The Real Cost of Setting Up a Business in Dubai in 2026 (Every Fee, No Surprises)
Ali JasimA simple Dubai company licence starts from around AED 12,000, but that is only one of six cost buckets. A realistic year-one budget includes the trade licence, workspace, the establishment card, residence visas (with medical and Emirates ID per person), any regulated-activity approvals, and renewals.
A solo free zone setup with one visa is often the low end; a mainland company with an office and several visas is much higher. The single biggest swing factors are your office requirement and how many visas you need.
The advertised "business setup from AED X" figures are real, but they answer a narrower question than most founders are asking. They price the licence.
They do not price the company you will actually be running in twelve months, with visas, an address and renewals. This guide lists every bucket so your budget matches reality, not the headline.
Bucket 1: The Trade Licence
This is the fee people quote. It covers the government registration and your right to carry out your listed activities.
It varies by jurisdiction, by the number and type of activities, and by the free zone or the mainland authority. A simple free zone licence can start from around AED 12,000.
Extra activities, or activities that need external approval, raise it.
Bucket 2: Workspace
Every company needs a registered address. On the mainland this means a real office with an Ejari tenancy contract, and the size of that office sets how many visas you can hold.
In a free zone you can often use a flexi-desk or shared workspace, which is dramatically cheaper. This is the bucket that most often decides whether a free zone or mainland setup is cheaper for you.
If you do not need a shopfront or a large team, the workspace saving in a free zone is significant.
Bucket 3: The Establishment Card
Before you can sponsor a single visa, the company needs an establishment (immigration) card. It is a modest fee, but it is mandatory and it is easy to forget when you are only looking at the licence price.
No establishment card means no visas.
Bucket 4: Residence Visas
This is the bucket that scales with your team, and it is more than one fee per person. Each residence visa runs through an entry permit, a status change, a mandatory medical test, biometrics, and the Emirates ID.
Every one of those has a cost, and they repeat at renewal. Budget per person, not per company, and remember the owner needs a visa too.
| Item | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Entry permit | Setup | Allows the person to enter or change status |
| Status change | Setup | Converts to residence without leaving |
| Medical test | Setup and renewal | Required for residency |
| Emirates ID | Setup and renewal | The national ID card |
| Visa stamping | Setup and renewal | The residence permit itself |
The calculator adds every visa sub-fee automatically, so the number you see is the number you pay.
Bucket 5: Regulated-Activity Approvals
If your activity is regulated, an external authority must approve you, and that approval has its own fee and timeline. Healthcare needs the DHA, education the KHDA, food the Dubai Municipality, and financial services the Central Bank or the DFSA.
Most activities are not regulated, but if yours is, this bucket is real and needs to be in the budget from the start.
Bucket 6: Renewals and Running Costs
A company is not a one-time purchase. The trade licence renews annually.
Visas renew on their own cycle (typically every two years), each carrying a fresh medical and Emirates ID. The office lease renews.
If you registered for VAT or corporate tax, there is bookkeeping and filing. None of this is huge individually, but a realistic owner budgets for the second year before the first year ends.
A Sensible Way to Budget Year One
- Decide jurisdiction based on customers and office needs, not the licence price.
- List your exact activities and check whether any are regulated.
- Count the visas you genuinely need in year one, owner included.
- Add workspace: flexi-desk in a free zone, or a real office on the mainland sized to your visa count.
- Add the establishment card and per-person visa sub-fees.
- Add a renewal buffer so year two is not a shock.
Do that and you have a real budget rather than a hopeful one. To turn the list into an exact figure, the cost calculator prices every bucket for your specific plan.
For the jurisdiction decision itself, read free zone vs mainland.
Frequently asked questions
A simple free zone licence can start from around AED 12,000, but that is only the licence. A realistic year-one budget also includes workspace, the establishment card, residence visas with their medical and Emirates ID sub-fees, any regulated-activity approvals, and a renewal buffer. The total depends most on your office needs and visa count.
For most solo founders and small teams, a free zone licence held against a flexi-desk, with the minimum visas you need, is the cheapest route. It avoids a full office lease, which is the single biggest cost on the mainland.
They are not hidden so much as left off the licence quote: the establishment card, per-person visa sub-fees (medical, Emirates ID, stamping), office and Ejari on the mainland, deposits, and regulated-activity approvals. A proper quote includes all of these.
Sometimes. Many free zone packages bundle a set number of visas; mainland visas are usually priced separately and tied to your office size. Always confirm whether a quoted price includes visas and how many.
Renewal is generally lower than setup because it repeats the recurring items (licence, office, and visas on their cycle) without the one-time setup fees. Budget for it before year one ends so it does not surprise you.
See the number for your setup
The cost calculator runs on Dubai Business Corporation’s real price book. Answer a few questions and get your total, fully itemised, in under a minute.
