A Dubai mainland licence through SwiftHub starts at AED 10,999. Mainland means your company is licensed by Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) rather than by a free zone, and the practical difference is simple: you can sell directly to customers anywhere in the UAE.
This page is about whether mainland is the right structure for you and how we run the setup. If what you want is the itemised cost — government fees, Ejari, visas, line by line — that lives in the Dubai mainland cost breakdown, which goes deeper than this page will.
What mainland lets you do that a free zone does not
This is the whole decision, and it is about permission rather than price. Four things change:
- Sell onshore, directly. A free zone company cannot invoice a UAE mainland customer without a distributor, an agent or a branch. A mainland company just invoices them.
- Bid for government work. Public sector contracts are effectively closed to free zone entities. If tenders are part of your plan, this alone decides it.
- Trade anywhere in the country, not from within a designated zone, and open branches in other emirates without re-incorporating.
- Scale visas with your premises rather than against a package tier: the quota follows the office you actually lease.
Which licence type you need
DET issues three, and the right one follows from what you actually do rather than from what sounds most impressive. The UAE has more than 2,000 economic activities, and the activity you pick decides the licence type. Getting it wrong is an amendment, with fees and lost time:
| Licence | For | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial | Buying and selling goods | Trading, retail, e-commerce, general trading, import and export |
| Professional | Selling expertise rather than goods | Consultancy, marketing, IT services, design, engineering services |
| Industrial | Making or processing something physically | Manufacturing, assembly, packaging, food production |
Most activities now allow 100% foreign ownership, which removed the old requirement for a local partner holding 51%. A limited set of strategic-impact activities still requires Emirati participation, so it is worth confirming against your specific activity rather than assuming either way. We check it before you commit to anything.
Which legal form your company takes
The licence type follows your activity. The legal form follows who owns the company and who answers for its debts. The UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism lists nine mainland legal forms, and five of them cover almost every company we set up:
| Legal form | What it is | Founding document |
|---|---|---|
| Limited liability company (LLC) | A separate company owned by one or more shareholders, whose liability is limited to what they put in | Memorandum of association (MOA) |
| Sole establishment | One owner trading under a trade name, with no separation between the business and the owner: its debts are the owner's | Local service agent (LSA) agreement |
| Civil company | Partners practising a profession together, such as consultants or engineers | Memorandum of association (MOA) |
| Branch of a foreign or GCC company | An existing company from outside the UAE operating in Dubai; not a new legal entity, so the parent stands behind it | The parent company's documents |
| Representative office of a foreign company | Promotes the parent company in the UAE; it does not trade or invoice itself | The parent company's documents |
The other four (branch of a local company, holding company, private joint stock company and public joint stock company) are for groups and larger capital structures. For most first-time founders the choice is between an LLC and a sole establishment, and liability decides it: an LLC keeps the company's debts away from your personal assets, a sole establishment does not. The legal form also becomes part of the name, because the trade name has to end with its abbreviation, such as "LLC". The legal form also sets DET's licence fee: what its own estimator charges one foreign owner for each is on business license cost.
What it costs, and what moves it
Our mainland package starts at AED 10,999. That is the base: the licence and the formation work around it. Three things move the all-in first-year figure, and they move it a lot more than the licence does:
- Your office and its Ejari. Mainland requires a real registered address, and the tenancy registration is what the visa quota is calculated from. This is usually the largest single variable and it is entirely under your control.
- How many visas you need, and for whom. Each person is a separate immigration file: entry permit, status change, medical, Emirates ID.
- Your activity's approvals. Some activities need a further authority's sign-off before DET will issue, which adds both fee and time.
Two mainland companies on the same street can therefore pay very different totals. Rather than repeat the arithmetic here, the cost breakdown article itemises government fees, office and Ejari, visas and the operational extras, and you can model your own on the cost calculator.
How we run it
- Activity and legal form. The step everything else inherits from, and the one people rush. We confirm the ownership position for your specific activity here.
- Trade name reservation with DET, ending in the legal form's abbreviation.
- Initial approval. The government's no-objection to the company being set up. It does not let you trade yet.
- MOA or LSA agreement. A memorandum of association for an LLC or a civil company, a local service agent agreement for a sole establishment.
- Premises and Ejari. Every mainland company needs a physical address, and in Dubai the lease is registered through Ejari. It has to be done before the licence issues, and it sets your visa quota.
- External approvals, where your activity needs another authority's sign-off. The Ministry names the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the TDRA as examples.
- Documents, fees and the licence. The initial approval, the registered lease, the MOA and any approvals go in together; the fees are paid and the licence issues.
- Chamber of Commerce registration, in Dubai, where the company was incorporated.
- Establishment card, before any visa can move.
- Visas, in order: entry permit, status change, medical, Emirates ID.
- Corporate tax registration, which is required whether or not you profit.
Steps 1 to 8 are the Ministry of Economy and Tourism's ten mainland steps, with two pairs combined. The Ministry puts the licensing itself at four days through the economic department; the steps after it are what make the company able to employ people, including you.
We handle the DET-facing work, the typing and the PRO steps throughout. See DED trade licence services and corporate PRO services for what that covers on an ongoing basis.
What we need from you
- Passport copy for every shareholder and visa applicant
- Passport-style photograph against a white background
- Three trade name options, in order of preference
- Your intended activities, described plainly rather than in official language
- Your tenancy contract, if you already hold premises; otherwise we work through the options with you
- For some professional activities, evidence of qualifications or experience
When mainland is the wrong choice
It is the more expensive structure, and the honest position is that plenty of businesses do not need it:
- Your customers are all overseas. If nobody invoices a UAE address, you are paying for onshore access you will never use. Compare the free zones.
- You are testing an idea. A zero-visa free zone licence is a cheaper way to find out whether the business works.
- You do not want an office yet. Mainland needs a registered address; free zones generally include a flexi-desk.
- You are purely a consultant serving foreign clients. A professional free zone licence usually does the same job for less.
The reverse is just as true. If UAE customers are the plan, no amount of free zone saving survives contact with the first invoice you cannot issue — the disadvantages of free zone companies covers that ground honestly.
Banking and tax
Mainland companies generally have an easier time opening a UAE bank account than free zone ones, because the substance a bank asks about — a registered address, onshore customers, local invoices — is built into the structure. It is not automatic: the bank still runs its own compliance review and reaches its own decision. Our assistance is AED 1,000 for a low-risk activity and AED 2,000 where the activity is treated as higher risk. See bank account opening.
On tax, mainland and free zone are treated the same way in the part that catches people out. UAE corporate tax is 9% on taxable profit above AED 375,000, and registration is required regardless of profit. The 0% qualifying free zone person regime does not apply to a mainland company, so mainland profit above the threshold is taxed. VAT is mandatory above AED 375,000 turnover and voluntary from AED 187,500. Thresholds are the Federal Tax Authority's, at tax.gov.ae. Verified August 2026. We handle tax and VAT registration as part of setup.
Frequently asked questions
Not for most activities. The rule requiring an Emirati partner to hold 51% no longer applies across the board, and full foreign ownership is available for the large majority of commercial and professional activities. A limited set of strategic-impact activities still requires Emirati participation, so it is confirmed against your specific activity before you commit rather than assumed.
Yes, and that is the main reason to choose it. You can invoice mainland customers directly, in any emirate, without a distributor or an agent. A free zone company cannot do that without an intermediary or a branch.
Yes. Mainland requires a real registered address with a registered tenancy contract, and the licence will not issue without it. It is also what your visa quota is calculated from, so the premises decision and the hiring decision are the same decision.
There is no fixed package cap: the quota follows the office space you lease. That is more flexible than a free zone tier in principle, but it means visas and premises are budgeted together: more people means more space, not just more fees.
In practice it is usually a new mainland incorporation rather than a conversion, which means new licence fees, new visas and a transition to plan around. That is exactly why the onshore question is worth answering honestly at the start, even when a free zone licence looks cheaper on day one.
Yes. Shareholders do not have to be UAE residents. You will need to be present for certain steps if you take a residence visa yourself — the medical and Emirates ID stages in particular — but ownership itself does not require residency.
Commercial if you buy and sell goods, professional if you sell expertise, industrial if you make or process something. The distinction follows what you actually do, and choosing wrong means an amendment later with its own fees and delay. Describe the business plainly and we will map it to the right activity codes.
The UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism puts the licensing itself at four days through the economic department. What stretches it is an external authority's approval, and how quickly the premises and Ejari come together, because the licence cannot issue before the tenancy is registered. The establishment card and visas come after the licence. We give you a realistic date range once we know the activity and the office position.
It comes down to liability. An LLC is a separate company: if it runs into debt, your exposure is what you put in. A sole establishment is you trading under a trade name, so its debts are yours personally. An LLC is founded on a memorandum of association and can have one or more shareholders; a sole establishment has one owner and uses a local service agent agreement. A sole establishment has room for one owner only, so if partners or investors may join later, the LLC is the form that can take them.
Next step
Tell us what the business does and who buys from it. You get a straight answer on whether mainland is actually the right structure — including when it is not — and a written figure covering the licence, the office position and the visa steps together.