UAE business licence costs and renewals: what to budget for

Most answers to "how much does a UAE business licence cost" are either one confident number or a sales funnel. Neither is reliable. Fees are set authority by authority, not federally, and renewing a licence is a separate bill from the one you pay to get started. This guide focuses specifically on licensing and renewal costs, how they differ between mainland and free zone, and how to compare a quote fairly. For the broader question of what starting a business costs overall, including premises, banking and professional services, see The real cost of starting a business in the UAE.

It is general consumer information, not legal advice. It is not financial or immigration advice either.

At a glance

Question	Short answer
Is there one UAE-wide licence fee?	No. Each emirate's economic department, and each free zone authority, sets its own fees
Is renewal cheaper than the first year?	Not confirmed as a general rule either way. Renewal is its own itemised set of charges, not simply last year's fee repeated
Does a "starting from AED X" free-zone price include everything?	Treat it as a starting package price, not a complete quote, until the provider itemises what it covers
What sits outside the licence fee itself?	Establishment cards, visas, office or desk costs and some activity-specific approvals, each charged separately

Initial fees and renewal fees are different bills

It is easy to assume a renewal simply repeats the first year's cost. The one government fee page this research could confirm in detail, Ajman's, does not work that way: the renewal process carries its own named line items, separate from what a new applicant pays for trade name reservation and initial approval (confirmed elsewhere at AED 350 by Ajman's own portal, covered in The real cost of starting a business in the UAE). Treat "what do I pay to start" and "what do I pay every year after" as two separate questions to ask any authority or provider, not one.

How fees actually vary

Per the business-licences and mainland-versus-free-zone guides already published on Savara, licence terminology and market access already differ by authority. The same is true of fees, for more reasons than just "which emirate":

Authority. A mainland company pays its emirate's economic department. A free-zone company pays that specific free zone's own authority, which sets its own schedule independently.
Activity. Some activities carry their own additional approval, and that approval can carry its own fee, separate from the base licence.
Legal form. A sole establishment, an LLC and a branch are not charged identically. Ajman's own renewal process, below, includes a fee that applies specifically to LLCs and not to other structures.
Package. A free zone's "basic" and "all-inclusive" packages (RAKEZ names both, without pricing either on its own public page) can bundle different combinations of licence, office and visa allowance for a different total.

No authoritative source found in this research supports collapsing all of that into a single UAE-wide number, so this guide does not attempt one.

Two confirmed government examples

These are the only two fee structures this research could confirm directly from an authority's own page, with exact figures. They are real, dated and specific, not averages or estimates, and neither should be read as typical of the UAE as a whole.

Ajman: a real, itemised renewal fee list

Ajman's Department of Economic Development publishes the renewal process, and its page states these fees directly:

Charge	Amount	What the page's own wording says about when it applies
Economic licence renewal	AED 600	Listed as a renewal fee; the page states no condition
Administrative services application	AED 50	Listed as a renewal fee; the page states no condition
Commercial register registration	AED 200	Listed as a renewal fee; the page states no condition
Unified economic activities register registration	AED 200	Listed as a renewal fee; the page states no condition
Community contribution to the CSR UAE Fund	AED 1,500	Listed for "companies and establishments"; the page does not say whether this applies to every renewal or only certain categories
Commercial name advertising banner permit	AED 350	Only if a banner permit is requested
Commercial registration certificate	AED 200	Where a certificate is requested
Publishing the official document of an LLC (Ministry of Economy)	AED 3,000	Limited liability companies specifically

The page also mentions contract documentation fees tied to the capital stated in the contract, a translation fee of AED 50 a page where a contract is translated into English, and that Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry system fees may apply on top. None of these has a fixed figure stated on the page itself.

Dubai: the establishment card, a cost this guide does not total

Dubai's General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) publishes fee pages for the establishment card, in the SME and national-company category, for both issuance and renewal. Checked directly again on 17 October 2026, those pages still do not publish a single, reconcilable figure for the card. Rather than quote an amount that GDRFA's own pages don't consistently confirm, this guide does not state a total for the establishment card: get a current, written figure directly from GDRFA or an Amer Service Centre before budgeting for it. Separately, and not themselves in dispute, both pages also add a Knowledge Dirham and an Innovation Dirham of AED 10 each, and the renewal page adds a further AED 50 service fee.

This is not the trade licence fee. It is a separate document tied to sponsoring staff and residency, and it is charged on its own schedule.

This research could not reach the equivalent page for the private-sector or free-zone establishment-card category, so no figure is given for that category either.

Establishment cards, visas and the licence fee are different costs, from different authorities

A trade licence is one approval. Bringing on staff involves at least two more, and they do not come from the same body. Per u.ae's own description of recruiting on the mainland, the employer first applies for a work permit through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), the federal labour authority, which also issues the company's eSignature card. Separately, the "respective General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs" (GDRFA, organised per emirate) issues the company's own firm or establishment card and handles the employee's residence side. MOHRE is the labour authority, not the residence-visa issuing authority; the two processes run in parallel, through different bodies, and each carries its own fee.

The GDRFA establishment-card figures above are the one confirmed cost in this category, for Dubai's SME/national-company category specifically. This research did not confirm whether every free zone routes staff through GDRFA and MOHRE in the same way, or runs its own in-house immigration and labour channel instead, something several free zones are known to do; that is recorded as an open issue rather than assumed either way. Visa fees themselves, separate from the establishment card, were not confirmed in this research; budget for them as a distinct line item, not something already covered by the licence fee.

Office, desk and tenancy requirements

Per u.ae's own page on starting a mainland business, "all businesses in the UAE must have a physical address to operate," and the premises must meet the relevant Department of Economic Development's and local municipality's land-planning rules, with a registered tenancy agreement (in Dubai, via Ejari). That sentence is stated on a mainland-specific page, without a stated exception for virtual offices or any specific activity.

What this means in practice, and what counts as meeting it, is less settled. A dedicated office, a flexi-desk, or a flexi-office inside a free zone's own facility are different things that different authorities treat as sufficient, and RAKEZ's own published guide names flexi-desk, flexi-office and executive-office categories as options without stating a price for any of them or confirming how each is treated for address-requirement purposes. This research did not independently confirm, from a free-zone authority's own source, that the mainland rule above applies identically to a free-zone company, or that a flexi-desk is formally accepted as satisfying it; that is recorded as an open issue. No specific office or desk cost was confirmed in this research for any authority.

Activity-specific and external approvals

Some activities need a sign-off from a body other than the licensing authority itself, a health authority, a media authority, a sector regulator, before the licence can be issued or renewed. Business licences in the UAE already covers why this is activity-specific rather than a general rule. Where it applies, that approval is typically its own separate process with its own cost, and this guide does not attempt to list them, since they depend entirely on the specific activity.

Renewal timing and late fees: what's confirmed, what isn't

Ajman's own page states that a licence is valid for a minimum of one calendar year and up to three years where renewal conditions allow, and that a business has one month from expiry to renew before a late charge applies, calculated per month, with any part of a month counted as a full month. The page does not state the amount of that monthly charge. No equivalent confirmed figure was found for Dubai or any other emirate in this research. Treat "there is a late fee" as confirmed, and the specific amount, for any emirate, as something to ask the authority directly rather than something this guide can state.

Why a headline free-zone price may not be the total cost

A "starting from AED X" figure is a marketing starting point, not a quote. It commonly excludes one or more of: the establishment card, visa allowance beyond a stated minimum, office space beyond a shared desk, activity-specific approvals, and the renewal cost itself. RAKEZ's own guide illustrates this pattern directly: it names package tiers without listing what each actually costs, leaving the real figure to be confirmed only once you ask. Treat any advertised starting price the same way: a prompt to request an itemised quote, not a number to budget against as it stands.

Building a realistic budget

Identify the specific authority first, your emirate's economic department or one named free zone, since fees are set at that level, not federally.
Ask for the renewal fee at the same time as the initial fee. A low first-year price can sit next to a higher or differently structured renewal cost.
Get every inclusion and exclusion in writing before treating a package price as your actual cost.
Budget the establishment card, visas, and office or desk arrangement as separate line items, not as part of the licence fee.
Where this guide says a figure is not confirmed, that reflects what official sources actually publish, not a gap unique to your research.

Related: The real cost of starting a business in the UAE; Business licences in the UAE; Mainland vs free zone in the UAE; How to open a business bank account in the UAE.

General consumer information only, not legal advice. It is not financial or immigration advice either. Fees, renewal rules and requirements are set by individual authorities and can change, so confirm the current figure directly with the relevant authority before relying on anything here. Savara does not endorse any specific licensing authority, free zone, package or service provider named or implied in this guide.

Savara Editorial prepares guides from the official and published sources listed above, and a person reviews each one before it is published. Reasonable care is taken to keep guides accurate, but fees, rules, and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on anything here. Guides are general information, not legal, financial or other professional advice. To the extent the law allows, Savara is not responsible for decisions made on the strength of a guide. If you spot an error, please tell us and we will review it.