New Trade License
A first mainland licence end to end: trade name, initial approval, premises and the licence itself.
A new Dubai mainland license
A mainland licence is not optional paperwork sitting beside a business. It is the thing that makes the business lawful: economic activity in the emirate may be conducted “only through a Business licensed by the DED” (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 6). Everything else on this page follows from that one sentence.
Most first-time applicants arrive with the question in the wrong order. They ask what the licence costs before they have settled the two things that actually drive the answer: which activity they are licensed for, and where they will operate from. The activity decides which approvals are involved and which authority has to see the file. The premises decide whether there is a tenancy to register first. Get those two settled and the rest is procedure.
This page is the service for getting a first mainland licence issued. If you want the background first — what the licence types are, what each field on the document means, how mainland compares with a free zone — the hub page covers all of it.
What the service covers
- Settling the activity against the department's own classification before anything is filed
- Trade name reservation, including the checks that stop a name being rejected twice
- Initial approval, and the external approval your activity needs where one applies
- The premises side: the tenancy, and its registration with Ejari
- Choosing the legal form the Law provides for, and what each one commits you to
- The licence filing itself, and follow-up until it is issued
- The establishment card afterwards, and the expiry dates recorded so year two is a reminder rather than a scramble
Get this quoted
Itemised in writing, government charges shown separately, before anything is filed.
Which one do you need?
Who this page is for
- Anyone setting up a first business on the Dubai mainland
- Owners who have been operating from a free zone and now need to reach the local market
- Professionals setting up a civil company for their own practice
- Owners who tried once, were rejected on the name or the activity, and want it done properly
- Anyone comparing mainland against free zone and wanting the mainland side priced honestly
- Owners outside the UAE who need the work run from here
What we need from you
To open the file and quote:
- Passport copy for each owner or partner
- The activity you intend to carry on, in your own words — we match it to the classification
- Where you intend to operate from, if that is already settled
That is enough to price the work and tell you what the route looks like. Beyond that the document set depends on the legal form, the activity, and whether any external approval is involved, so we ask for what your file needs rather than printing a universal list that fits nobody.
On premises: the Law requires an applicant to specify the premises in the emirate through which the activity will be conducted (Article 17), and adds that "The premises must be suitable for the activities to be licensed". The UAE Government portal states that "All businesses in the UAE must have a physical address to operate" and that "In Dubai, the agreement must be registered with Ejari" (u.ae, 8 April 2026).
The licence, step by step
- Tell us the activity and where you will operate from. In plain words; we will do the matching.
- We check the activity against the classification and tell you which approvals it brings with it. The department is the body that will "determine and classify the Economic Activities authorised in the Emirate" (Article 4(5)), so this is a check against their list, not our opinion.
- Written quote — government charges and our fee, itemised separately, before anything is filed.
- Trade name, reserved once the checks are done rather than submitted hopefully.
- Initial approval, plus any external approval the activity requires.
- Premises and tenancy registration, where the activity needs its own.
- The licence issued, then the establishment card, then the dates recorded and watched.
Turnaround and fees
- Fees: quote on request. The charges follow your activity, legal form and premises, and government charges are shown separately in writing before anything is filed.
- Turnaround depends almost entirely on the activity. One that needs no external approval moves quickly; one that is regulated by another authority moves at that authority's pace, and no honest page can promise otherwise.
- We do not publish a day count here for the same reason: it would be true for some activities and misleading for the rest. Tell us the activity and we will give you a realistic one for it.
Getting the activity right
This is the decision the rest of the licence hangs on, and it is the one most often rushed. The Law names the fields a licence can be granted in — "the fields of commerce, industry, agriculture, fishing, mining, and services" — and ties the detail to "the relevant Economic Activities classification directory of the Emirate of Dubai issued by the DED" (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 5). The department is also the body that will "determine and classify the Economic Activities authorised in the Emirate" (Article 4(5)). What that means in practice: your activity is not whatever you call it, it is whichever entry in the classification it maps to. The mapping decides which approvals come with it and which authority has to look at the file. We do that mapping before quoting, because a quote built on the wrong entry is a quote for the wrong job.
The trade name
A rejected trade name costs a day and a little dignity, and it is almost always avoidable. We are not going to reproduce the department's naming rules here, because they are the department's and a paraphrase would be a liability rather than a service. What we do instead is check a proposed name against what is already registered and against the rules as they are applied, and tell you which of your options is likely to clear, before anything is reserved. Bring two or three names rather than one. It costs nothing and it is the difference between settling this in an afternoon and settling it next week.
Choosing the legal form
Article 14 sets out four, and the choice is about who owns the business and who carries the liability.
- Sole proprietorship — one owner, no separation between the owner and the business
- Civil works company — the vehicle used for professional practices
- Commercial company — including the LLC and the single-owner LLC
- A branch — "branch of a national or foreign company or of a company operating in a free zone" (Article 14(d))
Changing the form later is a modification with its own approvals and, in some cases, a published newspaper notice. Ten minutes on this before the file opens is worth more than any other ten minutes in the process. The branch route has its own page.
Premises, and the one exception
The requirement is in the Law and it is not a formality. An applicant must specify the premises in the emirate through which the activity will be conducted, and "The premises must be suitable for the activities to be licensed" (Article 17). The UAE Government portal states it from the other direction: "All businesses in the UAE must have a physical address to operate", and "In Dubai, the agreement must be registered with Ejari" (u.ae, Steps to start a business on the mainland, last updated 8 April 2026). The exception is Article 18, and it is narrow: notwithstanding Article 17, the department may issue licences authorising UAE nationals to conduct certain activities it specifies "from home or through Business Incubators". It is limited to UAE nationals and to activities the department names. Anything you read describing a general home-office licence for everyone is not describing this provision.
When another authority has to see the file
Some activities are licensed by the department and regulated by somebody else, and when that is true the second authority sets the timetable. The Law is written with that in mind throughout: approvals of "the Competent Entities" sit alongside the department's own in Article 10(a), and the classification in Article 5 is what determines which entity is competent for your activity. We tell you at the quote stage whether your activity brings an external approval with it, because it is the single biggest factor in how long the whole thing takes — and it is the factor no setup company can shorten, only manage.
What opens the file
Three things, and two of them are sentences rather than documents.
- Passport copy for each owner or partner
- What you intend to do, in your own words
- Where you intend to do it from, if that is settled
From that we can check the activity, tell you the route, and give you a written quote. The rest of the paperwork depends on the form and the activity, and asking for it before we know those would be asking you to guess. Send it to WhatsApp on +971 4 223 6581, or use the form on this page.
New licence questions, answered from the law
Do I actually need a licence before I start?
Yes. Economic activity in the emirate may be conducted "only through a Business licensed by the DED" (Law No. (13) of 2011, Article 6). There is no informal version of this.
What kinds of activity can be licensed?
The Law names the fields: licences are granted in "the fields of commerce, industry, agriculture, fishing, mining, and services", following "the relevant Economic Activities classification directory of the Emirate of Dubai issued by the DED" (Article 5). The detailed list is the department's own classification, which is why step 2 is a check against it.
What legal forms are available?
Article 14 sets out four: a sole proprietorship, a civil works company, a commercial company, and a "branch of a national or foreign company or of a company operating in a free zone". Which one suits you is a question about ownership and liability, and it is worth ten minutes before the file opens rather than a change afterwards.
Do I need an office?
The Law requires the premises to be specified and says "The premises must be suitable for the activities to be licensed" (Article 17). The UAE Government portal puts it plainly: "All businesses in the UAE must have a physical address to operate", and in Dubai the agreement "must be registered with Ejari" (u.ae, 8 April 2026).
Is there any exception to the premises rule?
One, and it is narrow. Article 18 allows the department to license UAE nationals to conduct certain activities it specifies "from home or through Business Incubators". It applies to UAE nationals and to activities the department names, so it is not a general way around an office.
How long does a new licence last?
One year, renewable for the same period (Article 8(a)). The renewal duty is to act "within the last month prior to its expiry" (Article 8(b)), which is a date worth writing down on the day the licence is issued.
Can a foreign national own a mainland company outright?
Full foreign ownership of commercial companies is a published topic in its own right and the UAE Government portal carries a page on it. Whether it reaches your activity depends on the activity, so we check it against your case rather than giving a blanket yes or no on a web page.
Why was my trade name rejected?
Trade name rules are the department's own and are not something we will paraphrase into a list here. What we do is run the checks before reserving rather than after, which is the practical difference between one attempt and three.
Can I add more activities later?
Yes, but as a modification, with its own approvals: no change may be made to a licence "without first obtaining the approval of the DED and Competent Entities" (Article 10(a)). It is usually cheaper to get the activity right at the start. The modification page covers the change route.
What is the establishment card, and do I need one?
It is the record that lets a company deal with immigration matters, and it comes after the licence rather than with it. Whether your company needs one depends on what you intend to do next, which is a conversation rather than a web-page answer.
What will it cost?
Quote on request, in writing, itemised, with government charges separate. The variables are real ones — activity, legal form, premises — and a single published number would be wrong for most readers.
Can you do it while I am outside the UAE?
Partly, and how much depends on the legal form and what has to be signed in person. Tell us where you are and we will tell you exactly which steps need you present.
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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