Free Zone Company Setup
Pre-approval and formation in the six free zones we work with, from the name check to the licence.
Setting up a free zone company in the UAE
There is no national procedure for starting a free zone company, and the UAE Government portal is explicit about where the rule lives: it tells you to “Refer to the websites of free zones and the authorities in:” the seven emirates, and that you can “apply online through the website of the respective free zone authority” (u.ae, page dated 6 May 2026).
So the first useful question is not “how do I open a free zone company” but “which zone, and what does that zone require”. The six below are the free zones we work with, and what follows is what each of them publishes about its own process — not a composite built from all of them.
The legal shape is a separate question from the zone. Dubai’s investor pages describe a Free Zone Establishment as registered by a “single shareholder”, an individual or a corporate entity, and a Free Zone Company as requiring a “minimum of two shareholders” (dubai.ae, page last modified 14 April 2026). FZE and FZCO are structures, not licence types, and the two are regularly confused in quotes we are asked to check.
Fees are quoted on request, in writing, with any government charge shown separately from ours.
What this desk covers
- Choosing between the six zones on the things that actually differ: activity list, visa quota, premises requirement and renewal calendar
- The legal shape — one shareholder or two or more — settled before the application
- The trade name check, and the name rules each zone applies to it
- Pre-approval or initial approval where the zone runs one as a separate stage
- The incorporation application itself, and the follow-up until the licence is issued
- The lease or flexi-desk the licence is tied to
- Shareholder and manager documents, including the attestation chain where a shareholder is a foreign company
- Extra approvals where the activity is regulated by someone other than the zone
- The immigration card application that has to follow the licence before anyone can be sponsored
Get this quoted
Itemised in writing, government charges shown separately, before anything is filed.
Which one do you need?
Who this page is for
- A first company in the UAE, where mainland premises are not wanted or not needed
- An existing mainland owner adding a free zone entity for a different activity
- A foreign company incorporating a subsidiary rather than a branch
- Founders who need a residence visa and want the quota settled before they commit to a package
- Anyone who has been quoted a single figure by three different people and wants the government charges separated out
- Owners who already know the zone and simply want the file run properly
What we need from you
To open the file and quote:
- Passport copy for every shareholder
- The activity you intend to carry on, in your own words rather than in the zone's categories — translating it is our job
- Three trade name options, in order of preference
- How many residence visas you expect to need in the first year
- Whether anyone involved already holds a UAE residence visa
Where a shareholder is a company, its corporate documents will need attesting, and the chain depends on the country they were issued in. We tell you what yours needs once we know the country rather than printing a list that is wrong for most of them.
Document lists differ by zone and none of the six publishes a complete one that stays current. Dubai South Business Hub says as much on its own registration page: confirm current requirements with Dubai South Business Hub at time of application (dubaisouthbh.com, published 28 March 2026, updated 20 October 2026). We check yours against the zone before you send anything.
How a formation file runs
- Tell us the activity and the emirate. Those two decide the shortlist more than anything else does.
- We put two or three zones side by side on activity, quota, premises and renewal, and say which we would pick and why.
- The legal shape: one shareholder or two or more, which decides whether the entity is an FZE or an FZCO.
- Trade name check against that zone's own rules.
- Pre-approval, where the zone runs one as its own stage.
- Written quote — government charges itemised separately from our fee.
- Incorporation application, with the shareholder and manager documents.
- Lease or flexi-desk attached to the licence.
- Licence issued. Then the immigration card, because nobody can be sponsored until that exists.
- Dates recorded and watched, so the first renewal is not a surprise.
Turnaround and fees
- Fees: quote on request. In writing, itemised, government charges separate, before anything is filed.
- Two of the six publish a time. Ajman NuVentures says company setup "can usually be completed within 15 minutes if all documents are in order" (ancfz.ae). Dubai South Business Hub publishes two figures on the same page: "Total time from application to e-license: 3 working days" in the body, and registration "typically takes one working day" in its FAQ (dubaisouthbh.com, published 28 March 2026, updated 20 October 2026). Confirm which applies to your file with Dubai South before you plan around it.
- The other four publish nothing on formation turnaround that we could find.
- The long pole is almost never the zone. It is a foreign shareholder's attestation chain, or a regulated activity waiting on a second authority. Both run outside this side's control.
- One of the six publishes a starting figure. Dubai South Business Hub quotes about AED 12,500 for a service licence and states it as approximate (dubaisouthbh.com). The other five publish no figure we would repeat, and a single number across six zones would be wrong for five of them.
Pre-approval, where the zone runs one
Pre-approval is a first look at the applicant and the activity before the full file goes in. It is useful because it is the cheap place to find out that an activity is regulated, or that a name will not pass. It is not a universal stage, and this is one of the places where treating the six zones as one thing goes wrong:
- Dubai South runs one and publishes it. Its own eight-step account puts "Approval + Fees" at 1-2 days inside a three-working-day total (dubaisouthbh.com, updated 20 October 2026).
- Meydan does not publish one. Its Companies and Licensing Regulations contain no pre-incorporation approval and no name-reservation procedure; Clause 5.1 is simply an application for incorporation and a Licence "in the form provided by the Authority" (meydanfz.ae).
- SPC, SHAMS, RAKEZ and ANC publish nothing public that describes a pre-approval stage.
What that means in practice: for four of the six, the first real checkpoint is the application itself, so the checking has to happen before it is submitted rather than after.
Forming the company
The shape is the same everywhere even though the detail is not: a legal structure, a name, an application, the shareholders' documents, a lease the licence can sit on, and then the licence. The structure comes first and it is decided by a count. A Free Zone Establishment is registered by a "single shareholder", an individual or a corporate entity; a Free Zone Company requires a "minimum of two shareholders" (dubai.ae, page last modified 14 April 2026). A branch is different again: "An extension of an existing local or international company, allowing it to conduct business in Dubai while remaining legally dependent on its parent company" — which is Free Zone Branch, not this page. Two things decide how long the rest takes, and neither is the zone's speed. The first is whether a shareholder is a foreign company, because the parent's documents have to be attested in the country that issued them. The second is whether the activity is regulated by someone other than the zone, which the government portal flags in general terms: "certain industries/sectors of businesses are additionally governed by other government entities" (u.ae, 6 May 2026). The zone chooses the licence category from its own list. What it will not do is tell you whether a free zone is right for the business at all, which is the question worth settling first.
The six zones, and what each publishes about setting up
| Zone | Emirate | Published on setting up |
|---|---|---|
| SPC Free Zone | Sharjah | No companies or licensing regulations published on its own site |
| SHAMS | Sharjah | Companies and Licensing Regulations 2017; Art. 7.1 covers applying to establish a Branch, Art. 10.1 ties the licensee to the permitted Activity |
| Dubai South | Dubai | No regulations published; an eight-step account with an initial approval stage and a three-working-day total |
| Meydan | Dubai | Companies and Licensing Regulations; Clause 5.1 incorporation, Clause 11.3 the Authority may accept or reject an application. No pre-approval stage |
| RAKEZ | Ras Al Khaimah | Companies Regulations; Art. 11 entities may conduct any lawful business activity as prescribed by the Authority, Art. 15(1)(a) the trade licence states the activities |
| ANC | Ajman | No regulations published; an FAQ giving setup "within 15 minutes", annual renewal, and quota set by package |
Three of the six publish regulations; three do not. That is not a criticism of any of them, it is the reason this page quotes zone by zone instead of writing one set of free zone rules that would be wrong for half of them.
What has to follow the licence
A free zone licence on its own does not let the company sponsor anybody. The immigration card comes next, and SPC Free Zone describes it as "the company's immigration profile", with the trade licence first and the immigration application after (spcfz.ae, published 7 May 2026, shown as updated 10 November 2026). Immigration Card is the page for it. After that: the visas themselves through UAE visas, the bank account, and Corporate Tax and VAT registration through Corporate tax & VAT. The first renewal is a year away and the date goes on our watch list the day the licence issues — Free Zone License Renewal covers how the six behave at renewal, and they do not behave the same.
Formation questions, answered from each zone
Which free zone should I choose?
The honest answer is that it depends on the activity, the emirate you want to be in, how many visas you need and whether you need real premises. There is no best zone. Tell us those four things and we will put two or three side by side with the reasons, rather than steering you to one.
Is there one UAE procedure for setting up in a free zone?
No, and the government portal says so. It directs you to "the websites of free zones and the authorities in:" the seven emirates, and adds that "certain industries/sectors of businesses are additionally governed by other government entities" (u.ae, 6 May 2026).
What is the difference between an FZE and an FZCO?
Shareholder count, not licence type. Dubai's investor pages describe a Free Zone Establishment as registered by a "single shareholder", who "can be an individual or a corporate entity", and a Free Zone Company as requiring a "minimum of two shareholders" (dubai.ae, page last modified 14 April 2026). The licence category — commercial, service, industrial — is a separate choice driven by the activity.
What is pre-approval, and does every zone have one?
It is a first-stage approval of the applicant and the activity before the full file is submitted. It is not universal. Dubai South Business Hub shows an initial approval stage in its own timeline, as "Approval + Fees" over 1-2 days (dubaisouthbh.com). Meydan's own Companies and Licensing Regulations contain no pre-incorporation approval or name-reservation procedure at all — Clause 5.1 covers applying for incorporation and a Licence "in the form provided by the Authority" and that is the whole of it (meydanfz.ae).
Can I hold several activities on one licence?
In some zones, yes. Ajman NuVentures puts it as "the flexibility to combine multiple activities under a single license", while warning that regulated activities "may require additional approvals from relevant authorities" (ancfz.ae). Whether yours combine is a question for your zone's activity list, which we check before you pay for anything.
Do I need a physical office?
It depends on the zone and the activity. Ajman NuVentures says "Physical office space is only required for specific activities" and that "For most businesses, flexi-desk solutions are sufficient and cost-effective" (ancfz.ae). Most of the others do not publish a general rule, so we check the package against the activity.
How many residence visas will I get?
That is set by the package, not by the law. The federal portal puts it as "the number of visas that a business can get depends on various factors such as the package they have signed up for" (u.ae), and Ajman NuVentures states the same principle for itself: "The visa quota depends on the office space/package chosen" (ancfz.ae). None of the six publishes a quota table we would rely on, so the quota is confirmed with the zone before you commit.
What kind of licence will I get?
The activity decides the category. Dubai South Business Hub describes the choice as "commercial, service, or industrial" (dubaisouthbh.com).
Can a free zone company trade on the UAE mainland?
Not on the free zone licence alone. The government portal's own account is that a free zone company wanting to do business on the mainland must first obtain the free zone authority's permission and then complete licensing with the Department of Economic Development (u.ae). Mainland Branch covers what that route looks like in Dubai.
Do I need to be in the UAE to set the company up?
Often not for the whole of it. Ajman NuVentures says its renewal "can often be completed online without the need for shareholders to be physically present" (ancfz.ae), and formation in several zones is similar. The steps that do need a person are the bank and, usually, the medical and Emirates ID stages of the visa.
When does the immigration card come into it?
After the licence, and before anyone can be sponsored. SPC Free Zone describes the card as "the company's immigration profile" and says a trade licence comes first, then the immigration application (spcfz.ae, published 7 May 2026, shown as updated 10 November 2026). Immigration Card covers it properly.
Would a mainland company suit me better?
Sometimes, and you will hear it. If the activity needs a mainland licence, or the premises requirement makes a free zone pointless for you, we say so before a file is opened. Our guide mainland vs free zone company in Dubai is the comparison in full.
Each rule above names the zone that published it and the document it sits in, read on 10 November 2026 and checked again on 13 November 2026. Free zone authorities write their own regulations and revise them without announcing it, and three of the six publish none at all — where that is so this page says so instead of borrowing another zone's rule. AL HUDHUD Documents Clearing Services is a documents clearing and PRO services company, not a law firm; this is information, not legal advice. Fees: quote on request.
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