How to Set Up a Company at IFZA Free Zone in Dubai

The short answer

IFZA issues a Dubai free zone licence in working days, with full foreign ownership, no physical office required, and no need to fly in to incorporate. The licence is the easy part. What decides whether the structure works is the activity you put on it, the visa quota you lock in, and whether you qualify for the 0 percent corporate tax rate. Those three choices are made in week one and are expensive to unwind later.

This page covers all three. If you want the price and timing of a Dubai free zone licence in general, read what a free zone company setup costs in Dubai.

What is IFZA, and where is it?

IFZA is the International Free Zone Authority. It licenses companies, holds the company register, issues the establishment card and sponsors residence visas for the businesses registered with it.

IFZA operates from IFZA Business Park in Dubai Silicon Oasis. That matters because of where it started. IFZA launched in Fujairah in 2018 and moved the entire free zone, its operations and its workforce to Dubai across 2020 and 2021, the only UAE free zone to have relocated between emirates. Articles that still describe IFZA as a Fujairah zone are out of date. Your licence, your registered address and your establishment card are Dubai.

Three things come with the structure: full foreign ownership with no local partner, one licensing authority instead of several counters, and a defined trading scope. That last one decides the jurisdiction for a lot of founders, and it is covered under mainland trading.

Who IFZA suits, and who it does not

Pick the zone by activity first, then by visa quota, then by price. A zone that does not licence your activity is not cheap, it is unusable.

And the honest other half. IFZA is the wrong answer if you need warehousing, manufacturing or heavy industrial space, a regulated financial services or fund licence, or a shop or showroom selling directly to mainland customers. In those cases the right structure is a different zone or a mainland licence, and no consultant should sell you an IFZA package instead.

Before you compare packages, confirm your activity is actually licensed at IFZA in the IFZA activity list. If you are still choosing between jurisdictions, read mainland versus freezone in the UAE first.

How to set up a company at IFZA, step by step

Eight steps, in the order they actually happen.

1. Map your business activity. Everything downstream is decided here. Your activity sets the licence type, commercial for trading goods, service or professional for consultancy, IT and marketing, industrial for light manufacturing and packaging, plus e-commerce and freelance permits. Activities must sit in compatible groups, and some trigger a third party approval that adds time.
2. Choose the legal structure. A free zone company is the standard choice and takes individual or corporate shareholders. A branch works when you already have a parent company. A freelance permit works for a solo professional who does not need a company at all.
3. Reserve the trade name. No religious or political references, no abbreviations of a personal name, and a full personal name means providing that person's passport. Submit three options in order of preference. It is the cheapest way to avoid a resubmission.
4. Submit documents for initial approval. The list is in documents below. Corporate shareholders should start attestation before anything else.
5. Pay and receive the licence. Once documents clear you sign electronically and IFZA issues the trade licence, certificate of incorporation, memorandum of association, share certificate and the flexi desk or office agreement. This stage runs in working days when nothing needs special approval.
6. Open the immigration file and establishment card. Skip this only if you took a zero visa licence. Nobody gets a residence visa without an establishment card, and it is issued once per company.
7. Process residence visas. Each person runs the same path: entry permit, status change if already in the country, medical fitness test, Emirates ID biometrics, then stamping. Plan this stage in weeks.
8. Open the corporate bank account. This is now the hardest stage in UAE company formation, and it is set by the bank rather than by IFZA. It is covered in visas and banking.

For the same sequence written for free zones generally, see how to open a free zone company step by step.

What moves the cost of an IFZA licence

There is no price list on this page, on purpose. IFZA revises its rate card and its promotions during the year, so a figure printed in an article is usually out of date by the time it is read, and a stale number is worse than no number at all. Ask for the fee that applies on the day you apply, in writing, with the government charge shown separately from the consultant fee.

What is worth knowing is the shape of the pricing, because it is not the shape most founders expect. IFZA prices its own licence by visa quota rather than by activity, which is the single thing most founders get wrong when they compare zones. What moves your number, in order of impact:

• The visa quota. The more residence visas the licence is allowed to carry, the higher the annual fee. The quota is a ceiling, not an obligation, but upgrading it mid term costs money. Buy the quota you will use this year.
• The number of activities. IFZA includes a set number under one licence and charges for each extra. Activities you do not actually trade under are the most common wasted spend.
• The address type. A flexi desk is the cheapest compliant address and carries a smaller visa allowance. A physical office costs more and unlocks a larger one. Pick the address around your hiring plan, not the sticker price.
• The licence term. IFZA discounts multi year terms. The cash saving is real, and the trade off is that you commit to a jurisdiction before you know the model works. Multi year suits a proven business, not a first venture.
• The extras. Establishment card, each residence visa, document attestation for corporate shareholders, and any regulator approval your activity triggers.

One question saves most of the overspend: what is included in this price, and what will I be invoiced for later? Get the answer in writing before you pay a deposit.

What documents you need

For an individual shareholder:

• Passport copy with clear validity
• Passport size photograph on a white background
• Proof of residential address, such as a recent utility bill or bank statement
• UAE visa page and entry stamp, if you already live in the UAE
• A no objection certificate from your current sponsor, if you are on another UAE visa
• Two or three trade name options, and your chosen activities

For a corporate shareholder, add the certificate of incorporation, the memorandum and articles of association, a board resolution approving the UAE company, and a certificate of incumbency or its equivalent, each attested or apostilled depending on the country of origin.

Attestation is the single biggest cause of delay. If a company is on your shareholder register, start the attestation before you start anything else.

Visas and the establishment card

The quota. Your visa allowance is attached to the licence and the address package, not to the activity. A zero visa licence suits holding companies and investors who do not need residency. One to three visas is the most common choice by a wide margin. Larger quotas suit teams, and the cost per visa slot falls as the quota rises.

The establishment card. Any company that wants to issue a residence visa first opens an immigration file and obtains an establishment card. It is issued once per company and it is a hard prerequisite, not an optional extra.

The visa itself. Entry permit, status change, medical fitness test, Emirates ID biometrics, then stamping. Once you hold residency you can sponsor a spouse, children and domestic staff, subject to salary and documentation rules. For most founders the residency, not the licence, is the real asset.

The bank account. This is the stage nobody compresses by paying more. Banks run their own compliance review on the shareholders, the activity and the expected flow of funds. Prepare a clear description of what the company sells, to whom and from where. Vague answers are the most common reason a file stalls. If money will arrive from overseas customers, read how UAE companies get paid from abroad before you pick the bank.

Corporate tax, VAT and annual compliance

Free zone does not mean tax free, and has not since June 2023.

A Qualifying Free Zone Person can be taxed at 0 percent on qualifying income. Holding that status depends on real conditions: adequate substance in the free zone, income that qualifies, non qualifying revenue kept inside the de minimis limit, audited financial statements, and transfer pricing documentation. Income that does not qualify is taxed at 9 percent.

The part that is under communicated: fail a condition or breach the de minimis limit and the status is lost for that tax period and the four tax periods that follow. That is the most expensive mistake available in UAE free zone structuring, and it is made by accident rather than on purpose. Read the UAE corporate tax filing guide, and confirm your own position with the Federal Tax Authority or a tax adviser rather than assuming the free zone label settles it.

VAT is separate. Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies pass the threshold, and voluntary registration is available below it. Free zone status does not exempt a company from registering. Work out what you would charge with the UAE VAT calculator and check whether your turnover obliges you to register.

Your recurring calendar, so nothing arrives as a surprise:

• Trade licence renewal, every twelve months
• Establishment card renewal, alongside the licence, if you hold visas
• Corporate tax registration and annual return
• VAT returns once registered
• Audited financial statements where required
• Ultimate beneficial owner and shareholder register kept current
• Residence visa renewal

Late licence renewal triggers fines that accumulate and can hold up visa processing and bank operations. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day the licence is issued.

Can an IFZA company trade on the mainland?

For services, yes. For physical goods, not directly. An IFZA company can invoice mainland clients for services and can invoice international clients without restriction. Selling physical goods into the mainland normally runs through a mainland distributor or agent, and goods crossing into the mainland attract customs duty. A shop, a showroom or an office on the mainland needs a mainland licence or a dual licence arrangement, and most government tenders are mainland only.

This single line decides the jurisdiction for most founders. If your buyers are UAE consumers walking into a store, price the mainland route before you commit. If your buyers are international, or businesses, or online, IFZA is usually the faster and cheaper answer. Selling online adds a layer, so read the Entityz e-commerce licence page before you choose.

Your next step

Do this in order and you will not pay for the wrong licence:

1. Confirm your activity is licensed at IFZA, in the IFZA activity list.
2. Decide free zone or mainland, using the comparison guide.
3. Count the visas you need this year, not in three years.
4. Ask for a written quote that separates the Entityz fee from the IFZA government fee.

When you are ready, talk to Entityz. We map the activity before you pay anything, size the visa quota against your hiring plan for the next twelve months, tell you the current IFZA government fee on the day you apply, and pre screen your bank file against each bank's appetite before it is submitted. Setup is the start, not the finish.