Your Dubai company,
priced honestly
and built to stay compliant.

A zero-visa free zone licence starts around AED 12,500 per year all-in. Add a two-year investor visa and you are realistically looking at AED 20,000 – 24,000 for year one. Mainland setups start around AED 18,000 and rise with office rent, which is a genuine cost most consultants leave out of the headline. We publish a full breakdown separating government fees from our professional fee, so you can see exactly what you are paying for.

It comes down to who your customers are. If you sell directly to UAE-based consumers or businesses, or you need a shop, restaurant or contracting licence, mainland is usually correct. If your clients are international, or you are consulting, holding assets, running e-commerce or building a tech product, a free zone is cheaper, faster and gives the same 100% ownership. We will tell you which applies to your activity in the first call.

Corporate Tax applies at 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. Every company, including free zone entities, must register with the Federal Tax Authority and file a return, even where no tax is payable. Free zone companies meeting the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions can apply 0% to qualifying income — but the conditions on substance and transaction type are strict and worth checking properly.

For a free zone company: licence in three to ten working days, then two to three weeks for a residence visa, and two to six weeks for a corporate bank account. Because we run visa processing and bank introductions in parallel rather than sequentially, most clients are fully operational — licensed, resident and banked — within six weeks of the first call.

Yes. We take on existing companies for accounting, Corporate Tax and VAT, PRO retainers and visa work without touching your licence. We also handle migrations — moving a company between free zones, converting free zone to mainland, adding activities or restructuring shareholding.

No, and this is where most setup agents disappear. Every Interbiz client keeps the same named account manager after incorporation. Renewal dates, Corporate Tax registration deadlines, VAT filing dates and visa expiries are tracked in our system, and we contact you before each one rather than after the penalty.

For most free zones, yes — incorporation, digital signatures and document verification can be completed remotely, and shareholder documents are notarised and attested in your home country. You will need to fly in once for the Emirates ID biometrics, the medical fitness test and, in almost every case, an in-person meeting with your chosen bank. A well-planned week in Dubai typically covers all three, and we schedule the appointments back to back so it is one trip, not three.

Not for the vast majority of activities. Since the 2021 amendments to the Commercial Companies Law, 100% foreign ownership is permitted across most mainland commercial and industrial activities without a local sponsor, and every UAE free zone has always allowed full foreign ownership. A short list of strategic-impact activities — mostly in defence, security and certain regulated sectors — still requires an Emirati shareholder. We confirm your specific activity before you commit a single dirham.

The mainland and free zone authorities together publish more than 2,000 recognised activities — spanning consulting, trading, e-commerce, media, industrial, IT, financial services and holding structures. Each authority maintains its own list, and the same activity can be priced or bundled very differently depending on the zone. Getting the combination of activities right on day one is far cheaper than amending or upgrading the licence six months in.

Yes. Once your investor or employment residence visa and Emirates ID are issued, you can sponsor your spouse, children and parents. Sponsoring a spouse and children requires meeting the minimum income threshold and holding a registered tenancy contract; sponsoring parents carries higher income requirements plus additional health insurance and undertakings. Golden Visa holders can sponsor family for the full ten-year term with fewer restrictions on time spent inside the UAE.

The most common reasons are an unclear business model, no demonstrable UAE substance, an activity outside the bank's risk appetite, or a source-of-funds story that does not stack up on paper. Almost all of these are file problems, not founder problems — which is why the preparation matters more than which bank you walk into first. We build the KYC and source-of-funds file before the bank sees anything, then introduce you only to institutions with genuine appetite for your profile.

In this order: what is your activity, how many visas will you need in 24 months, which customers actually pay you, and finally what is your budget. Answer those four honestly and the shortlist usually narrows to three or four zones. The rest are a distraction. Our free-zones page compares the ten we most often recommend, and in your consultation we tell you which two or three are worth a serious look for your specific case.

For a straightforward free zone incorporation with foreign shareholders: a clear passport copy for every shareholder and manager, a recent utility bill or bank statement as proof of address, a passport-style photo, and any existing UAE visa page if you already hold one. Corporate shareholders add a set of attested constitutional documents from the parent company. That is genuinely the full list for most cases — anyone asking for more before quoting has usually not decided the structure yet.

Annual renewal is typically 70% to 90% of the year-one government cost, plus the office lease renewal and any visa renewals falling in the same period. For a small IFZA or Meydan set-up expect roughly AED 11,000 to 14,000 government cost, plus visa renewals at around AED 3,500 each. Our written quote at engagement always shows a three-year cost, so you know the ongoing figure before you commit — not after year one.

Yes — the property route requires real estate with a certified value of at least AED 2 million. Mortgaged properties can now qualify subject to conditions, off-plan units from approved developers are accepted, and the value of multiple properties can be aggregated to reach the threshold. Note that a developer sales price is not the same thing as a certified valuation, and the ten-year Golden Visa is separate from the shorter two-year property investor visa many owners already hold.

VAT registration is mandatory once your taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 in the preceding 12 months, or are expected to exceed that in the next 30 days. Voluntary registration is available from AED 187,500 and is worth it if you incur significant recoverable input VAT. Corporate Tax registration is separate and mandatory for every UAE company regardless of turnover — that is the one most owners miss.

Yes, most authorities let you add several related activities to the same licence, and doing this at incorporation is significantly cheaper than amending later. There are two caveats: activities from different regulatory groups (for example commercial trading and professional consulting) sometimes need separate licences, and adding an activity that requires external approval — health, education, media, financial — extends the timeline. We shortlist a coherent activity set with room to grow before you pay.

Free zone entities in DMCC, DIFC, JAFZA, ADGM and several others require audited financial statements at licence renewal, and most other zones are moving in that direction. Mainland LLCs are required to keep accounting records for at least five years, and audit is required for many activities and any company applying for financing. Corporate Tax has made proper books unavoidable in practice — the entities that treated audit as optional are now paying to reconstruct history.

Yes, but do it properly — a licence left to expire without formal liquidation is not the same as closing the company, and unpaid renewals and fines accumulate against the shareholders personally. A clean closure involves cancelling employee visas, settling final Corporate Tax and VAT positions, obtaining clearance letters from utilities and the immigration authority, then filing formal liquidation with the licensing authority. We handle this end to end when it becomes the right decision.

The UAE currently has 0% personal income tax and no wealth, capital gains or inheritance tax on individuals. Corporate Tax at 9% applies only to profit generated by UAE-registered legal entities above the AED 375,000 threshold. However, your worldwide income may still be taxable in your country of tax residence, and the UAE's double-tax treaty network can help — obtain a UAE Tax Residency Certificate through the FTA and get advice specific to your home country before relying on the treaty.