What a UAE trade licence costs, and what changes the price

There is no single price for a UAE trade licence. Each emirate’s economic department and each free zone authority charges its own fees, and the total depends on the activity, legal form, premises and visas. Some fees are published: Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism lists AED 620 to book a trade name and AED 1,070 plus AED 300 Dubai Chamber membership for its eTrader home-business licence.

Key takeaways

• Each emirate's economic department and each free zone authority charges its own licence fees, so there is no UAE-wide price.
• Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism charges AED 620 to book a trade name, according to Invest in Dubai.
• Invest in Dubai lists the eTrader licence at AED 1,070 in licence, knowledge and innovation fees plus AED 300 for Dubai Chamber membership.
• A full quote also covers premises, the establishment card, visas and any approvals from other bodies, which are priced separately.
• Corporate tax registration is free; Invest in Dubai's recommendation tool and Basher's fees calculator give official estimates for a specific set-up.

On this page 10 sections

Why there is no single price

No single body sets the price. On the mainland, the licence comes from the economic department of the emirate where the business is based, such as the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) in Dubai or the Department of Economic Development (ADDED) in Abu Dhabi. In a free zone, it comes from that zone’s own authority. Each body charges its own fees.

Within one emirate the price still moves. Invest in Dubai, the business portal that DET maintains, says the fees for a new Dubai licence vary with the type of licence and the specific activities, and the UAE government portal counts more than 2,000 activities. A setup quote also bundles charges from other bodies, from the lease to the visas, so two businesses with the same licence can end up with very different totals.

What goes into the cost

A quote for a new business is a set of separate fees, each charged by a different body. Where the table says “varies”, the fee depends on the authority, the activity or the landlord, so any single number would be a market estimate.

Fees Dubai publishes

Invest in Dubai’s service pages give fixed amounts for three of the items in this guide: booking a trade name, the eTrader licence and the Intelaq licence. For other licences, its trade licence page says the fees vary with the type of licence and the activities, and points to its Business Set-Up Recommendations tool.

Trade name

Booking a trade name in Dubai

AED 620

Booking a trade name in Dubai costs AED 620 in total; the name must not be obscene or offensive, must not include the name of God or family, tribe or other people's names unless it is the licensee's, must not resemble existing Dubai or international brands or government projects, must be transliterated rather than translated and must reflect the business activity, and DET may cancel or change a name if a similar one exists.

Booking the name is a service of its own on the Invest in Dubai portal, separate from the licence. DET lets applicants reserve it before initial approval.

eTrader licence for home businesses

Dubai eTrader licence

AED 1,070 + AED 300 Dubai Chamber membership

Dubai's eTrader licence is a sole establishment licence for home-based businesses in Dubai that have been issued a trade name; it is applied for on the Invest in Dubai portal with an ID number, for a fee of AED 1,070 (licence fees and knowledge and innovation fees) plus AED 300 (Dubai Chamber membership).

The two parts Invest in Dubai lists come to AED 1,070 + AED 300 = AED 1,370. Invest in Dubai describes the licence as being for home-based businesses that have already been issued a trade name.

Intelaq licence for UAE and GCC nationals

An Intelaq application starts with Dubai SME rather than at a service centre.

Dubai Intelaq licence

AED 1,070 a year (UAE and GCC nationals)

Dubai's Intelaq licence lets UAE and GCC nationals living in Dubai run a home-based business 100% owned and managed by them for an annual issue and renewal fee of AED 1,070, provided the applicant holds no more than five trade licences; the fee excludes fees and guarantees of federal government agencies and some other entities.

According to Invest in Dubai, Dubai SME discusses the business idea with the applicant and issues an approval letter, which the applicant takes to a service centre to complete registration and licensing. Because Invest in Dubai lists the fee as charged every year, three years of licensing come to 3 × AED 1,070 = AED 3,210, before the fees and guarantees of federal government agencies and some other entities, which the fee does not include.

What the instant licence includes

Invest in Dubai gives no fixed fee for the instant licence, which is issued within five minutes for activities that need no approvals from other bodies. Instead, it lists what the licence can bundle:

• a memorandum of association;
• a virtual site for the first year, in place of a leased office;
• Dubai Chamber membership, for commercial activities;
• an establishment card from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs (GDRFA);
• an establishment card from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) with the option to employ three people, for an LLC, a single-owner LLC, a sole establishment or a civil company.

A normal licence, by contrast, needs an MoA and a lease contract for its site, each a cost of its own.

Abu Dhabi and the other emirates

Each emirate’s economic department charges its own licence fees, so Dubai’s figures do not carry over. In Abu Dhabi, ADDED offers its licensing services, paying licence fees among them, as eServices on TAMM, the emirate’s government services platform. ADDED’s licensing page lists no amounts, so the fee for a given licence has to be checked through TAMM or with ADDED.

One cost Abu Dhabi does not add for most activities is minimum capital.

Minimum capital on the Abu Dhabi mainland

No minimum capital for most activities

ADDED states that a business on the Abu Dhabi mainland can conduct business throughout the UAE with access to the local market without restrictions, and that there is no minimum capital requirement for most business activities.

ADDED also offers an instant licence online, without a visit to a service centre, according to the UAE government portal. The portal lists the licensing bodies of the other emirates, whose fees are quoted by each body: the Sharjah Economic Development Department, the Departments of Economic Development in Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah Municipality.

Free zone costs

Each free zone’s authority charges its own fees, often sold as packages, and Invest in Dubai says the costs vary with the zone, the business activity, the office space and the visas needed. It counts more than 20 free zones in Dubai alone, each run by its own authority, and says that setting up typically means registering the company, leasing premises, getting the licence and arranging banking and visas. It also says costs should be confirmed with the chosen zone.

Some authorities publish their own estimators: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has a business set-up wizard for finding a package, and the UAE government portal links Masdar City Free Zone’s cost calculator.

Mainland access costs extra. A free zone company cannot trade directly on the mainland unless it gets the relevant licence or sets up a mainland branch through DET, Invest in Dubai says. A 2025 Dubai resolution sets out three routes and fixes the DET fees for two of them.

Dubai free zone company working outside its zone

Branch licence AED 10,000 a year; permit up to 6 months AED 5,000

Under Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025, a free zone establishment may operate in Dubai outside its free zone with a DET licence for a branch in the emirate, a DET licence for a branch operating out of the free zone (AED 10,000 a year, licences valid one year and renewable), or a temporary DET permit for specific activities valid up to 6 months (AED 5,000), and must keep separate financial records for that activity.

The route depends on the activity: the resolution requires DET, with the free zone authorities, to issue a list saying which activities need a branch in the emirate, a branch operating out of the free zone or a permit. Work in another emirate needs that emirate’s own licences.

Worked example

DET fees for a Dubai free zone company working outside its zone

The company is an illustration. Its activity is one that needs a DET licence for a branch operating out of the free zone.

1. Year 1, issue of the branch licence: AED 10,000.
2. Years 2 and 3, one renewal each: 2 × AED 10,000 = AED 20,000.
3. DET fees over three years: AED 10,000 + AED 20,000 = AED 30,000.
4. As a monthly figure for budgeting only: AED 10,000 ÷ 12 = AED 833.33, although each year’s fee is paid in one sum.
5. Not included: the free zone licence, any regulator’s approval and the separate financial records the resolution requires.

DET branch licence fees over three years: AED 30,000.

Whether a free zone or a mainland set-up costs less depends on the whole quote, not on one licence fee. Mainland or free zone compares the two on more than price.

E-commerce licence costs

In Dubai, the licence for selling online from home is the eTrader licence, at the fees in the eTrader box above. DET describes it as a licence for individuals or home businesses selling products or services online in the UAE. Dubai’s other home-business licence, Intelaq, is limited to UAE and GCC nationals.

In Abu Dhabi, ADDED’s licensing page describes the Abu Dhabi Trader licence as issued electronically to UAE citizens and residents for specific commercial activities. The page does not list those activities or give a fee.

Free zones that license e-commerce activities price them in their own fee schedules and packages. Which licence fits an online business, and what each one allows, is covered in trade licence types.

Costs after the first year

The licence fee comes back at every renewal, and the other items in the first quote carry their own running costs.

Dubai licence renewal fee

Renewal fee depends on the activity; SMS 6969, portal or service centre

A Dubai mainland trade licence is renewed at a service centre, by SMS to 6969 or on the Invest in Dubai portal, and the renewal is completed instantly; the licence holder receives an SMS reminder near expiry, and the renewal fee depends on the business activity.

The establishment card and residence visas come from the immigration authority, not the licensing body, so their renewal fees are separate. The lease is renewed with the landlord; Dubai’s instant licence includes a virtual site for the first year only, so premises become a cost after that. The steps, deadlines and fines for renewal are in renewing a trade licence.

Corporate tax adds no registration fee.

Corporate tax registration fee

Free of charge

Corporate Tax registration through the FTA's EmaraTax platform is free of charge.

Who must register, and by when, is set out in corporate tax registration; the conditions for the free zone 0% rate are in free zone corporate tax.

How to get an exact quote

The exact figure comes from pricing one set-up, line by line, with the official tools and with each body that charges a fee:

1. Fix the activity and the legal form. Together they decide the licence type and most of the fees; see company legal forms and trade licence types.
2. Run an official estimator. Invest in Dubai’s business set-up recommendation tool suggests structures and licences for a Dubai set-up and estimates licence costs. The federal Basher platform has a business fees calculator and a set-up navigator that estimate setup costs.
3. In Abu Dhabi, check the licence service on TAMM.
4. For a free zone, ask the authority for its current fee schedule in writing, or use its own calculator where it has one. Packages differ between zones and change over time.
5. Add the lines the licence fee leaves out: premises, the establishment card, visas and any approvals from other regulators.

On the official fee pages used here, licence fees are charged when the licence is issued and again at renewal, and none of them offers monthly payment. On the mainland, the first payment also has a deadline.

Paying for a mainland licence

30 days from the payment voucher

After the steps for a mainland licence are complete, the trade licence fee must be paid within 30 days of receiving the payment voucher; if it is not paid within that period, the application is cancelled.

Where that payment sits among the other steps is shown in the setup steps in order. The other company formation topics are in the Company setup guides.