Key Takeaways
- Invest in Dubai is the single online window for DET mainland licences, for the free zones and for DIFC (Decree 13 of 2024). You can e-sign without going anywhere in person.
- Your licence can be issued on the spot. Permits and inspections still have to follow before you start the activity, and you sign an undertaking to get them.
- Dubai's official guide describes three mainland stages: initial approval, reserving the trade name and the licence itself. For a one-person LLC, dubai.ae marks the articles of association as not applicable.
- When a company from abroad is a shareholder, its documents still go through the UAE embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arabic translation and the Ministry of Justice.
- A new company registers for Corporate Tax within three months (FTA Decision 3 of 2024). Under Central Bank guidance, a bank shouldn't start or keep a relationship when it can't finish its checks on you.
You can apply for a Dubai company licence from a laptop these days. Online company registration in Dubai goes through one government portal, Invest in Dubai, which handles the licence application, the e-signature and the payment. The permits, the checks on foreign documents, the bank account and the visas are another matter. Without those, the new company can't do much.
Online company registration in Dubai and what the portals cover
All Dubai licensing now runs through one digital window. Decree 13 of 2024 made Invest in Dubai that window for licences, permits and approvals for three groups of companies. The first is companies under the Commercial Companies Law. The second is civil companies and sole proprietorships, businesses owned by a single person. The third is companies in the free zones and in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Each free zone is run by its own authority, which licenses companies under rules it sets.
Mainland licences cover businesses anywhere in the emirate outside a free zone. They come from the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Dubai's mainland licensing office, formerly DED.
Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024 sets the rules for the window. Every licence and permit application goes through it. Authorities may not ask you for data they can already get from it. You can also e-sign without turning up in person.
The licence itself comes quickly. DET issues it instantly unless the activity is on a list kept by the Chairman of the Executive Council. For those activities, permits or approvals have to come first. As the investor, you sign an acknowledgement and undertaking, and permits and inspections follow before you start. Whether your activity is on the Chairman's list is a question for DET.
The Dubai Unified Licence (DUL) went live on 11 December 2023. That day the Dubai Media Office described it as a unique commercial identification given to all businesses in Dubai, in other words a single business ID for every company.
Invest in Dubai for mainland, free zone and DIFC
For a mainland company, dubai.ae describes three stages (October 2026). You request initial approval, reserve a trade name and then collect the licence. Initial approval is a no-objection in principle. It doesn't allow you to start operating.
The same page lists the documents. You'll need the licensee's passport and Emirates ID, a copy of the residence permit or visa, and the memorandum of association (MoA), the founding contract between the owners. Some legal forms also need a feasibility study. For a one-person limited liability company (LLC), dubai.ae marks the articles of association as not applicable.
Some free zone companies also want to sell on the Dubai mainland. For that they apply on the Invest in Dubai portal for the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit, which runs for six months. It costs AED 5,000, a renewal costs the same, and the company needs a Dubai Unified Licence first. The first phase covers non-regulated activities such as technology, consultancy, design, professional services and trading (Dubai Media Office, 8 October 2025).
DIFC uses the same window but keeps its own fee table. A private company pays USD 8,000 to register plus a USD 12,000 licence fee. A Prescribed Company, a lighter DIFC company type often used to hold assets, pays USD 100 plus USD 1,000 (DIFC Table of Fees Rev. 16, 30 July 2026).
The portal doesn't set free zone prices. Each zone still prices and approves its own licences. The International Free Zone Authority (IFZA), for example, publishes no price list and gives you a quote after a consultation.
Basher and other federal channels
On its website, the federal Ministry of Economy and Tourism (MoET) lists company setup through a service called Basher (October 2026). Basher works at federal level, and what it offers changes over time. Before you plan around it, look at the live menu on moet.gov.ae to see which steps it handles for your emirate.
The other emirates have portals of their own. In Abu Dhabi, licensing goes through TAMM, the government's services platform. The licensing page of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) lists the Standard, Tajer, Dual, Freelancer, Mobdea, Small Producers and Virtual licences (ADDED, October 2026). The Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) lists an instant licence and an electronic trading licence on its website (October 2026).
Once you have the licence, other offices take over. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) issues its own establishment card, which registers the company as an employer, through its website and app. MOHRE also sets your quota, the number of work permits you may apply for. The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) deals with Corporate Tax registration. For a Dubai company, residence visas go through GDRFA Dubai, the emirate's residency office. Emirates ID comes from the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security.
What you can finish online in one sitting
With a standard mainland licence and a single owner, you can take a Dubai company from application to signature online. These steps all happen on portals:
- initial approval, the trade name and the licence application on Invest in Dubai;
- e-signing the memorandum of association without attending (Resolution 5 of 2024);
- paying the government fees;
- registering your lease with Ejari, Dubai's official register of tenancy contracts. A company tenant usually pays AED 220 at a trustee centre, because the AED 177.75 option on the app and website is meant for individual tenants and landlords (October 2026);
- the MOHRE establishment card and Corporate Tax registration, each on its own portal.
Where a memorandum is needed, Article 14 of the Commercial Companies Law says it must be in Arabic. The competent authority has to authenticate it, either in person or by e-signature. If it doesn't, the memorandum is null and void, although that can't be used against third parties, meaning outsiders who dealt with the company. You may use a text in two languages, and the Arabic version wins if they differ. These article numbers follow the 2021 text, so check the current wording after Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2025.
Each government step has its own stated time. MOHRE says work-permit quotas are now issued instantly and its establishment card automatically (MOHRE, 9 February 2026). The authorities' service pages, which carry no date, give 2 days for an entry visa, 48 hours for the GDRFA establishment card and 5 days for Emirates ID. None of them publishes a total time from application to visa in hand.
What still needs documents and people
Permits are the first thing on that list. Resolution 5 of 2024 lets Dubai issue your licence before the permits. In return you sign an undertaking to get every permit before you start. Sell before a required permit arrives and you break that undertaking. The page on choosing the activity code explains how the code you pick decides which permits you need.
Foreign documents come next. When the shareholder is a company based abroad, its documents go through four steps of attestation, the official confirmation that a document is genuine (dubai.ae, October 2026). They start at the UAE embassy in the home country and move on to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then comes a legal translation into Arabic, and last the Ministry of Justice. Setup advisers say this chain takes weeks. If one step is missed, the document is rejected, and the licence application waits until the corrected set comes in.
With several owners, the memorandum needs proper drafting. Article 73 says an LLC's memorandum must set out how disputes are settled, both between the company and its managers and between the partners. A generic template that leaves this clause out gives the partners no agreed way forward when they fall out.
The bank is a step of its own. The Central Bank's customer due diligence guidance, the rules banks follow when they check a customer, is listed as in force from 7 November 2025. It says banks should not start or keep a relationship when they can't complete those checks. RAKEZ, the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone, sells a bank account opening service for AED 2,749 that an independent provider runs. Applicants abroad can start it by phone or video call, but they still have to visit the bank to sign. For what banks look at, see why bank accounts are declined.
Tax registration comes last. A new UAE company registers for Corporate Tax within three months of incorporation (FTA Decision 3 of 2024). Register late and the penalty is AED 10,000 (Cabinet Decision 75 of 2023 as amended, as of October 2026).
A quick check for your own case
You can reasonably handle the whole setup on your own when all of these are true:
- there's one shareholder, and that shareholder is a natural person, not a company;
- your activity code is a standard one that needs no regulator's approval;
- you're using a free zone with a published package and an online portal;
- there are no corporate shareholders and you won't trade on the mainland from a free zone;
- you need between none and two visas.
Even then, three things can still trip you up: the bank's checks, Corporate Tax registration and the wording of your activity. For what a simple case costs, see the guide to how much it costs to set up a company in the UAE.
When to bring in help for part of it
You don't have to hand over the whole setup. An adviser can take on a single step. Cases tend to get stuck at the attestation chain, the memorandum, working out which permits apply, and the bank application.
An adviser is clearly the safer choice when any of these apply:
- shareholders that are companies, or shareholders based abroad;
- a regulated activity such as finance, crypto, health, education, real estate, food or media;
- a mix of mainland and free zone;
- trading in goods, or more than three visas;
- a structure in DIFC or in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a foundation, or a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a company set up to hold particular assets;
- any link to sanctioned countries or counterparties.
If two or more of these fit your case, a licensed adviser can deal with the hard step while you do the portal work yourself. The guide on whether you need a business setup consultant looks at which steps are worth handing over. For the order of the whole process, see how to open a company in Dubai and how to start a business in Dubai.
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