Business setup in Dubai, structured right the first time.

Mainland, free zone, or offshore: which structure fits

Every UAE setup starts with one decision that shapes everything after it: where you register. Mainland lets you trade anywhere in the UAE and bid for government work, with a physical office and visa numbers that scale with your space. A free zone gives you 100% ownership, fast licensing, and a flexi-desk option, and suits businesses that sell internationally or online. Offshore is a holding and asset-protection vehicle, not a trading licence, and cannot employ staff inside the UAE.

The right answer follows where your customers are, how you will bank, and your three-year plan, not the cheapest licence on day one. A free zone company that needs to invoice UAE government clients, or a mainland company paying for visas it never uses, are both costly mistakes that a short consultation prevents.

What business setup in Dubai costs in 2026

There is no single price for company formation, because the cost is built from your activity, your jurisdiction, the number of visas, and your office. A single-visa free-zone licence can start near AED 15,000 in the first year. A mainland company with several visas and a physical office runs from around AED 25,000 upward. The honest figure is a schedule, not a headline number, which is why we issue a complete fixed cost schedule before you commit anything.

Year two matters as much as year one. Renewals, visa cycles, and office costs recur, and a licence that looks cheap to open can be expensive to keep. The table below shows the components that make up a typical first-year cost so you can see where the money goes.

Corporate tax, VAT, and compliance

UAE corporate tax is 9% on taxable profit above AED 375,000, and 0% below it. Free-zone companies that meet the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions pay 0% on qualifying income, while non-qualifying income is taxed at 9%. Small Business Relief can reduce it further for companies with revenue under AED 3 million, available for tax periods up to the end of 2026. These rules decide real money and interact with your structure choice, so they belong in the setup conversation, not after it.

VAT is 5%, with mandatory registration once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000 in a 12-month period. Every company must register for corporate tax and keep proper books, and some entities need an audit. We set your structure up to meet these obligations from the start rather than retrofitting compliance later. Your specific tax position should be confirmed with a qualified tax adviser.

100% foreign ownership: where it applies

Since the 2021 reform of the Commercial Companies Law, foreign investors can own 100% of a mainland company across most activities, with no Emirati shareholder required. Free zones have always allowed full ownership. A limited set of strategic-impact activities still carries ownership or approval conditions, and eligibility is confirmed per activity at the point of licensing, so the rule is verified against your specific activity code rather than assumed.

How long setup takes, step by step

Initial approval often lands within 48 hours of a complete submission. The trade licence follows, then the establishment card that lets you process visas. Each residence visa runs through entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, and stamping, usually inside one to two weeks. Most clients are fully operational in 12 to 14 days.

Banking is the one step that does not run to a fixed clock, because the bank's compliance review is outside any agent's control and typically takes two to six weeks. We start the bank application at the beginning rather than the end, so it runs alongside formation instead of adding weeks after it.