Meydan Free Zone

Check the visa count in each package. Meydan's entry package includes one visa slot while several competitors' entry packages include none, so a like-for-like comparison has to be at the same slot count. Then add the per-person visa costs, which sit outside the package price everywhere.

The establishment card is missing. It is a separate step after the licence and a prerequisite for any residence visa - no entry permit can be raised until it exists.

Banks weigh the activity, the business rationale and whether there is a UAE-resident signatory with an Emirates ID more than the zone itself. Complete at least one residence visa and Emirates ID so there is a resident signatory, then reapply with a clear description of the business and its expected flows.

A free-zone licence cannot do this directly. The options are a mainland distributor, a dual-licence arrangement, or a mainland licence through Invest in Dubai. If this is a recurring requirement rather than a one-off, the mainland licence is usually the cheaper answer over any reasonable horizon.

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

Three, in 2026. Beyond that you need a private office priced by square metre, with quota scaling to floor area. This is the single most important number to check before choosing Meydan - IFZA allows up to six on a flexi-desk and SHAMS up to 50 per licence with no office requirement at all.

They are close on price at one visa and differ on quota and address. Meydan starts near AED 12,500 with one visa and a Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City address, capped at three on a flexi-desk. IFZA starts around AED 14,900 with one visa and allows up to six. If headcount will stay small and the address matters, Meydan. If you expect to hire, IFZA's cap buys you more room before a facility change.

Not directly, as a general rule. Free-zone licences cover trade within the zone and outside the UAE; mainland sales normally require a distributor or a dual-licence arrangement. If mainland customers are the core business, forming through Invest in Dubai from the start is usually cheaper than working around the restriction afterwards.

Commercial perception, not regulatory advantage. Some clients, landlords and banks read a central Dubai address differently from a Sharjah or northern-emirate one. The licence itself permits exactly the same activities and carries the same mainland trading restriction as any other UAE free-zone licence.

You move from the flexi-desk to a private office, priced by square metre, and quota then scales with floor area at roughly one visa per 9 to 10 square metres depending on the zone's published ratio. This is a step change in annual cost rather than an incremental fee, which is why it is worth pricing at formation if growth is likely.

Close to the first-year figure minus one-off registration items, with per-person visa renewals arriving on their own cycle. A package quoted around AED 12,500 should be treated as a recurring annual cost, not a one-off setup fee.

The licence application is generally handled remotely. The steps requiring physical presence are common to every UAE company: the medical fitness test and Emirates ID biometrics for each person taking residence, plus most banks requiring an in-person account-opening meeting.