Key Takeaways
- Nobody official publishes what consultants charge. Their fee is whatever your contract says, so the only fair comparison is item by item.
- You'll usually meet one of three pricing models: a flat service fee, a fee hidden inside a package price, or a separate charge for each task.
- Government fees are published. Registering a lease with Ejari costs AED 220 at a trustee centre, which is how most company leases are done, and AED 177.75 by app or website when tenant and landlord are both individuals (October 2026).
- MOHRE caps a business centre's commission on its establishment card service at AED 72. If you use MOHRE's own website or app, you pay the government fees and nothing else.
- Find out whether a zone or provider pays the consultant too, and check any claimed partner status with the zone itself.
Before you hire someone to set up your UAE company, you'll want to know what business setup consultants charge. There's no official answer. No authority publishes consultant fees, so any figure you come across is either a term in someone's contract or a firm's own advert. What you can compare is how a quote is put together: how the consultant gets paid, which charges are separate anyway, and what work is actually included. We don't quote any consultant's price on this page.
No authority publishes a consultant's fee
Government bodies publish what they charge for their own services. That goes for the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Dubai's mainland licensing office and formerly DED. It also goes for the Dubai Land Department, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), the immigration offices and every free zone. A consultant's work isn't on any of those price lists. You and the firm agree the price between you.
Online guides often print price ranges. Those are the guides' own numbers, and none of them comes from an official source. We don't print a range for consultants, and we don't print one for PROs either. A PRO (public relations officer) is the person who takes your papers to government offices, and the same is true of their fee.
That means you can't check a total against anything. You can check how it's made up. Some of the charges are government fees, some pay for the consultant's own service, and some go to a third party.
Three pricing models
Most quotes take one of three forms, and each one leaves a different question open. Use the table to see what to ask about the model in front of you.
| Model | What you see | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Flat service fee | One price for an agreed set of work, for example the licence, a visa and an introduction to a bank | What exactly is included, and what isn't |
| Fee inside a package price | A single price, often a free zone's package, with no sign of the consultant's share | Is this the zone's own package price, or has it been marked up |
| Fees per task | A separate charge for each step, such as the visa, the establishment card or the memorandum of association | Do you pay again when the same task is done for a second person |
Free zones set the price of their own packages. (A free zone is an area with its own authority that licenses companies under its own rules.) Take RAKEZ, the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone. Its all-inclusive package costs AED 14,000 a year and comes with one residence visa (package page, October 2026). A consultant can sell you that package at the zone's price or put a fee on top. The quote should tell you which. To break any offer into its parts, see the guide to setup packages.
Government fees you can check yourself
Some of the money in every quote goes to the government, and those amounts are public. What a consultant bills you for them should match the authority's own figure. If they add a service fee, it should appear separately. Use this table to hold the government items in your quote against the official amounts, all as of October 2026.
| Charge | Published amount | Set by | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ejari tenancy registration (Ejari is Dubai's official register of tenancy contracts) | AED 220 at a trustee centre, which is how a company lease is normally registered. AED 177.75 by app or website when tenant and landlord are individuals. The service-partner fee is AED 95 and AED 55 | Dubai Land Department | October 2026 |
| Establishment card for a mainland quota (the immigration record that lets your company sponsor visas) | Ta'qeem, MOHRE's check of your business before it sets your work-permit quota, is about AED 406 on MOHRE's service page and may change. Nothing else to pay through MOHRE's website and app. Business centres may charge at most AED 72 commission | MOHRE | October 2026 |
| Dubai establishment card | AED 200 plus 5% VAT, AED 20 in levies and a service fee. Urgent processing costs AED 100 more, and going through an Amer centre (an approved visa service centre) costs another AED 100 | GDRFA Dubai (General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs) | October 2026 |
| Entry visa | AED 100 each for the application, the issuance and the smart service, plus any guarantee. Permits for employees go through MOHRE | ICP (Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security) | October 2026 |
| Emirates ID typing at one zone | AED 351.40 for one year, listed as a typing service | DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) schedule of charges | October 2026 |
| Bank-account opening service at one zone | AED 2,749 for a service run by an independent corporate service provider. You get the money back if the account isn't opened | RAKEZ service page | October 2026 |
The last two rows aren't government fees. The zones price those services themselves. They're in the table because they show how a service charge can be listed openly, right next to the licence.
Other charges are separate for good reason, even though no authority sets them. Drafting and notarising the memorandum of association (MoA), the founding contract between the owners, is one example. A typing centre or a lawyer sets that price, and it changes from case to case. Translation, attestation (the official stamping that makes a foreign document valid here) and courier costs are others. A charge like this is fair when it has a clear name, shows up as its own item and comes with an invoice.
Is a government fee in your quote higher than the authority's figure? Then ask the consultant why, and get the reason in writing. The quote checker guide takes you through a quote one item at a time.
Referral commissions and what they can do to advice
Setup advisers say some free zones pay commissions to partner consultants, and that the amounts differ. No authority publishes them, so we can't give you a figure. Your consultant might be paid by you, by a zone or provider, or by both.
The trouble shows up in the advice. A consultant who earns money from a zone has a reason to recommend that zone. The recommendation can come before anyone has asked about your activity, your bank papers or how many visas you need. By the time those questions come up, you've already paid for the licence. Banks then run due diligence, the checks on who you are and where your money comes from. The Central Bank's customer due diligence guidance says a bank shouldn't take you on as a customer if it can't complete those checks. The rulebook lists that guidance as in force from 7 November 2025, and it's worth checking the rulebook for the April 2026 update.
If a consultant says they're a partner of a zone, look at the zone's own partner list. Only the zone can confirm who its partners are. You'll find AdvisoryHub's own position in the disclosure at the bottom of this page, and the page on how AdvisoryHub lists providers explains how our listings work.
What to ask about conflicts of interest
These questions tell you who is paying for the advice, and whether the advice would change if the money did. Send them by email before you pay, and keep the replies with your contract.
- Who pays you for this job? Does any zone, bank-services provider or insurer pay you as well?
- Do you say you're a partner of this zone, and where does the zone itself confirm that?
- Would you recommend the same zone if its price were different?
- Which charges are government fees, and what does each authority's own page say they cost?
- What do I get back if the authority turns down the activity or the bank won't open the account?
- Who keeps the portal logins and the original documents once the work is handed over?
For the other checks worth running on a firm before you sign, see the guide to choosing a consultant.
Fees that are fair to question
Some things in a quote deserve a straight question, whatever the price. A single total that doesn't split government fees from service fees can't be compared with anything. A government fee above the published figure needs an explanation.
Watch out for promised results as well. Nobody can promise you a bank account, because each bank decides for itself after its own checks. Visas are decided by an authority. If a quote promises either one, it should say what you get back when it doesn't happen.
How you pay matters too. Pay the company named in the contract, and get a receipt or a tax invoice in return. Don't pay into a personal account. Agree who will hold the portal logins, the original documents and the registered address. A provider who keeps those can lock you out of your own company. The red flags guide covers more warning signs like these.
Paying for one part of the work
You don't have to buy the whole setup from one firm. It's possible to pay for a single piece of work on its own. That could be a check of your activity code and permits while the licence is still unpaid, or a review of the memorandum of association. It could also be planning the order of your visa applications, getting the bank papers ready or handling the tax registration.
Each of these jobs has an obvious specialist. A lawyer in the UAE can review the memorandum and the shareholder terms, and the company formation cost guide shows which government fees to expect around that work. Not sure you need paid help at all? Read do you need a consultant or can you do it yourself.
Whatever you buy, go through the scope of work in this order.
- Write down every task the consultant will do.
- Next to each task, note the authority or provider it involves.
- Mark which charges are government fees and which pay for the consultant's service.
- List what isn't included, such as renewal, extra visas, cancellation and the bank's decision.
- Check the payment terms, the receipt and what you get back if a step fails.
Once you have two scopes written out as task lists, compare them side by side. Look at the totals only after that.
AdvisoryHub may receive a fee when you request an introduction; it does not affect the information on this page.
More Company Setup Guides
Related Company Setup Guides
- Company formation cost in Dubai and the UAE, line by line
- How to compare business setup quotes line by line
- Company formation consultants in Dubai, how to choose
- Business setup consultant or DIY, when you need one
- Business setup scam Dubai, red flags in quotes and providers
- Dubai company setup packages and what they leave out
- Freelance visa cost in Dubai, permit fees by route
- How AdvisoryHub lists business setup providers
