Set up a company in Dubai and the UAE

The expensive mistakes show up after the licence arrives: activities that do not cover what you invoice for, a visa allocation you outgrow in a year, or a zone whose name a bank or client reads badly. We start from three answers: what the business sells, who pays it, and where you and your family will live. The company is built around those.

Dubai Transition Consultants is an agent for RAKEZ, IFZA, Meydan and RAK ICC. We also work with founders who are better served by another zone or by the mainland, and we tell you when that is the case.

Not sure which structure fits? Try the free two-minute structure finder →

Compare the free zones: IFZA, Meydan, RAKEZ, DMCC, SHAMS, SPC and RAK ICC →

Who it's for

• Founders moving a consulting, agency, software or online business to the UAE
• E-commerce and trading businesses that need the right licence activities
• Companies opening a UAE subsidiary or regional base while the owners stay at home
• Investors who want a holding company for shares, property or intellectual property
• Co-founders and partner groups who need several shareholders and several visas
• Anyone holding a formation quote who wants a second view on the structure first

What's included

• A written recommendation: free zone, mainland or holding company, and why
• Free zone selection on activity, visa count, office needs, banking and how the name reads to your clients
• Activity selection, so the licence covers everything you plan to invoice for
• Name reservation, the application, the trade licence and the establishment card
• Notarised and legalised documents from your home country where the authority asks for them
• Your residence visa, Emirates ID and the business bank account application
• Corporate tax registration once the company exists (tax and compliance)

Free zone, mainland or holding company

Ownership rarely decides it now: foreign owners can hold all the shares of a mainland company in most activities, as they can in a free zone (what mainland ownership covers). The questions that decide it are where your customers are, whether you need a visa from the company, and what the company has to own.

Which free zone

Free zones differ on four things that matter to a founder arriving from abroad: which activities they license, how many visas a licence can carry, whether you need a physical desk, and how comfortable banks are with companies in that zone. Our free zone comparison sets out IFZA, Meydan, RAKEZ, DMCC, SHAMS, SPC and RAK ICC side by side from each zone's own website. For cost-led setups, the emirate matters as much as the zone (which emirate to set up in).

We do not publish authority price lists. Zones change them often, packages bundle different things, and the right package depends on your activity and visa count. Once we know those, you get one all-in quote on the call, covering everything to a working company.

Done remotely, from wherever you are now

Most of the setup runs online. You sign the application documents at home; some zones want certain documents notarised and legalised or apostilled first, and we tell you which at the start so nobody waits on a courier. Most of our clients first visit once the licence exists (what you can do from abroad).

The residence visa needs you in the UAE for the medical and the Emirates ID biometrics, and most banks want one meeting. We line these up for one trip once your entry permit is issued. If you are basing the business here but living elsewhere, that trip is often the only one in the first year (basing a company here while living abroad).

Tax at home and in the UAE

As at October 2026, UAE corporate tax is 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it, and a free zone company that meets the conditions of a Qualifying Free Zone Person can pay 0% on its qualifying income (u.ae; Ministry of Finance). Every company has to register, whatever it ends up paying. The UAE has no personal income tax on salary or dividends.

Your home country decides when its tax on you stops, and a UAE company or visa does not settle that by itself. If you are leaving the UK, start with the UK tax residency checker; from Ireland, the Irish residency day calculator; from Australia, our Australia guide. A company run day to day from your home country can also end up taxed there, so we set it up with decisions taken where the company is.

How it works

1. Discovery call

   We map your activity, customers, shareholders, visa count and where you will live. If doing it yourself would serve you better, we say so.

   Typical timing: Week 1

2. Structure and quote

   You get a written recommendation on structure, zone and activities, and one all-in quote.

   Typical timing: Week 1

3. Documents and application

   We prepare the forms, arrange notarisation where needed, reserve the name and file the application.

   Typical timing: About a week, longer if documents need legalising abroad

4. Licence issued

   The authority issues the trade licence and establishment card, and the company exists.

   Typical timing: Typically a few working days once the application is complete

5. Visa and Emirates ID

   Entry permit, medical, biometrics and the residence visa, planned into one trip.

   Typical timing: Typically 2 to 4 weeks

6. Business bank account

   We match the company to a bank and prepare the file, so the first application is the one that clears.

   Typical timing: Typically a few weeks; longer for multi-layer structures

Official sources, as at October 2026: u.ae: corporate tax; Ministry of Finance: corporate tax. Rules and thresholds change; we confirm the current position for your case before you act. This page is general guidance, not personal tax or legal advice.