current headcount.
There is no simple conversion. In most cases you either incorporate a new mainland entity and migrate the business into it, or you add a mainland branch of the free zone company — which keeps one set of shareholders but creates a second licence and a second set of renewals. Both are routine, but both cost more than starting in the right jurisdiction. This is the main reason we spend the first call on where you will be selling in three years, not just today.
Renewal is usually 70–90% of the first-year government cost, because you pay the licence fee, market fee and activity charges again but not the one-off incorporation items. The bigger variable is the tenancy: if your Ejari renews at a higher rent, your licence renewal rises with it. Budget realistically for year two from the start.
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