An IFZA licence through SwiftHub starts at AED 12,900 for a zero-visa company. That is the number. What follows is everything that sits on top of it, because the licence price is one line of a first-year invoice and treating it as the total is how people end up AED 8,000 over budget in month two.
One thing to know before you compare quotes: IFZA does not publish a price list. Its licence pages carry an enquiry form where a rate card would be. Every IFZA figure you find in a search result is somebody's quote, not an official rate, and they differ because they include different things.
The zero-visa year, itemised
This is our side of it, in full. Nothing here is a government charge:
| Line | Cost |
|---|---|
| IFZA licence, zero visas, through SwiftHub | From AED 12,900 |
| Corporate tax and VAT registration | AED 600 |
| Bank account assistance, standard activity | AED 1,000 |
| Our total, zero visas | From AED 12,900 plus the two above |
Add a residence visa and our per-person fees are AED 200 for typing, AED 300 for unemployment insurance, AED 300 for portal access and health cover from AED 500. That is a floor of AED 200 plus the rest, per person, and it is our fee rather than the government's.
What is not in any of those numbers
- Establishment card. Immigration will not process a single visa until the company holds one.
- Visa allocation. IFZA ties visa quota to the facility package you take, so a third hire can become a premises decision rather than a hiring one.
- Per person, per visa: entry permit, status change if the applicant is already in the country, medical screening, Emirates ID. Four government steps, each with its own fee.
- Office or desk, where your package or visa count requires more than the entry facility.
- Attestation and legal translation, if your documents were issued outside the UAE.
Renewal, and why nobody quotes it up front
The licence renews annually and visas run on their own cycle, usually two years. IFZA does not publish renewal pricing any more than it publishes setup pricing, so a renewal figure quoted to you today is an estimate of what a third party will charge next year.
Ask anyway, and ask in writing. The question that separates a cheap setup from a cheap company is what year two costs, and a consultancy that will not answer it is telling you something. Ajman Media City is the one zone in our range that publishes renewal prices alongside setup prices, which is worth knowing if predictability matters more to you than a Dubai address.
Where IFZA is worth the money
A Dubai address without a Dubai mainland licence, full foreign ownership, and a zone that is used to consultants, agencies and trading companies. If your clients are international or inside free zones, that combination is hard to beat at this price.
Where it is not: selling directly to mainland UAE customers at scale, which a free zone company cannot do without a distributor or a second licence. Mainland business setup is the honest answer there, and the disadvantages of a free zone company is the longer version of the argument.
How IFZA compares on price
Among the five zones we are asked about most, IFZA is the most expensive entry point and the only one with a Dubai address. The others start lower:
| Zone | Through SwiftHub, from |
|---|---|
| Ajman Media City | AED 4,499 |
| SPC Free Zone, Sharjah | AED 4,999 |
| SHAMS, Sharjah | AED 5,750 |
| RAKEZ, Ras Al Khaimah | AED 6,000 |
| IFZA, Dubai | AED 12,900 |
Whether the difference is worth paying depends entirely on whether your customers care where you are registered. Many do not. The free zone comparison sets the five side by side on visas, premises and published rates, and the cheapest free zone licences takes the price question on its own.
Tax, briefly
An IFZA company registers for corporate tax like any other and files a return nine months after its period ends. The 0% rate for a Qualifying Free Zone Person applies to qualifying income, not to the company, and the conditions are specific: see what qualifying income really means. The Federal Tax Authority publishes the current rules.
IFZA cost questions
Ours starts at AED 12,900 for a zero-visa company. IFZA publishes no rate card, so any figure below that which you see advertised is worth asking two questions about: what is included, and what the renewal is.
No, and you should assume the same of any IFZA quote unless it says so in writing. Visa allocation is tied to the facility package, and the per-person immigration charges sit outside every licence price.
Because IFZA publishes no public pricing, so every quote is a consultancy's own number covering a different bundle. One includes the establishment card and one visa; another is the licence alone. Compare on what is in the number, not on the number.
IFZA does not publish renewal pricing. Get the renewal figure in writing before you commit to year one, from us or from anyone else. If a consultancy will not put it in writing, that is the answer.
Not directly, in most cases. A free zone company trades inside its zone and internationally; reaching mainland customers means a distributor or a mainland licence. That constraint, rather than price, is what usually decides between the two.
It depends on the package and the visa count. IFZA ties visa quota to the facility, so the point at which you need real square metres arrives with your headcount rather than with your revenue.
Prices last reviewed 29 August 2026. SwiftHub figures come from our own price list and are indicative rather than an offer; your quote is confirmed in writing before anything is filed. IFZA's own rates are not published, which is stated above rather than filled in with an estimate.
