Trade License Freeze
Stop the licence for a set period on your own request, instead of letting it lapse and accrue fines.
Freezing a Dubai mainland license
When trading stops, two doors stay open: cancel the licence, or stop it for a period and come back. The second one is written into the Law — “A Business owner may request the DED to suspend the Licence granted to his Business for a specific period” (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 13(a)).
What makes that door worth knowing about is the paragraph immediately after it. A business “will not be subject to the licensing fees or the fines resulting from non-renewal of its Licence” (Article 13(b)). So the difference between a licence you suspended and a licence you let run out is not a difference of form. It is a difference in what accrues against you.
This page is the mainland freeze service. Send the licence number and we will tell you where it actually stands and which of the two doors costs you less, before anyone talks about a price.
What the freeze covers
- Reading the licence as the department holds it: expiry position, what has accrued, whether there is a remark
- Telling you whether a freeze or a cancellation is the better answer in your case, before you pay anything
- Preparing, filing and following the suspension request until it is approved
- Recording and watching the date the suspension period ends, so it does not pass unnoticed
- Starting the licence again at the end of the period, or moving to cancellation if that is what you decide
- Dealing with what surfaces along the way: Ejari, the establishment card, external approvals
Get this quoted
Itemised in writing, government charges shown separately, before anything is filed.
Which one do you need?
Who this page is for
- Dubai mainland licence holders who have stopped trading for now and intend to come back
- Owners reviewing their options before a renewal date, who would rather not pay a year for a business that is not running
- Sole establishments, civil companies, LLCs and single-owner LLCs
- Anyone whose licence has already expired and whose activity genuinely stopped, who wants to know what Article 13(b) means for their file
- Owners weighing freeze against cancellation who want the difference in writing rather than over the phone
- Owners outside the UAE who need the request run from here
What we need from you
To open the file:
- Trade licence copy — always
- Establishment card copy, where the company holds one
- Ejari copy, where the office is your own
Those three start the work. What comes after depends on what the check turns up, and we ask for it then rather than up front.
What the department requires in order to approve the request itself is not set out in any published text we can point you to, so we are not going to print an invented checklist. We look at your licence and tell you what your file needs.
The freeze, step by step
- The licence number is the whole of step one. Send that and nothing else.
- We read its position as the department holds it: expiry, what has accrued, tenancy and establishment card status, and whether a remark is sitting on it.
- A written comparison: freeze against cancellation for your licence specifically, and what each one means for your file. Before any price.
- Written quote — the authority's charges and our fee, itemised separately.
- Filing and follow-up until the suspension is approved.
- The end date recorded and watched, then either restarting the licence or moving to cancellation, depending on what you decide.
Turnaround and fees
- Fees: quote on request. Itemised in writing, government charges shown separately, before anything is filed.
- The maximum suspension period is not published in any general text we can cite. The Law says "for a specific period" and leaves the detail to the department, so no number appears here.
- The department's own charge for the request is not in any schedule we can point to, so we do not estimate it.
- Whatever applies to your file, we tell you from the licence number rather than from a general page.
When a freeze is the better answer
The real question is not "should I freeze?" but "do I intend to come back?" If the answer is yes within a reasonable time, keeping the licence in existence while it is suspended saves you rebuilding everything: the trade name, the activity, the business record. If the answer is no, cancellation is cleaner and cheaper over any length of time, and it has a published route on the UAE Government portal. What we do before you pay anything is put both options in front of you in writing, against your licence number: what has accrued on it today, and what would accrue down each road. That comparison is the most useful thing on this page, and it costs nothing.
What the text says, in its own words
We would rather show the basis than assert it, because most of what is written about this subject carries no source at all. Suspension on the owner's request — "A Business owner may request the DED to suspend the Licence granted to his Business for a specific period" (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 13(a)). Its effect on fees and fines — a business "will not be subject to the licensing fees or the fines resulting from non-renewal of its Licence" (Article 13(b)). Everything else — a maximum period, a fee for the request, how many times it can be extended — we could not find in any published general text, so it does not appear here. That is the difference between a page that reports and a page that guesses.
What actually stops, and what is not published
Stops: licensing fees and non-renewal fines, in the two situations Article 13(b) names. Not published, so not stated here: the department's charge for the suspension request itself, the maximum period, and the effect of a suspension on an establishment card or on existing visas. The late-renewal fine — "AED 200.00 per month (a part of a month will be rounded up to a full month)", Executive Council Resolution No. (13) of 2011, Schedule (2) item 6 — is exactly what Article 13(b) takes you out of. Which is why "request a suspension or let the licence run out?" is a question with a cost attached, not a question of paperwork.
A suspension ordered by the department, not asked for by you
The same word covers a second situation, and it is only fair to separate them. "[T]he DED may, pursuant to a reasoned decision, suspend the Licence of certain commercial, industrial" activities (Article 12(a)). That is an action taken by the authority for its own reasons, not a service you request, and its effect on your file is different. If what sits on your licence is a suspension of that kind, the first step is not filing a request. It is finding out which authority imposed it, why, and what it wants in order to lift it. That is where we start, from the licence number.
The end of the period, and what comes after
The most common thing that goes wrong is that the period ends while nobody is watching, and the licence returns to where it was — along with everything that had stopped. So we record the end date and watch it, and remind you before it rather than after. When it arrives there are two doors again: restart and renew, or move to cancellation. The department's procedure for restarting is not set out in a published general text, so we do not describe it here. We ask about your case when the time comes.
What opens the file
Three items. We open the file on these and come back for anything else the check actually turns up, rather than handing you a list to go and assemble.
- Trade licence copy
- Establishment card copy, where the company holds one
- Ejari copy, where the office is your own
Send them to WhatsApp on +971 4 223 6581, or use the form on this page and attach nothing — we will tell you what to send once we have looked at the licence.
Freeze questions, answered from the law
Can the owner have a licence suspended on request?
Yes, and it is written down: "A Business owner may request the DED to suspend the Licence granted to his Business for a specific period" (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 13(a)). The decision still sits with the department, under the procedures it adopts.
Do the fines stop while the licence is suspended?
That is the point of Article 13(b): a business "will not be subject to the licensing fees or the fines resulting from non-renewal of its Licence". The paragraph names two situations — the licence expired and the business ceased conducting activities, or a suspension request was made under paragraph (a). Whether it reaches your file is a question of fact and of what the department holds, so we check rather than assume.
How long can a licence stay suspended?
The text says "for a specific period" and sets no ceiling, and we know of no published general text that fixes one. So no number is given here. We ask about your case and come back with what applies to it.
What is the difference between freezing and cancelling?
Cancellation ends the business and has its own route and documents — the UAE Government portal sets it out in two phases. A freeze stops the licence working for a period while it stays in existence. Which one fits depends on whether you intend to return and on what has accrued. The cancellation page covers the other route in full.
Can the department suspend a licence by itself?
Yes, and it is a different thing from your request: "the DED may, pursuant to a reasoned decision, suspend the Licence of certain commercial, industrial" activities (Article 12(a)). We keep the two apart deliberately — one is a service you ask for, the other is an action taken against the licence.
What happens to employee visas and the establishment card?
This is not published officially in any text we can cite, and it is the part of the subject most often answered without a source. The honest answer is that the effect on an establishment card and on existing visas is read from your file at the authorities concerned, not from a general rule. Send the licence number and we will tell you what is actually in place.
And the tenancy and Ejari?
A suspension does not make the tenancy question disappear, but what the department expects of a registration at the moment of a suspension is not published anywhere we can cite. So this is one more thing we read off your file rather than assert from a general rule.
Can the licence be restarted before the period ends?
The procedures the department uses for that are not in any published general text, so we will not state them as fact. What we do in practice is record the end date, watch it, and ask the department about your case when you decide to come back early.
My licence already expired and I never applied. Is it too late?
No. Article 13(b) names the expired-licence-and-ceased-activity situation explicitly, alongside the suspension request. Which one your file falls into is something we establish from the licence number and what the department holds.
There is a remark on the licence. Does that matter?
Most likely yes, because a remark is a restriction an authority has placed, and the Law bars any modification to a licence "without first obtaining the approval of the DED and Competent Entities" (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 10(a)). The practical step is finding out what is actually recorded and which authority placed it, which is where we start.
What does a freeze cost?
Quote on request, in writing, itemised, government charges separate, before anything is filed. One number on a public page would be wrong for most readers.
Can it be done while I am outside the UAE?
Usually. The part that occasionally needs you present is a signature, and whether yours does depends on the legal form. Say which country you are in and we will answer it precisely.
Figures and rules on this page name the instrument they come from and were checked on 10 November 2026. Authority rules, charges and processing times can change without notice. 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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