Dubai issues commercial licenses for trading goods, professional licenses for services and consultancy, industrial licenses for manufacturing, and tourism licenses for travel and hospitality. General trading and e-commerce are widely used variants of the commercial license.
Licensing
Dubai business license
Every route into a Dubai trade licence, with real costs, documents and timelines.
Fixed price quoted up front
Mainland and every free zone
Licence, visas, banking, one team
Most licences in days, not weeks
A Dubai business license is required for every company operating in the emirate, and which one you need depends on two decisions: what you will actually do, which sets the licence type, and where your customers are, which sets the jurisdiction. Get those two right at the start and everything downstream, from visas to banking to tax, becomes simpler.
A Dubai trade licence is the legal permit to do business, and the type follows your activity. A commercial licence covers trading and general commerce, a professional licence covers services and consultancy, an industrial licence covers manufacturing, and a tourism licence covers travel and hospitality, each issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism on the mainland or by a free zone authority. The activity you register decides what you may lawfully do and invoice for.
Cost depends on the activity, the jurisdiction, the visa count and the office, so there is no single price. A free zone packages the licence with a desk and visas from a few thousand dirhams; a mainland licence adds the Ejari office but trades directly across the UAE. General trading, e-commerce, commercial, professional, industrial and tourism licences each carry their own approvals, and a regulated activity in health, media or finance needs a sector sign-off on top.
The licence is renewed every year, and letting it lapse triggers fines and blocks visa and banking transactions, so the renewal date matters. We match the activity list to what you actually sell, choose the licence type and jurisdiction that fits, handle the approvals and the Ejari where needed, and keep the renewal tracked, with a fixed, itemised quote agreed before anything is filed.
The guides below cover both decisions in detail. Each one sets out what the licence permits, what it costs, which documents you need and how long it takes, so you can compare properly before committing money.
Step one
Choose your jurisdiction
Step two
Choose your licence type
Budget
Not sure what it will cost?
Answer six quick questions and get an indicative range for your licence, visas and office, broken down line by line so you can see exactly what drives the number.
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Licensing questions
The questions founders ask before choosing a licence.
Talk to an advisor Talk to an advisor-
1. What types of business license are available in Dubai?
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2. Which license do I need for my business?
It follows your activity. If you buy and sell goods you need a commercial or general trading license. If you sell expertise or services you need a professional license. If you manufacture or process, you need an industrial license. We confirm the exact activity code before anything is filed. -
3. Should I set up in mainland or a free zone?
Choose mainland if your customers are inside the UAE or you want government contracts. Choose a free zone if you sell internationally, want the lowest entry cost, or want a packaged license with a flexi desk. The decision should follow your customers, not the headline price. -
4. How much does a Dubai business license cost?
UAE free zone packages start from around AED 4,888 all in, Dubai mainland from around AED 12,000, and specialised licenses such as industrial or tourism are priced to your activity because of facility and regulatory requirements. Use our cost calculator for an indicative range, or ask us for a fixed quote. -
5. How long does it take to get a license in Dubai?
A straightforward free zone license can be issued within a few working days. Mainland typically takes 5 to 10 working days. Regulated activities such as industrial, tourism, healthcare and financial services take longer because a second authority is involved.