Key Takeaways
- You pay for a Dubai mainland licence in pieces: the trade name, the initial approval, the licence itself, Chamber membership, Ejari, the establishment card and any activity permits.
- The Department of Economy and Tourism prices the licence by activity, legal form and premises. Nobody can honestly give you one price that fits every business.
- Registering a company lease on Ejari costs AED 220 at a trustee centre. The AED 177.75 app option is only for individuals (Dubai Land Department, October 2026).
- A free zone company that wants to work in Dubai pays AED 10,000 a year for a dual-licence branch, or AED 5,000 for a six-month permit (Resolution 11 of 2025).
- Resolution 5 of 2024 lets you get the licence instantly. For regulated activities, the permits and inspections still have to happen before you open.
Look up what a Dubai trade licence costs and you'll usually find one neat figure. Behind it are at least eight separate fees, and they're paid to different offices. The Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Dubai's mainland licensing office and formerly called DED, sets some of them. The Dubai Land Department sets others, and your landlord sets the rent. A few fees have a published price. For the rest, you have to ask.
The fees on a Dubai mainland licence
Mainland simply means anywhere in the emirate outside a free zone. Dubai's official guide (dubai.ae, October 2026) splits the process into three stages: initial approval, reserving a trade name and issuing the licence. A trade licence is the document that lets your company do business. Each stage has its own charge, and several more fees come with the same application. Together they make up what many people still call the DED licence.
Use the table as a checklist when you compare quotes from setup agents.
| Fee | Who charges it | Amount | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade name reservation | DET | Not listed here; DET gives the current amount | DET tariff | on the day you apply |
| Initial approval | DET | Not listed here; DET gives the current amount | DET tariff | on the day you apply |
| Issuing the licence | DET | Depends on activity, legal form and premises; DET has a fee sheet for each activity | DET tariff | on the day you apply |
| Chamber of Commerce membership | Dubai Chamber | Depends on legal form, the owners' nationality and activity | Chamber fee list | on the day you apply |
| Ejari tenancy registration | Dubai Land Department | AED 220 at a trustee centre for a company tenancy; AED 177.75 by app or website if tenant and landlord are individuals | fee schedule | October 2026 |
| Establishment card | GDRFA Dubai | AED 200 plus 5% VAT, AED 20 in levies and an AED 50 service fee, when issued and again at renewal | fee schedule | October 2026 |
| Work-permit quota (Ta'qeem) | MOHRE | AED 406 for the Ta'qeem report, plus up to AED 72 business centre commission | fee schedule | October 2026 |
| Memorandum of association | Lawyer or typing centre | Agreed with the provider, not set by an authority | set by the provider | per quote |
| Activity approvals | The regulator for your sector | Each regulator sets its own | regulator tariff | on the day you apply |
A few of these terms need a word of explanation. The establishment card is the immigration record that lets your company sponsor visas, and GDRFA (the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs) issues it. Ta'qeem is the check that MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, runs on your business before it decides how many work permits you can have. The memorandum of association is the founding contract between the owners.
Dubai government services also add two small charges, a knowledge fee and an innovation fee. On Ejari each one is AED 10 (Dubai Land Department, October 2026). We haven't printed the DET and Chamber amounts because each body keeps them in its own tariff, and they change. Use the figure the authority gives you on the day you apply.
Fees can also change by decision. On 2 April 2026 the Dubai Media Office reported that several fees, among them premium business name and licence amendment fees, were deferred for three months from 1 April 2026. This covered new licences and renewals. The period ended around 30 June 2026, and we found no official extension. When you apply, check with DET whether any deferral still applies.
Agents often publish a total for the whole set of fees. Those totals change with the activity and the rent, and they mix government fees with the agent's own charge. That's why we don't repeat any of them here.
What decides the licence fee itself
Three things set the licence fee: your activity, your legal form and whether the licence needs premises. The activity is the exact business you may carry out, picked from an official list. The legal form is the type of company you set up. Because of this, the cost of a Dubai mainland licence belongs to one activity. A figure from another founder's licence tells you very little about yours.
In September 2026 Gulf News described a cost calculator from Invest in Dubai. For licences that need premises, it adds an amount linked to your rent. For a virtual licence it adds nothing. It's a good preview of what you'll be asked, and the number it shows for your activity is the one to work with.
The home-based e-trader licence works differently. dubai.ae (April 2026) describes it as a sole-proprietorship licence for people who sell through social media or online platforms. Before you plan around it, check with DET whether you qualify and what it costs.
For licence types and the order of the steps, see the guide to the Dubai trade licence. You'll need your activity before DET can give you a fee sheet, and the page on the DED licence, DET and the activities list shows how to find it.
Office rent and Ejari, the biggest variable
Ejari is Dubai's official register of tenancy contracts, run by the Dubai Land Department (DLD). Registering a company lease costs AED 220 at a real estate trustee centre. There's also an AED 177.75 option through the Dubai REST app or the DLD website, but you can only use it when tenant and landlord are both individuals (Dubai Land Department, October 2026). The rent itself is up to the landlord. No tariff covers it.
Two rules affect the lease. A commercial Ejari has to be in the licensed company's name. And for registering a business centre, the DLD FAQ asks for a commercial tenancy of not less than 5,000 sq ft, valid for 5 years (October 2026). Registration is compulsory under Dubai Law 26 of 2007 as amended. Have the landlord or business centre register the lease as soon as you've signed.
A flexi desk is a shared workspace you rent by the desk. Whether one is enough for your licence depends on the activity and on the business centre, and DET decides for your case. Most Dubai mainland licences need a leased address registered on Ejari. The exceptions are specific licence types, such as the home-based e-trader licence. Confirm the rule for your activity before you pay a desk deposit.
Activity approvals and the instant licence
Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024 tells DET to issue licences instantly (Article 3). There's one exception. The Chairman of the Executive Council keeps a list of activities that need permits or approvals first. For everything else, you sign an acknowledgement and an undertaking, which is a formal promise to get the permits. The permits and inspections then follow, and they have to be done before the activity starts. To find out if yours is on the Chairman's list, ask DET.
This means the licence doesn't show the full cost of a regulated activity. Each regulator charges its own fee for its own permit, and none of those fees are part of the DET table above. If you start selling before the permit arrives, you break the undertaking you signed. Meanwhile you're already paying rent and the licence fee.
Find out from DET which approvals your activity needs and which regulator issues each one. Then get each regulator's fee sheet and its processing time.
When a free zone company wants to work in Dubai
A free zone is an area with its own authority that licenses companies under its own rules. Under Executive Council Resolution 11 of 2025 (March 2025), a free zone company has three ways to work on the Dubai mainland.
The first is a branch with its own mainland premises. The Resolution sets no fee for this, and DET's general fee rules apply instead. The second is a branch run from the free zone office, usually called a dual licence. It costs AED 10,000 a year to issue or renew (Article 12). The third is a temporary permit that lasts up to six months and costs AED 5,000 to issue or renew.
Since 8 October 2025 you can apply for the permit through Invest in Dubai. Your company needs a Dubai Unified Licence first (Dubai Media Office, October 2025). All three options cover Dubai only. Financial firms in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) fall outside the Resolution. To see zone package prices next to these fees, go to the free zone company setup cost page. If you're still deciding where to set up, the mainland versus free zone guide explains when each option fits.
First-year fees by type of business
Without the activity, nobody can give you a total. Each example below pays a different mix of fees, and your quotes give you the real sum. One deadline applies to all of them. You must register for Corporate Tax within three months of incorporation, and registering late costs AED 10,000. That comes from Federal Tax Authority (FTA) Decision 3 of 2024 and Cabinet Decision 75 of 2023 as amended, as of October 2026.
- A consultant with no staff and clients abroad pays for the name reservation, initial approval, licence and Chamber membership. Add a lease or another arrangement DET accepts, and tax registration. A freelance permit may cost less, as the freelance visa and permit guide explains.
- A trading company with a shop pays the same fees plus the lease with Ejari and any activity permits. It also has to register for VAT (value added tax) once its taxable supplies and imports pass AED 375,000 over 12 months, or are expected to within 30 days (Federal Tax Authority, as of October 2026). Taxable supplies are the sales VAT applies to.
- A company with three employees pays all of that plus the establishment card, the Ta'qeem quota and three visas. Each person also needs health insurance, and u.ae lists a basic package at AED 320 per year (September 2026).
If your budget covers only the licence fee, you'll miss several costs that do have a published price. These are Ejari, the establishment card at AED 200 plus VAT, levies and a service fee, the Ta'qeem report at AED 406, and the insurance.
Renewal and how to get a written estimate
Several fees come back every year. DET charges the licence fee at the tariff in force on your renewal date. Ejari renews with the tenancy. The establishment card costs AED 200 plus VAT, levies and a service fee again (GDRFA, October 2026). A branch licence under Resolution 11 is valid for one year and can be renewed, which makes the AED 10,000 a yearly cost.
A useful estimate of a Dubai trade licence cost lists every fee from the table, with the amount, who charges it and the date. Government fees should be shown apart from the agent's fee. The activity name should match DET's list exactly. Any fee that isn't known yet should be marked as unknown, not left out. The company formation cost guide uses the same split for other jurisdictions.
Office and approval costs vary the most from one business to the next. A setup consultant can usually scope them in a single call. Get that scope in writing.
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