Dubai free zone company setup and the other UAE zones: our packages from AED 2,150

A free-zone company in Dubai or another emirate is 100% yours and licensed in 1 to 5 working days: the zone's license is paid at cost, our packages start at AED 2,150.

Three ways to set up a company in the UAE

Free zonefrom AED 2,150plus the zone's fee, license in 1 to 5 working days
Mainlandfrom AED 2,150plus DET's fee, license in 1 to 2 weeks
Offshorefrom AED 2,150plus the registry's fee, registered in 3 to 7 working days

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A founder counts parcels at a shared desk in a co-working space

What a Dubai free zone is and what a company there gives you

A district with its own authority

A free zone is a district with its own authority, which registers companies, issues their licenses and sponsors their visas under its own rules. Most are built around a trade: commodities in DMCC, finance in DIFC, air cargo in DAFZA.

100% foreign-owned, profit taken out in full

The foreign owner holds the whole company, with no local partner, and takes capital and profit out of the country in full. Goods brought into the zone carry no customs duty until they cross to the mainland.

Where the company sells, and its desk

The company sells abroad and to other free-zone companies, and reaches mainland customers through a distributor, a branch or a permit. Its office can be a flexi-desk, a shared desk rented from the zone, and its residence visas come with the license package. The zone keeps that lease on the license file, outside Dubai's Ejari register.

Three forms a zone registers

Zones register three forms: the FZE with one shareholder, the FZCO with two or more, and the branch of a company that already exists.

Dubai has more than 20 free zones and the UAE more than 40.

Dubai free zones side by side: nine zones and their fees

The fee is what the zone itself charges for a license for one year.

Free zone	License from, a year	Desk and visas	Best for
Meydan	AED 12,500	Flexi-desk in the fee, visas taken with the license	Consultants and online businesses
IFZA free zone	AED 12,900	Flexi-desk, 3 activities on a license	Consulting, trading and holding companies
Dubai South Free Zone	AED 12,500	Flexi-desk in the fee, 5 activity groups	Logistics and e-commerce by Al Maktoum airport
DWTC Free Zone	AED 12,000, AED 525 for a business address and AED 2,000 to register	Co-working address, up to 6 visas with a private office	Consultants, event companies, family offices
DAFZA	from AED 15,000	A desk or an office at Dubai International	Air freight: electronics, pharma, aviation
JAFZA free zone	from AED 5,000, and AED 5,000 to register	A leased office, warehouse or plot at Jebel Ali port	Importers, re-exporters and manufacturers
DMCC free zone	AED 35,484	Flexi-desk in the package, license in 7 to 14 working days	Commodity traders and crypto companies
DIFC	AED 44,070, and AED 29,380 to incorporate	An office in the financial centre	Funds, fintech and holding companies under common law
Dubai CommerCity	quoted by the zone	Offices, warehouses and fulfilment centres beside Dubai International	Online shops and cross-border sellers

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4.8 on Google from 26 reviews.

We had long been looking for someone to register a company in the UAE and help with the account. With Legarithm it went as it should: a clear process, help with the documents, no red tape.

Julia But Google review

Everything is well coordinated and clear. Half an hour of the first meeting was more useful than two weeks of trying to work it out myself.

Octavian Wellspring Google review

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Free zones outside Dubai: thirteen zones by license fee

Sorted by the license fee, lowest first.

Free zone	Emirate	License from, a year	Best for
Fujairah free zone	Fujairah	AED 3,999 at Creative City	Media and services at the lowest fee, and a port on the east coast
Ajman NuVentures	Ajman	AED 4,888	E-commerce and services at a low fee
Ajman Media City	Ajman	AED 4,999	Media, marketing and freelancers
Umm Al Quwain Free Zone	Umm Al Quwain	AED 5,500	Consulting and holding with no visa
Ajman Free Zone	Ajman	AED 5,555	Online shops and traders
SPC Free Zone	Sharjah	AED 5,750	E-commerce and publishing, license in one day
Shams free zone	Sharjah	AED 5,760	Freelancers, media and creative work, up to 50 visas
RAKEZ free zone	Ras Al Khaimah	AED 6,000	Consultants, traders and manufacturers
Masdar City Free Zone	Abu Dhabi	AED 7,000	Clean technology, AI and research
KEZAD	Abu Dhabi	AED 9,450 with a workstation	Industry, logistics and trade by Khalifa Port
Hamriyah	Sharjah	AED 11,000	Heavy industry and trading at a deep-water port
ADGM	Abu Dhabi	AED 20,199, or AED 6,978 for a holding SPV	Funds, family offices and holding companies
SAIF Zone	Sharjah	quoted by the zone	Air cargo, trading and warehouses beside Sharjah airport

Which free zone suits which business

Meydan or IFZA: a Dubai address, a flexi-desk in place of an office and a license from AED 12,500 a year. For a lower fee, Creative City in Fujairah at AED 3,999 a year, or the two Ajman zones under AED 5,000.

What a free-zone company costs with us

Our prices are before VAT. The zone's license and government fees are paid to the zone at cost, and our fee is one of three packages: Smart, Business and VIP. At IFZA a first year with one visa and a bank account is the zone's AED 22,050 (license with a visa 14,900, establishment card 2,200, visa 4,950) plus our Smart package of AED 5,400: AED 27,450. The zone bills its own yearly fee again at each renewal.

Our packages for a free-zone company, the zone's fees apart

from AED 2,150Get a quote

Residence visa, our fee on top of the zone's, each: from AED 1,450
Accounting with the tax returns, a month: from AED 1,300
Permit to trade in mainland Dubai, DET's fee for six months: AED 5,000
Establishment card and Emirates ID, the zone's fees: at the zone's cost
Bank account application, our fee: from AED 1,800

All prices for a company in the UAE

What a Dubai free zone visa costs, and the desk it needs

from AED 1,450A residence visa with us

A residence visa through a free-zone company costs the zone's visa fee, paid to the zone, plus our fee, from AED 1,450 in the Smart package, in Dubai and in the other emirates. Every license package sets how many visas the company can hold. A package with none, such as RAKEZ at AED 6,000 or Shams at AED 5,760, licenses a company whose owner lives elsewhere.

from AED 2,000The establishment card and the medical test

The first visa needs two more lines: the establishment card, which is the company's immigration file, and the medical test with the Emirates ID. Meydan prices them from AED 2,000 and from AED 2,250. The same two lines at the other Dubai zones are in Dubai free zone license and visa fees, zone by zone.

2 yearsOne trip, and the visa is issued

You come to the UAE once, for the test and the fingerprints, and the visa is issued for 2 years. How the owner, the staff and the family apply is on residence visas in the UAE.

AED 12,000More visas need more space

A RAKEZ package with one visa costs AED 12,000. At Meydan the visa places are taken with the license, and the first ones come with the flexi-desk. More people need more space: a private office, or a warehouse for goods, which RAKEZ and Hamriyah lease inside the zone.

Business setup in a Dubai free zone, step by step

day 1
Zone and activities
We match the zone and the activities on the license to what you sell, where your buyers are and the visas you want.
day 1 or 2
Name and application
We reserve the trade name and fill in the zone's application. You upload passports in your account.
1 to 2 days
Signature and fees
You sign the memorandum of association and the desk lease online, and we pay the zone's fees.
1 to 5 working days
License
The zone issues the license and the certificate of incorporation. We register the company with the Federal Tax Authority.
after the license
Visas and bank account
The establishment card and the visas take 1 to 3 weeks. A bank opens the account in 2 to 4 weeks from a complete application. From the first month we keep the books and file the returns: accounting services in Dubai and the UAE.

Corporate tax in a free zone: who keeps the 0% rate

0% and 9%Ordinary tax or a qualifying free zone person

A free-zone company pays UAE corporate tax like any company: 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above. A Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) is taxed another way: 0% on its qualifying income and 9% on everything else. Qualifying income comes from sales to other free-zone companies or from a listed activity such as manufacturing, logistics or holding shares.

6 conditionsThe law's conditions for the 0% rate

Adequate substance in the zone: staff, premises and spending that match the business
Qualifying income
Other income within 5% of revenue or AED 5 million, whichever is lower
Audited financial statements every year
Arm's-length prices with related parties, with the transfer-pricing file
No election of the standard rates by the company

5 yearsAt ordinary rates after one missed condition

A company that misses one condition is taxed at the ordinary rates for 5 years: that year and the next four. We register each company for tax within 3 months of incorporation and file its return. The rules in full are in corporate tax in the UAE.

Documents for a free-zone company

Documents

Each owner and manager

Passport copy
Photo on a white background
Proof of address from the last 3 months
UAE visa or entry stamp, when you are in the country

From the company

Three trade names, in order of preference
The activities for the license
A short business plan, for the zones that ask for one
A declaration of the beneficial owners (UBO)

You send them in your account. We check each document the day it arrives and tell you what is missing.

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Questions about Dubai free zone company setup and the other UAE zones

Which Dubai free zone is best?

For a consultancy or an agency, Meydan or IFZA: a Dubai address and a flexi-desk from AED 12,500 a year. Goods that fly go through Dubai South or DAFZA, each beside an airport, and commodity or crypto companies take DMCC. Our guide to the best free zone in the UAE for each kind of business weighs 22 zones by fee, first visa and time to the license.

What are the requirements to qualify as a free zone person in the UAE?

Adequate substance in the zone, qualifying income, other income within 5% of revenue or AED 5 million, audited accounts, arm's-length dealings with related parties and no election of the standard rates. A Qualifying Free Zone Person then pays 0% on its qualifying income. Our guide Qualifying Free Zone Person: the six conditions takes them one by one.

Can a free-zone company do business on the mainland?

Yes, through a mainland distributor or a branch. In Dubai a free-zone company with a Dubai Unified License also takes a mainland operating permit from DET for AED 5,000 for six months.

How long does free-zone company setup take?

1 to 5 working days for the license at zones such as Meydan, RAKEZ and Shams, and 7 to 14 working days at DMCC. Visas follow in 1 to 3 weeks and the bank account in 2 to 4. The license types and the yearly renewal: trade license in Dubai.

FZE or FZCO: what is the difference?

The number of owners. An FZE has one shareholder and an FZCO two or more, and a foreign company can register a branch in the zone under its own name.

Can a free-zone company open a bank account in the UAE?

Yes. We prepare the application with the license, the memorandum and proof of what the business does. The banks and their minimum balances are on business bank account in the UAE.

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