Dubai LLC (mainland): the licence that sells inside the UAE

The published formation package is AED 21,375 for an Arabic company name and one shareholder. It includes initial approval and name reservation, the MOA, company licence, immigration card and PRO management. Office and Ejari, residence visas, external approvals, DET’s premises-based market fee and activity-specific extras are not included and are quoted separately.

Yes, for most activities: the 2021 reform of the Commercial Companies Law (Federal Decree-Law 32/2021) removed the 51% local-partner requirement. A shortlist of strategic activities still requires Emirati participation — we check your activity against it before anything is signed.

Three cases: you sell inside the UAE without intermediaries (shops, restaurants, local B2B and B2C), you need real consumer-facing premises, or you bid for government contracts. If your clients are abroad, a free zone from AED 5,555 usually serves you better — and we will tell you so.

Yes — a physical office with an Ejari-registered lease is required for licence issue and every renewal, and your visa quota scales with the office size. This is the structural difference from free zones, where a flexi desk covers the requirement.

The federal rules: 9% corporate tax only on profit above AED 375,000, 5% VAT with mandatory registration above AED 375,000 turnover, and 0% personal income tax on salary and dividends. Note the trade-off: mainland income cannot use the QFZP 0% regime — that is exclusive to qualifying free zone income.

Typically three to four weeks end to end: name and initial approval in days, then the lease and Ejari, the notarised MOA and licence issue in the first two weeks, and the immigration file with visas in weeks two to four. The bank account runs in parallel.

It scales with the premises: the bigger the Ejari-registered office, the higher the immigration quota — there is no package cap like in free zones. For teams that grow, this is one of mainland’s quiet advantages.

Generally the smoothest path in the UAE: real premises, an Ejari lease and local activity are exactly the substance compliance teams ask everyone else to prove. Still not automatic — activity, flows and residency are always reviewed, and nobody can guarantee an approval.

For most commercial and industrial activities, no — full foreign ownership since 2021. Some professional licences use a local service agent (an administrative role with no equity), and the strategic-activities shortlist still requires Emirati participation. We map your activity before you commit.

Three recurring lines: the DET licence renewal at official activity rates, the office lease with its Ejari renewal (the biggest line), and the establishment card. A lapsed Ejari blocks the licence renewal — we track lease, licence and visa cycles together so nothing lapses.

Mostly: name, approvals and drafting are remote, and a power of attorney can cover the notarisation. You will need to be in the UAE for the visa biometrics, and signing the lease is easier in person — we sequence the one trip so everything lands in it.

The usual route is opening the LLC alongside and migrating contracts, or keeping both — free zone for international flows, LLC for UAE sales. A direct conversion is not a standard procedure. We plan the two-entity path when UAE revenue starts to matter.