Key Takeaways
- For mainland licences, DET hasn't published any rule on virtual offices or flexi desks. Get the office rule for your licensed activity confirmed in writing.
- When a Dubai company rents commercial space, the Ejari has to be in the licensed company's name. That's what the Dubai Land Department FAQ said in October 2026.
- On the mainland, no published rule ties the number of visas to the size of your office. MOHRE sets the quota after a Ta'qeem evaluation. Free zones publish their own allowances.
- Free zones give visas per package. DMCC says Jump Start is eligible for three, with one included, and Basic Biz for one. RAKEZ allows up to 2 per desk.
- Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024 asks Dubai authorities not to demand a minimum office area unless a law requires one. It's guidance for officials and gives founders no right to rely on.
Plenty of founders want to start without paying rent, and a virtual office in Dubai looks like the answer. It gives you a business address and someone to handle your mail, but no desk. Whether that's enough depends on your licence. Free zones usually sell a flexi desk as part of their packages. The mainland is murkier. The Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Dubai's mainland licensing office and formerly the DED, hasn't published a rule on virtual offices or flexi desks, and you'll hear conflicting answers in the market.
Virtual office Dubai, flexi desk and co-working defined
A virtual office is an address and mail handling with no workspace. A flexi desk lets you use a shared workstation for a set amount of time. Co-working means renting space at a shared desk.
Sellers use these words loosely. Read what the product actually includes rather than going by its name. IFZA (the International Free Zone Authority) is one example. Its office-types page of 11 January 2023 describes its Flexi Desk as a shared workstation you can use for 10 hours a week.
Ejari is Dubai's official register of tenancy contracts, run by the Dubai Land Department. Registering a lease there is compulsory under Dubai Law 26 of 2007 as amended. For a commercial lease, the Ejari has to be in the licensed company's name (Dubai Land Department FAQ, October 2026). The same FAQ says that anyone wanting to register a business centre or incubator needs a commercial tenancy of at least 5,000 sq ft, valid for 5 years.
Flexi desk packages in Dubai free zones
A free zone is an area with its own authority that licenses companies under its own rules, and many of them include a flexi desk with the licence. Meydan says every licence comes with a flexi desk and that you don't have to lease a physical office. SHAMS, the Sharjah Media City free zone, issues LLC licences with a flexi desk under a lease agreement. DMCC sells both flexi-desk and co-working packages. DIFC, the Dubai International Financial Centre, only gives you a Flexi Desk once you hold its Innovation Licence. These details come from the zones' websites, checked in October 2026.
The Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) treats serviced offices and flexi facilities as different products. Visas for a serviced office are counted per desk. The flexi facilities have their own visa terms, which you'll want to compare before picking one. For the full picture of this zone, see the guide to company setup in RAKEZ.
IFZA is based in Dubai Silicon Oasis. It doesn't publish a visa table, and it doesn't say at what point you'd need to lease real office space.
All of these products are built to meet the free zone's own premises rule. A mainland licence from DET is a different application, with a different rule.
Mainland licences and the Ejari question
On the mainland, meaning anywhere in the emirate outside a free zone, there's no published answer. DET hasn't said whether a virtual office or flexi desk is enough for a licence. Ask DET which premises rule applies to your licence activity, the exact business you may carry out, picked from an official list.
The press has filled in part of the gap. In March 2025 Khaleej Times quoted a DET representative as saying a standard licence needs a memorandum of association, the founding contract between the owners, and a lease for the site. According to the same report, an instant licence can come with a virtual site for its first year. That's one conversation reported by one newspaper. Treat it as a hint, not a rule, until DET confirms it.
A 2024 resolution leans the same way but doesn't decide the matter. Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024 tells Dubai authorities not to require a space of a certain area unless legislation calls for it. It's addressed to the authorities, though. It doesn't entitle you to a licence on the strength of a desk alone.
If you do need a lease, a company lease is normally registered in Ejari through a trustee centre for AED 220. The lower rate of AED 177.75, through the Dubai REST app or the Dubai Land Department website, is for leases between individual tenants and landlords (Dubai Land Department, October 2026). There's no published number of days for registering a lease after signing. Get the landlord or business centre to register it straight away.
Founders without premises have other options outside Dubai. In Abu Dhabi, the Department of Economic Development (ADDED) says its Freelancer and Mobdea licences don't need a physical office. It also offers a Virtual licence for people who live outside the UAE (ADDED, October 2026). Holders of a Tajer Abu Dhabi licence get a limited period without premises. In September 2026 ADDED gave those whose period ends in 2026 one extra year (Abu Dhabi Media Office, 24 September 2026).
Here's a pattern that comes up often. A founder buys a virtual office or flexi desk first and only then learns what the premises rule is for the activity. The mainland licence, the visa quota or the bank account gets stuck, and the package fee is gone. A lease or Ejari in someone else's name causes the same trouble when you apply and again at renewal. The trade licence in Dubai guide shows at which step the lease comes in.
Visa quota and office size
Your visa quota is the number of residence visas your company may apply for. For Dubai mainland companies, nobody has published a link between that number and office size. The work permit quota page of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) says the quota follows a Ta'qeem evaluation, MOHRE's check of your business before it sets the quota. The page gives no criteria and says nothing about office area or Ejari.
Free zones set their own numbers, and they vary. RAKEZ says one serviced-office desk gives up to 2 visas and two desks up to 4, with a minimum of 3 m2 per desk (RAKEZ serviced offices page, October 2026). DMCC, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, lists Jump Start as eligible for three residence visas with one included. Basic Biz is eligible for one. Both packages come with a flexi desk (DMCC package page, October 2026). Each extra visa quota costs AED 500, plus an AED 250 application fee you don't get back (DMCC Schedule of Charges, October 2026).
Other zones say less. IFZA has no visa table online. In July 2023 an IFZA article said the office requirement was waived for licences with fewer than four visa allocations, and that may have changed since. Ajman Free Zone's FAQ says the quota depends on the location. DIFC's allocation table gives 1 visa per business-centre desk and doesn't mention flexi desks.
Meydan prices its standard licence without visas and charges for them on top. How many visas a Meydan flexi desk supports isn't stated.
So a package that lists five visas may give you fewer. Zones tie the quota to the desk or the leased area. For how to read the allowance, see the free zone visa guide.
Banks and KYC, and why an address alone is not substance
Banks run know-your-customer (KYC) checks before they open an account, and your address is only one thing they look at. Central Bank guidance on legal persons treats shell companies as a form of abuse. It describes them as firms with no operations, no assets, no employees and no physical presence.
Mashreq is an example of what banks ask for. Its NEO BIZ document list wants proof of the company's address alongside the trade licence and the memorandum of association (Mashreq, October 2026).
Corporate Tax looks at the same thing. To count as a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP), a free zone company that meets the conditions for the zero tax rate, a company must among other things have adequate substance in the UAE (Federal Decree-Law 47 of 2022, Article 18(1)). Whether a flexi desk with nobody working at it passes that test is something a corporate tax consultant can assess.
The problem is known. On 25 December 2025 Dubai's Free Zones Council said free zone companies had struggled to open bank accounts. It added that shared standards for classifying risk were being worked out with the parties involved (Dubai Media Office).
Costs quoted by zones
You won't find a price list for virtual offices or flexi desks on their own. The desk is priced into each zone's package, along with visas and services. Look at what's included before you compare the totals. The table below helps you do that, using the prices each zone printed as of October 2026.
| Zone | Product | Package price as printed | Visas stated | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meydan Free Zone | Standard licence with flexi desk | From AED 12,500 a year, visas not included | Charged separately; number not stated | Meydan price page, October 2026 |
| DMCC | Jump Start, flexi desk | AED 43,780 | Eligible for 3, one included | DMCC package page, October 2026 |
| DMCC | Basic Biz, flexi desk | AED 35,484 | Eligible for 1 | DMCC package page, October 2026 |
| IFZA | Flexi Desk | No price list published | No visa table published | IFZA website, October 2026 |
| DIFC | Co-working with Innovation Licence | USD 250 a month, billed annually | Up to 2, offered with a 50% co-working discount | DIFC landing page, October 2026 |
Any company lease also brings the AED 220 Ejari fee mentioned earlier. The establishment card, the immigration record that lets your company sponsor visas, and each visa itself are paid for on top of the desk.
Questions to ask before you buy
Put these questions to the seller and to the licensing authority, and keep their replies. The answers tell you whether the desk will hold up for your licence, your visas and your bank account, or whether you'd be throwing away the package fee.
- Will the licensing authority accept this desk or address for my licensed activity, both when the licence is issued and when I renew?
- Will the Ejari or lease be in the company's name, and who holds it?
- How many visas come with the package, and what does the zone base that number on?
- Which bank documents can this address support?
- What happens to the desk and the visas if the company grows past the allowance?
- For Meydan: how many visas does the flexi desk support? For IFZA: how many visas does each licence allow, and when does leased office space become necessary?
A desk that works for one activity can block another. While the mainland rule stays unpublished, the practical option is to have a licensed adviser get the authority's confirmation for your activity before you pay.
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