International Free Zone Authority

The establishment card is missing. It is a separate step after the licence and a hard prerequisite for any residence visa sponsored by the company. No entry permit can be raised until it exists.

Banks assess the activity, the free zone, the business rationale and whether there is a UAE-resident signatory with an Emirates ID. A newly formed free-zone company with no resident signatory is a common decline across all zones. Complete at least one residence visa and Emirates ID before applying.

A free-zone licence does not permit direct mainland trade. The routes are a mainland distributor, a dual-licence arrangement, or forming a mainland company through Invest in Dubai. If mainland customers are the core of the business, the last of those is usually the right structure from the start rather than a workaround later.

Adding an activity is a formal amendment with its own fee and, for some activities, external approval. Selecting the full activity list at formation is materially cheaper than adding to it later.

Check whether the original quote bundled the first-year visa costs into the package figure. Renewal separates the licence and facility from the per-person visa renewals, so the same total can arrive as two or three invoices and read as an increase when it is not.

Up to six. That is IFZA's main structural advantage over its closest Dubai comparator, Meydan Free Zone, where the flexi-desk plan caps at three visas in 2026 and higher quotas require a private office priced by square metre.

Not directly, as a general rule. A free-zone licence covers trade within the free zone and outside the UAE. Selling into the mainland normally requires a mainland distributor or a dual-licence arrangement. If mainland customers are the core of the business, a mainland licence through Invest in Dubai is usually the right structure from the start.

In year one, usually yes, because the mainland route generally requires registered premises with an attested Ejari and that lease is often the largest single line in a mainland budget. The comparison changes if the business needs to invoice mainland customers directly, because the distributor arrangement carries its own cost.

IFZA operates largely through registered agents rather than a direct public application flow. That is normal for this free zone. The practical consequence is that quotes differ between agents for the same underlying product, so ask for the authority-fee versus agent-fee split and get the year-two renewal figure in writing before committing.

IFZA is in Dubai with packages from around AED 12,900 and up to six visas on a flexi-desk. SHAMS is Sharjah Media City, cheaper at entry - around AED 5,750 for a licence with no visa eligibility and around AED 11,500 with one visa slot - and notably more generous on quota, allowing up to 50 visas per licence without an office lease requirement. Dubai address versus Sharjah cost and quota is the real trade-off.

The licence itself is typically a matter of days once documents are complete. The establishment card follows, and only then can residence visas be processed, each with its own entry permit, medical test and Emirates ID steps. Plan for several weeks from start to a fully resident, bankable company rather than reading the licence timeline as the whole process.

The licence lapses and penalties accrue, and any residence visas sponsored by the company are tied to the licence remaining valid. If the company is no longer needed, a formal liquidation or de-registration is cheaper and cleaner than allowing the licence to expire with visas still attached to it.

Close to year one minus the one-off registration items - so a package quoted around AED 14,900 with one visa renews at a broadly similar figure annually, plus the per-person visa renewal costs when those fall due. This is the number most first-year quotes omit, and it is worth getting in writing before committing.

Yes, but by moving to a larger package rather than adding slots to the existing one, and beyond six visas that generally means moving off a flexi-desk to a leased facility. Because the quota is tied to the package and facility rather than the company, the change is a price-band move - worth anticipating at formation if headcount is likely to grow.

Commercial and trading licences are available, and goods can move through the free zone under its customs arrangements. What the licence does not permit is selling directly to mainland UAE customers without a distributor or a dual-licence arrangement - that restriction applies to goods and services alike across UAE free zones.

IFZA is usually cheaper in year one because a mainland licence normally requires registered premises with an attested Ejari, and that lease is typically the largest line in a mainland budget. The calculation changes if the business needs to invoice mainland UAE customers directly, since the distributor or dual-licence arrangement that makes that possible carries its own recurring cost.