• Emirate Dubai
  • Topic Business
  • Reviewed Substance reviewed 2026-10-12 · draft, human review pending

Short answer

A Dubai company starts with the activity and the jurisdiction, not with a ‘package including visa’. This plan sets out the order, the parties and the decision points.

This is an orientation answer, not advice for an individual case.

Starting a company in Dubai is a chain of choices: which activity, which jurisdiction (mainland or a named free zone), which legal form, which address, and which federal duties follow (FTA, UBO, any visa research). It is not a package in which visa, bank account and “0% tax” arrive automatically. This plan describes the order. It does not guarantee a licence, an account or residence.

Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) licenses mainland in this emirate. Free zones have their own registrars. Other emirates have their own economic departments. Do not mix those counters.

Contents

Before you call a provider

Write down: what you sell, to whom (inside the UAE, export only, intra-group only), whether you need staff on the ground, and whether you yourself want to live in Dubai. Those four answers drive jurisdiction harder than a discount on “company setup”.

Nationality is not a business plan. A Belgian founder with UK clients and a Dutch holding company has three home regimes plus Dubai. Tax residence does not follow from the language of the pitch. Tax NL/BE/UK also touches founders who hold property privately; for the company itself the FTA is leading.

Step 1 — Activity and market

Choose the economic activity in the official DET or free-zone classification, not in marketing language (“consulting deluxe”). Regulated activities (financial, education, health, certain trade) need extra approvals. Without that list you sign a licence you cannot perform.

If the activity is “trading in the UAE market”, mainland is often the sensible research column. If the activity is international and ring-fenced, a free zone may fit. That is not tax advice. Comparison: free zone or mainland.

Step 2 — Mainland or free zone

Mainland in Dubai: DET / Invest in Dubai. Free zone: the authority of that zone (each with its own rules, office requirements and visa quotas). You are not choosing “the UAE”; you are choosing one registrar.

Ask in writing: may I invoice mainland customers, do I need a local service agent, which office type is mandatory, how does the licence renew, what does year 2 cost. Quotes without year 2 are incomplete. First-year cost.

Step 3 — Legal form and ownership

LLC, branch, sole-establishment equivalents, free-zone entity: the names resemble European forms and are not the same. Have the constitutional documents (MoA/AoA) read for: who may sign, how you exit, what happens on death, and whether shares are freely transferable.

UBO registration and economic substance are federal/emirate compliance tracks. They belong in the plan, not as a surprise in month six.

Step 4 — Name, approvals, office

Reserve the trade name through the official channel of the chosen jurisdiction. External approvals (if the activity requires them) come before the licence, not after. Office: mainland typically needs a registered address that meets DET rules (often Ejari-linked in Dubai). Flexi-desks and virtual offices are jurisdiction-dependent; ask whether the bank and the visa authority will accept that address — nobody can guarantee that.

Step 5 — Licence and registrations

After papers and payment comes the trade licence. That is the moment to test the Federal Tax Authority: corporate-tax registration, VAT if relevant, deadlines. Free-zone persons sit under the FTA guide, not under a verbal “0%”. Guide: Free Zone Persons (PDF, 20 May 2024).

Immigration/visa is a later track (GDRFA Dubai / ICA), not an annex a setup shop can force. Visa, Emirates ID, Golden Visa.

Step 6 — After the licence

  • Bank: KYC, no opening guarantee. Business bank account.
  • Bookkeeping and audit where required.
  • Contracts, invoicing, VAT invoice rules.
  • Insurance, office fit-out, staff.

If you are “moving” an existing European company, extra steps apply: relocating a company.

Cost logic

Count first-year costs in columns: government, registrar, office, visa research, adviser, audit/FTA, buffer. Make “including visa” unbundle. Worked numbers sit in the cost briefing.

Worked example (assumptions, not a quote): adviser AED 15,000, government and registrar fees AED 12,000, flexi-desk AED 8,000, legal review of the MoA AED 5,000, FTA/bookkeeping start AED 6,000, buffer AED 10,000. Sum AED 56,000 before visa, deposits, fit-out and the bank. If the bank still has no account three months later, this sum is already running. That is liquidity, not a failure of “Dubai”.

Help on the route: Business. If living there is the real motive: Relocation.

Frequently asked questions

Who is “Starting a company in Dubai: a step-by-step plan for founders” for?

Dutch and Belgian readers considering dubai. The file organises process, cost logic and sources — it does not decide an individual case.

Does this apply in every emirate?

No. This briefing covers dubai. Other emirates have their own registrars, tariffs and portals.

Is this personal advice?

No. We do not guarantee a licence, visa, bank account, return or tax residence. Unknown items stay open.

Sources

Reviewed 17 September 2026. Have the chosen activity checked with the registrar you will actually use. Knowledge library.

What you still do in the first thirty days after the licence

The licence is a starting gun, not a business. In the next thirty days you plan: FTA registration, a bookkeeper who may raise the first invoice, office and liability insurance, and a written split of tasks between shareholders. Anyone who waits “until the bank” often already has a customer who wants to pay and nowhere to send it.

Keep the European company alive until the first Dubai invoice and the first Dubai incoming payment have worked. Parallel running is dearer and safer than a hard cutover.