Mainland Company Formation in Dubai & the UAE

A mainland company is licensed by the Department of Economic Development of an emirate — DED in Dubai, SEDD in Sharjah, ADDED in Abu Dhabi — rather than by a free zone authority. The defining advantage is reach: you can trade directly with customers anywhere in the UAE, take on government contracts, open branches in other emirates and operate from any commercial address without an intermediary.

For the large majority of commercial and professional activities, yes. Amendments to the Commercial Companies Law removed the general 51% Emirati shareholding requirement — see whether you still need a local sponsor in Dubai —, and Dubai DED maintains a positive list of activities open to full foreign ownership. A limited set of strategic-impact activities still requires national participation. We verify your specific activity codes against the current list before you make any commitment.

Most single-activity mainland LLCs land between AED 18,000 and AED 30,000 for year one, covering DED licence fees, name reservation, initial approval, MOA notarisation, Chamber of Commerce registration and market fees. Office rent and Ejari registration sit on top and vary enormously by location. Activities requiring external approvals add both fees and time. We issue an itemised quotation so you can see precisely what is government cost and what is our fee.

Yes. Mainland licensing requires a physical commercial address with a tenancy contract registered through Ejari. The size of that space also determines your visa quota, which is calculated on square metres. Business centres and serviced offices satisfy the requirement at lower cost than a standalone unit, and we help size the space to your realistic headcount rather than to a sales target.

With complete documents and no external approvals, seven to fourteen working days is typical. Name reservation and initial approval take one to two days, MOA drafting and notarisation two to three, and licence issuance follows once Ejari is registered. Activities needing approval from bodies such as DHA, KHDA, RTA or Dubai Municipality add two to six weeks — we identify those on day one.

If your customers are UAE-based businesses, government entities or walk-in retail, mainland is almost always correct: free zone companies face restrictions on trading directly inside the UAE market and typically need a local distributor or a branch. If you serve clients overseas or run a consultancy with international clients, a free zone is usually cheaper and may qualify for the 0% Qualifying Free Zone Person corporate tax rate. We model your actual revenue mix rather than applying a rule of thumb.

Yes, and this is one of the strongest arguments for mainland. Government and semi-government tenders in the UAE generally require a mainland licence, and many large private contractors apply the same requirement to their supply chain. If public-sector work is part of your plan, a free zone licence will quietly exclude you from it.

Visa quota is calculated on registered office space, with roughly nine square metres per visa as a common working ratio, subject to approval from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. A small serviced office might support two to four visas; a larger unit supports proportionally more. Tell us your hiring plan for the next eighteen months and we will size the office accordingly at setup.