LLC Company Formation

A limited liability company in Dubai

What this desk covers

• Confirming the LLC is the right form for the activity before anything is filed, against the Department of Economy and Tourism's own type list
• Trade name options and reservation
• Initial approval
• The memorandum of association, and the signing appointment
• Shareholder and manager documents, including the attestation chain where a partner is a foreign company
• External approvals where the activity is regulated by a second authority
• Premises and Ejari, or a flexi desk where the activity allows one
• The licence application and the follow-up until it issues
• Establishment card, labour file and the visa filings that follow
• Bank account support, and Corporate Tax and VAT registration

Who this page is for

• Two or more people going into business together who want the liability to stop at the company
• A single owner who wants a limited liability company rather than a sole establishment, which Article 71(2) expressly allows
• A foreign company incorporating a subsidiary rather than registering a branch
• A trading or commercial activity that a professional form cannot carry
• An existing owner restructuring from a sole establishment into a company
• Anyone who has been told an LLC needs a local partner and wants to see what the law and the emirate actually say

What we need from you

To open the file and quote:

• Passport copy for every partner and for the manager
• Emirates ID and residence visa copy for anyone already resident
• The activity, in your own words
• Two or three trade name options
• The shareholding split you intend
• A working mobile number and email address

Where a partner is a company, its corporate documents have to be attested, and the chain depends on the country that issued them. The federal portal's list for a mainland file names "Board resolution attested by UAE embassy" and a "Power of attorney given to a UAE resident, attested by UAE embassy" among the documents for companies with foreign ownership (u.ae, updated 27 October 2026). We tell you what yours needs once we know the country.

An LLC's articles are a real document with a signing step, not a form. One thing worth knowing early: the Department's initial-approval requirements note that articles of association are "not applicable for a one-person LLC" (dubai.ae).

How an LLC file runs

1. The activity, and whether an LLC can carry it. Checked against the Department's own list of company types before anything else.
2. Partners and shares. Two to fifty, or one. Article 71(1) is the limit; the split is yours.
3. Trade name. Reserved against the Department's name rules, at a published charge of "AED 620" (ded.ae).
4. Initial approval, published at a stated total of "AED 120" and a service time of "10 minutes - Regular" (ded.ae).
5. The memorandum of association, drafted and signed.
6. Premises and the tenancy the licence sits on.
7. External approvals, where the activity needs a second authority.
8. The licence issues.
9. After it: establishment card, labour file, visas, bank, Corporate Tax and VAT.

Turnaround, and the charges Dubai publishes

• Our own turnaround, which is our record and not an authority commitment: about 4–5 working days for a straightforward file once documents and approvals are in place. A foreign corporate partner's attestation chain, or a regulated activity waiting on a second authority, is what makes it longer.
• Fees: quote on request, itemised in writing, with the government charges separate.

The Dubai charges that are published, quoted from the Department's own service pages and read on 13 November 2026:

What those do not include is the activity fee, the premises and any second authority's charge, which together decide most of what a company actually costs. That is why our quote is written rather than printed on a page.

LLC questions, answered from the law