An IFZA licence through SwiftHub starts at AED 12,900 for a zero-visa company. IFZA sits in Dubai, allows full foreign ownership, and suits consultants, agencies and trading companies that want a Dubai address without a physical office.
One thing worth knowing before you compare quotes: IFZA does not publish a price list. Its own licence pages carry an enquiry form where a price would be. Every figure you find in a search result is therefore somebody's quote, not an official rate, and they differ because they include different things.
What an IFZA licence costs
Our zero-visa package is AED 12,900. That covers the licence itself and the formation work around it. Visa-bearing packages are priced per case, because the cost moves with how many visas you need and which activities you pick.
| What you are buying | Position |
|---|---|
| IFZA licence, zero visas, through SwiftHub | From AED 12,900 |
| Visa-bearing packages | Quoted per case, by visa count and activity |
| IFZA's own published rate card | None. The authority publishes no public pricing |
What sits on top of the licence
These are the items that turn a headline licence price into a real first-year cost. We quote them for your specific setup rather than printing ranges, because the authorities do not publish them either and a made-up range helps nobody.
- Establishment card, which must exist before any visa can be issued
- E-channel or immigration portal registration
- Residence visa per person: entry permit, status change, medical and Emirates ID
- Corporate tax registration, required whether or not you make a profit
- VAT registration, once your turnover crosses the threshold
- Attestation and legal translation, where your documents need it
How the setup runs
This is our process, not a published IFZA timeline. Each step depends on the one before it.
- Activity and structure. We confirm the activity list your business actually needs. Getting this wrong is what forces an amendment fee later.
- Name reservation and initial approval. Submitted to IFZA with your passport copies.
- Licence issuance. The licence and incorporation documents are issued once approval clears.
- Establishment card. Required before immigration will process any visa.
- Visas, if you need them. Entry permit, status change, medical, Emirates ID, in that order.
- Corporate tax registration. Done after the licence exists, and required regardless of profit.
Timelines depend on approvals we do not control, so we give you a date range for your case at the quote stage rather than a marketing number here.
What we need from you
- Passport copy for every shareholder and every visa applicant
- Passport-style photograph against a white background
- Your intended business activities, described in plain terms
- Three trade name options, in order of preference
- A UAE entry stamp or visa page, if you are already in the country
When IFZA is the right choice, and when it is not
IFZA works well if you want a Dubai-registered company, you invoice businesses rather than walk-in customers, and you do not need a physical shop or warehouse. Consultants, agencies, e-commerce sellers and trading companies fit it comfortably.
It is the wrong choice in three situations, and it is cheaper to know now than to restructure later:
- You need to sell directly into the UAE mainland market. A free zone company cannot trade onshore without a mainland arrangement. If your customers are UAE consumers or government bodies, look at mainland setup instead.
- Budget is the only thing that matters. Zones outside Dubai are cheaper. SHAMS sits in Sharjah and RAKEZ in Ras Al Khaimah, both below IFZA. You trade the Dubai address for the saving.
- You need a physical retail or industrial space. IFZA is built around flexi-desk and office arrangements, not shopfronts or warehousing.
Three questions that make IFZA quotes comparable
With no rate card to anchor against, IFZA quotes vary more than for any other zone on this site, and they vary because they describe different things — not because one consultant found a cheaper IFZA. Ask every quote you hold, including ours, the same three questions. The cheap one usually stops being the cheap one.
- Does this licence come with visa capability, or just a licence? A zero-visa package is a legitimate product and it is what most low IFZA quotes are. It is not a cheaper version of a package with visas; it is a different thing. If you intend to sponsor anyone, including yourself, a zero-visa quote does not answer your question.
- Is the establishment card in this figure? No visa can be issued before that card exists, so a quote that includes visas but excludes the card is describing a sequence that cannot happen.
- What does year two cost? Setup and renewal are different numbers, and only one of them is usually quoted. A first year that resets to something unexpected in month thirteen is the most common complaint we hear about free zone setups generally.
Two quotes that answer all three are comparable. A headline figure that answers none is not comparable to anything — which is exactly why the IFZA numbers in search results spread so widely while the invoices end up much closer together.
Opening the bank account
A Dubai address helps here, and it is a fair part of why people pay more for one. It does not decide the outcome. The free zone does not open your bank account and neither do we — a UAE bank runs its own compliance review, and what it weighs is where your shareholders live, where your customers are and whether anything about the company is actually in the UAE. A Dubai licence held entirely from abroad is still a thin file.
Our fee for preparing and introducing it is AED 1,000 for a low-risk activity and AED 2,000 where the activity is treated as higher risk, because risk follows the activity you licensed rather than the emirate. More on bank account opening.
Tax, honestly
A free zone licence is not a tax exemption. UAE corporate tax is charged at 9% on taxable profit above AED 375,000, and registration is required regardless of profit. Free zone companies meeting the qualifying conditions can access a 0% rate on qualifying income, but that is a test to be met and evidenced, not an automatic benefit of the licence. VAT registration becomes mandatory once turnover passes AED 375,000, and is voluntary from AED 187,500.
Thresholds are the Federal Tax Authority's, published at tax.gov.ae. Verified August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Our zero-visa package starts at AED 12,900. Packages including visas are quoted per case. IFZA itself publishes no rate card, so treat any fixed figure you see elsewhere as that firm's quote rather than an official price.
Yes. That matters when you are comparing it against cheaper options, because several zones marketed as low-cost Dubai alternatives are registered in Sharjah, Ajman or Ras Al Khaimah. The address on your licence follows the zone, not the marketing.
Not directly. Selling onshore needs a mainland licence, a distributor, or a branch. If most of your revenue will come from UAE-based customers, a free zone licence is the wrong starting structure and it is expensive to unwind.
No. Formation can be completed remotely. You will need to travel for the medical and Emirates ID steps if you take a residence visa, but the licence itself does not require you to be here.
The AED 12,900 package does not. A visa needs an establishment card first, then the entry permit, status change, medical and Emirates ID steps, each with its own fee. We price those together so the total is visible before you commit.
The licence renews annually, and the renewal figure depends on your visa count and activities rather than tracking the first-year price. Ask for the renewal number at the quote stage. A cheap first year with an expensive second year is the most common complaint in this market.
Because IFZA publishes no rate card, so there is no reference price to anchor against, and because the quotes describe different products. The commonest difference is visa capability: a zero-visa licence and a licence you can sponsor staff on are not cheap and expensive versions of one thing. Ask whether visas are included, whether the establishment card is in the figure, and what year two costs.
It helps, and it is part of what you are paying for, but nobody can promise an account — not IFZA, not us. The bank runs its own compliance review and weighs where your shareholders live, where your customers are, and whether anything about the company is genuinely in the UAE. A Dubai licence operated entirely from abroad is still a thin file.
They must register for it regardless of profit. A qualifying free zone person can access a 0% rate on qualifying income, but the conditions have to be met and evidenced. Anyone telling you a free zone licence makes you tax-free is skipping that part.
Next step
Tell us the activities you plan to run and how many visas you need. You get a written figure covering the licence, the establishment card and the visa steps together, plus the renewal number, before you commit to anything.