Mainland company formation in the UAE: Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah

"Mainland" simply means a company licensed by the emirate's own government economic department, rather than by a free zone. In Dubai that department is the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), known until recently as the Department of Economic Development (DED). The reason people choose mainland is freedom to trade: a mainland company can sell to any customer anywhere in the UAE, without the distributor or branch arrangements a free zone company needs to reach the local market. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism lists the mainland advantages as no limit on the number of visas, 100% ownership for all but a short list of strategic activities, and no requirement for a local service agent when a foreign company opens a branch.

The legal forms available are those in Article 9 of the Companies Law: general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, public joint stock company and private joint stock company. Most owner-managed businesses use the LLC, which may have from two to fifty partners or a single owner as a one-person company (Article 71). Sole professionals also use establishments licensed by the economic department, which are not companies under the Companies Law.

The UAE Government portal, citing the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, sets out the mainland sequence as follows. We have added who acts at each step.

1. Identify the business activity. The portal says there are more than 2,000 activities to choose from; the activity decides the licence type and any third-party approvals.
2. Select the legal form. LLC, one-person company, establishment, partnership, joint stock company or branch.
3. Apply for the trade licence with the economic department of the emirate.
4. Register the trade name. It must be followed by the legal-form abbreviation (LLC, EST, PJSC, PrJSC), must not be offensive, must match the activity, must not use religious or government names and must not already be registered.
5. Obtain initial approval. This confirms the government has no objection to the business being established. It does not permit trading. The portal states that foreign investors must obtain the approval of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs before the initial approval.
6. Draft the memorandum of association and, where the authority requires it, a local service agent agreement (see the section below). Under Article 14 of the Companies Law a mainland MOA must be in Arabic and attested by the competent authority or it is void.
7. Select a location. All businesses must have a physical address; in Dubai the lease is registered with Ejari.
8. Obtain additional government approvals where the activity requires them: the portal's examples include the TDRA for telecoms, MOCCAE, the GCAA, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Economy for auditing and foreign branches, MOHRE for manpower supply, the SCA, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, MoIAT and the National Media Council.
9. Submit the documents and pay. Licence fees must be paid within 30 days of receiving the payment voucher.

The portal adds that the Basher platform lets eligible investors establish a business online in 15 minutes. That figure describes the platform's own process, not the third-party approvals or the immigration steps that follow.

Two pages on the same government portal say different things. The foreign-ownership page states that Decree-Law 26/2020 eliminated "the obligation for branches of foreign companies to appoint a UAE national service agent". The mainland steps page still says that "businesses owned completely by non-GCC residents require a local service agent" and lists an attested service-agent contract "for civil establishments and companies that are 100 per cent owned by non-GCC nationals".

Our reading is that the branch requirement has been removed by law, while the treatment of civil and professional establishments is decided by each emirate's economic department in practice. We do not publish a blanket rule either way. Before you sign anything, ask the licensing authority in writing whether your activity and legal form need an agent, and keep the answer with your licence file.

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism states that the Companies Law fixes a minimum capital of AED 30 million for a public joint stock company and AED 5 million for a private joint stock company, and "did not specify a minimum capital" for other company types. ADDED states there is no minimum capital requirement for most activities in Abu Dhabi. A foreign company that wants a mainland presence without a new company can open a branch, which needs a licence from the competent authority with Ministry approval and an entry in the Ministry's foreign companies register (Articles 336 and 337).

The licence lets you trade. To sponsor residence visas you need the company's immigration file, the establishment card, with ICP or with GDRFA Dubai for Dubai companies, and a MOHRE establishment file if the company employs staff under the Labour Law. MOHRE's service card requires a valid trade licence, a copy of the ICP establishment card, an approved rental contract (immediate licences excepted) and personal identification numbers for owners, partners and authorised signatories. The signatory must also be authorised with ICP. GCC citizens are treated as UAE nationals for this purpose. MOHRE lists a Ta'qeem fee of AED 406, a business-centre commission of up to AED 72, and completion in two working days; applying through the MOHRE website or app is free apart from government fees.

The owner's own residence then follows one of the routes on the investor and partner visa page. Staff residence visas run through MOHRE work permits and the Work Bundle. MOHRE's transfer work permit card lists two-year fees of AED 250, AED 1,200 and AED 3,450 by establishment category plus an AED 50 permit fee, and notes that workers earning less than AED 4,000 a month or without a degree are not classed as skilled.

Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 regulates free zone establishments that want to conduct activities in Dubai outside their zone. It does not apply to financial establishments licensed in the DIFC. The routes are a DET licence for a branch within the emirate (Article 5), a DET licence for a branch in the free zone that operates in the emirate (Article 6), or a temporary permit valid for no more than six months (Article 7). Article 12 sets the fee at AED 10,000 per year to issue or renew a branch licence and AED 5,000 to issue or renew a temporary permit. The establishment must keep separate financial records for its mainland activity (Article 3) and may use its existing free zone workforce (Article 8).

Licence fees themselves vary by emirate, legal form and activity, and the pages we checked do not publish a single figure; SEDD offers a fee calculator. The official fees that are stated are below.

No official page states an end-to-end time for a mainland formation. The figures that are stated are the Basher platform's 15 minutes for online establishment of eligible businesses, two working days for the MOHRE establishment card, and two days for ICP's residence-issuance step. Third-party approvals, MOA attestation, Ejari registration and bank onboarding are not quantified anywhere official.

If your customers are in the UAE, mainland is usually the answer and the open questions are the emirate, the legal form and the activity approvals. Send us those three items and a consultant will confirm the authority, the document list and the sequence for your case. If you are still deciding between mainland and a free zone, start with the comparison page.