IFZA free zone company setup in Dubai

IFZA's official 1-year license prices, inclusive of VAT, are AED 12,900 with no visas, AED 14,900 with 1 visa, AED 16,900 with 2, AED 18,900 with 3 and AED 20,900 with 4 or more — the same price for professional and commercial licenses. Establishment card and per-person visa processing are additional. Under the August 2026 offer, this price list is locked for the license's next three renewals as well.

New IFZA licenses incorporated in August 2026 include one residence visa free for life (the AED 3,750 government issuance and renewal charge waived while the license stays continuously renewed), a free first-year FlexiDesk (worth AED 7,600), a full waiver of the AED 10,000 general trading fee and the AED 2,000 cross-business activity fee for four years, and a lifetime waiver of the AED 2,000 license-upgrade fee. Conditions apply — the free visa doesn't cover the establishment card, medical, Emirates ID or status-change costs.

Under the August 2026 offer, roughly AED 19,000–20,000 in authority fees: the 1-visa license at AED 14,900 including VAT and a first-year FlexiDesk, the establishment card (~AED 2,300) and per-person medical, Emirates ID and status-change costs (~AED 2,000), plus mandatory health insurance. The usual AED 3,750 visa issuance charge is waived for one visa — and waived again at each renewal while the license runs.

Initial approval typically takes 1–2 business days and the trade license is issued within 3–5 business days of complete documents and payment. Residence visas add roughly 2–4 weeks (entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, stamping), and IFZA offers express processing for faster turnaround.

No — incorporation is completed remotely and documents are issued digitally. You only need to be physically present if you take a residence visa, for the medical test and Emirates ID biometrics, and visa holders must then enter the UAE at least once every 180 days to keep the visa valid.

Yes. IFZA is headquartered in Dubai Digital Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and operates under the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority. Your company is Dubai-registered and your residence visas are Dubai visas — one of the main reasons founders choose IFZA over cheaper northern-emirates zones.

IFZA approves roughly 2,000 activities across professional/service, commercial/trading and industrial categories — consultancy, IT, marketing, e-commerce, trading, holding and more. Professional and commercial activities can be combined on one license; the AED 2,000 cross-activity fee for doing so is waived under the August 2026 offer. Choose activities that match what you'll actually invoice: banks check the license activity against real business flows.

No paid-up share capital or bank deposit is required. The share capital is a declared figure in the incorporation documents, which keeps setup costs down and removes a common barrier for early-stage founders.

An IFZA company trades freely internationally and within free zones, but selling goods directly into the UAE mainland generally requires a mainland distributor or branch. Service businesses commonly work with mainland clients B2B. If most of your revenue will come from onshore UAE customers, a mainland license is usually the better structure.

No. IFZA is a non-designated free zone, so normal UAE VAT rules apply to your supplies. VAT registration becomes mandatory once taxable supplies exceed AED 375,000 in a 12-month period. Note that IFZA's published license prices are inclusive of VAT.

Every IFZA company must register for UAE corporate tax and file annual returns. Qualifying Free Zone Persons can access the 0% rate on qualifying income if they meet substance and income conditions; otherwise 9% applies to taxable income above AED 375,000. IFZA can also request financial statements at license renewal, so proper bookkeeping is effectively mandatory.

Packages carry 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4-and-above visa allocations, each priced into the license, with larger allocations available. Under the August 2026 offer, one visa on any visa-carrying package is free for life. Visa holders can sponsor dependents (spouse, children and, subject to conditions, parents) once income thresholds are met.

General trading covers dealing in a broad, unspecified range of goods rather than named product categories, and normally carries an additional fee of AED 10,000 per year on top of the standard license price. Under the August 2026 offer that fee is fully waived for new licenses and their next three renewals — making it a rare window to hold an all-goods Dubai trading license at the standard package price.

Multi-year licenses are discounted off the standard total: 15% on 2 years, 20% on 3 years and 30% on 5 years. A 1-visa license, for example, costs AED 52,200 for 5 years — AED 10,440 per year versus AED 14,900 annually. Multi-year packages are issued with 1-year validity plus a multi-year letter and auto-renew each year within the term, and they carry the same promo benefits.

Shams (Sharjah Media City) starts at roughly half IFZA's price — from AED 5,750 versus AED 12,900 — so it wins on pure cost. IFZA wins on the Dubai address, a broader activity list and Dubai residence visas, which can matter for banking and client perception; the August 2026 free-visa and FlexiDesk offer also narrows the real gap for founders who need residency. If your clients are international and cost is king, compare Shams; if Dubai on the license matters, IFZA is usually worth the difference.

Yes — IFZA companies open UAE bank accounts routinely, and the Dubai registration generally helps the bank file. Banks still assess substance: activity, residency, expected flows and documentation. Stevva prepares your bank file and supports account opening as part of the engagement.