Trade Licence in Dubai: Types, Activities and What They Allow

The type of licence (commercial, professional, industrial, tourism, or the zone’s own labels) follows the activity codes you pick. Those codes decide what you may invoice, import, manufacture, or advertise. Banks and payment providers read the same list.

As of 24 August 2026, Dubai still has no single public PDF that prices every mainland activity. DET and Invest in Dubai run an estimator and an activity search. Free zones publish their own catalogues and extra-activity tariffs. Confirm the live code, the extra-approval flag, and the invoice before you pay. UAE company formation and licensing starts with that match between model and code. Advisory, compliance writing and banking work sit outside the government lines below; they are not a Medici quote.

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What does a Dubai trade licence allow you to do?

The licence is a closed list. Dubai’s Commercial Compliance Manual (the DED-era guide still hosted on the UAE government asset library) states that the merchant is bound to the activity approved on the licence and to the place where that activity is practised. Adding a product line, a warehouse, a kiosk or a second office needs a variation or a permit. Practising outside the printed codes is an inspection issue, not a branding choice.

Federal and Dubai law treat the economic activity as the unit of licensing. u.ae’s mainland journey puts “identifying a business activity” before legal form and licence issuance. Invest in Dubai’s activity search and the Dubai Unified Licence (DUL) number are how counterparties look the company up. The National Economic Register on u.ae is the federal check. A free zone e-licence is a trade licence in ordinary speech; the issuer and the activity dictionary still differ, which is why a DET commercial code and a zone “service” label are not interchangeable on a bank file.

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Who issues the licence: DET or the free zone authority?

The issuer owns the dictionary. Two consultancies can share a website slogan and still sit in different catalogues, with different add-on fees and different rights to contract inside the UAE. DET licenses mainland companies for the emirate. Each free zone licenses work conducted in or from that zone, under that authority’s list of approved activities. Law No. (20) of 2021 established DET. Invest in Dubai is the public window for mainland issuance, including the request to issue a trade licence. A zone company may appear in the DUL directory; the operating permission still comes from the zone registrar first. DIFC and ADGM keep their own permission books. Do not read a DFSA or FSRA approval as a DET commercial code.

DET and the Dubai Unified Licence

DET’s business-licensing pages describe mainland applications. The live search on app.invest.dubai.ae accepts a licence number, a DUL number, or the English or Arabic name. u.ae’s verify-licences page (updated 6 April 2026 in the SERP snapshot) points to emirate economic departments and the National Economic Register. External authorities attach where the code requires them. Most commercial and professional activities allow 100 percent foreign ownership after the 2020 reform, restated in Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021. Cabinet Resolution No. 55 of 2021 still lists strategic-impact activities that keep ownership limits. Check the code on the portal.

The free zone registrar’s catalogue

DMCC’s Licensing Rules (effective 10 October 2024) require a DMCC entity to hold an active licence for the activities on the List of Approved Activities, and (except freelancers) a lease or freehold in the zone. Jafza’s licence page tells applicants to download the UAE government business activity list and then pick Trading, Service, Industrial or Logistics under Jafza rules. Meydan sells Regular and Fawri licences against its own activity groups, not against a DET invoice.

A zone licence authorises work in or from that zone and, in the usual federal framing on u.ae, overseas. Direct sales into Dubai mainland need a distributor, a mainland counterparty, or a DET authorisation under Executive Council Resolution No. (11) of 2025. The zone can refuse a code that DET would accept, and DET can refuse a code the zone printed. Licensing strategy is the work of lining those two dictionaries up with the contracts you intend to sign.

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What does a commercial licence allow?

A commercial licence is the goods path: buying, selling, importing, exporting, wholesale, retail, distribution and brokerage of physical products. Chamber membership attaches to commercial activities on the Invest in Dubai issuance path. Khaleej Times, quoting a DET call-centre agent on 15 March 2025, treats Dubai Chamber membership as part of the commercial eTrader invoice. Confirm the live Chamber line on the portal; it is a government-adjacent fee, not a Medici price. Skill revenue belongs on a professional code. Transformation of materials belongs on an industrial path. Mixing those families on one mainland licence is a DET decision on the file, not a package name you pick at checkout.

Goods, import and the eCommerce overlay

u.ae’s eCommerce page states that selling products or services online on the UAE mainland requires a commercial licence that includes eCommerce activity from the emirate’s economic department (in Dubai, DET). Some emirates issue a standalone individual eCommerce licence; Dubai’s public materials also describe the eTrader path for home-based sellers. All eCommerce licences require Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) approval for digital activity. A website that takes mainland orders without the eCommerce code and the TDRA no-objection is operating outside the printed permission.

Import and export sit on commercial codes; customs, restricted goods and sanitary rules sit with other agencies. The licence lets you apply. Banks will compare invoices to the printed description.

General trading versus a tight product list

Jafza’s trading types show how width is priced: Type 1 caps seven activities in one group; Type 2 allows up to twelve from two groups; Type 3 is unlimited from three or more groups and is classified as general trading. DET mainland general trading is the wide commercial product. Mill schedules often echo about AED 15,000 as a government activity fee; treat that as a market echo until DET prints it on your estimator. A narrow electronics code is easier to explain to a bank. It fails when you start shipping unrelated product families.

Fits when the company buys and sells goods, holds inventory, and can name the product families. Fails when “trading” is a cover for advisory retainers, software implementation, or virtual-asset brokerage.

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What does a professional licence allow?

A professional licence is the services path: management consultancy, information technology, design, training, accounting support, and other skill-based codes. DET uses “professional” as the family name. Free zones often print “service licence” for the same idea. The permission is to sell expertise rather than to hold stock. Jafza’s service-licence page states the business does not trade in or hold inventory of physical products. Consultancy codes may need a CV, an attested degree, or a manager who matches the activity. Health, legal practice, architecture and education add board or ministry stamps. The family stays professional; the delay is the extra authority.

Skill codes, civil companies and the eTrader limit

Mainland professional activities can sit on an LLC, a one-person LLC, a sole establishment or a civil company, depending on the code and the portal path. Khaleej Times, quoting DET, says an eTrader licence for commercial (trading) activities is issued to UAE and GCC nationals, while some professional activities can be issued to expatriates, excluding food and cooking businesses. That nationality split is an issuance rule, not a ranking of licence quality. Confirm on Invest in Dubai for the specific code; call-centre quotes age.

A professional licence fits a firm that invoices for time, software services, or advice. It fails when the operating model is import-and-resell, restaurant, factory, or a travel product that DET files under tourism. Adding a “trading” line later is an amendment with a new family of fees, not a footnote on the existing professional document.

Local service agent and what the licence still does not cover

Older professional sole establishments used a local service agent for government filings while the expatriate owned the economics. 100 percent foreign ownership on many LLC professional codes has reduced that pattern. Some sole-establishment files still meet LSA language on the portal. Read the live DET form for your legal type. A professional trade licence is not a VARA, DFSA or FSRA permission. Crypto compliance in 2026 is the overlay when the printed code says “consultancy” and the website says “exchange.” Banks will side with the website.

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What does an industrial licence allow?

An industrial licence is the manufacturing path: processing, assembly, packaging, transformation of materials. DET issues a local industrial trade licence on the mainland. Jafza and DMCC issue industrial licences inside the zone. Jafza requires the plant and warehouse in the free zone and runs regular HSE audits. DMCC’s Rules define the Industrial Licence as the manufacturing activities specified on the licence. A flexi-desk company that unpacks cartons in a villa is on the wrong path. The local trade licence is the economic permission. The federal industrial production licence, which sits with MoIAT, is the overlay that customs-relief programmes look for.

Zone or DET industrial, and the premises test

Jafza describes industrial activity as purchase of raw materials, import of manufacturing inputs, assembly, production and after-sales support. The core requirement is the plant in the zone. DMCC’s Help Centre prices a new licence when the extra activity sits in a different licence type (Service, Trading, Industrial), at AED 20,265 a year on the published activity-pricing note, with different pricing for special and industrial licences. Confirm the live Schedule of Charges. Premises type is a licensing condition: some DMCC activities require a specific property class.

Mainland industrial files go through DET and then, for qualifying factories, through MoIAT. Civil defence and environmental permits attach to the plant. Fits when you occupy a workshop, factory or industrial plot and the revenue is goods you transform. Fails when “industrial” is a label on a trading company that only re-exports cartons.

MoIAT production licence: capital and headcount

MoIAT’s “Issue Industrial Production License” FAQ requires a local industrial licence, a memorandum of association (with stated exceptions), no fewer than 10 employees, and capital of no less than AED 250,000 (about USD 68,000 at the 3.6725 peg). The “Issue Industrial Registry” FAQ repeats the AED 250,000 and 10-employee tests. Inspection sits on the production-licence path. Confirm both service cards before you budget. The federal document is what customs-relief programmes look for. A DET or zone industrial trade licence without it still holds the local permission; it does not grant duty exemption on machinery.

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Tourism licences and hospitality permits

Tourism is its own DET family. DET’s site splits business licensing from tourism businesses, hospitality services and holiday-home classification. Travel agencies, tour operators, event organisers and hotel operators sit here, often with manager qualifications, a bank guarantee, and classified premises. The former Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing functions now sit inside DET; the extra tourism controls did not disappear when the letterhead merged.

Event consultancy on a professional code is a different permission from a tour-operator activity. Selling souvenirs on a commercial code is a different permission from hotel classification. DET’s hospitality pages cover hotels, holiday homes and timeshare. If the product is beds, classified rooms or inbound tour packages, start on the tourism side of dubaidet.gov.ae. Fits for travel, hospitality or classified visitor accommodation. Fails when you only need a hall hire under an existing commercial or professional company. Confirm the live DET tourism list for the code.

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How activity codes and groups work

DET and the zones do not sell “a licence” as a blank canvas. They sell numbered activities, often grouped by ISIC-style chapter and division. The first digits of the code decide whether an extra line is a cheap sibling or a new family. That is why two consultancies on the same street pay different extra-activity fees: one stayed inside one two-digit block, the other added a distant division.

Search the code before you search the package. Invest in Dubai and each zone portal will flag external approval. If the flag is on, the five-minute instant path is off. If the flag is off, you still cannot invoice a product the code does not name.

DMCC: six activities, two-digit groups, separate licences

DMCC’s Help Centre pricing rules (live, 24 August 2026) charge AED 1,500 a year per extra activity beyond six that share the same first two digits (example 50xx-xx). Extra activities that share only the first digit (example 51xx-xx) cost AED 10,000 a year and allow up to six from that new two-digit division. Extra activities with a different first two digits (example 74xx-xx) cost AED 20,265 a year, again up to six from that division. A different licence type (Service, Trading, Industrial) needs a new licence at AED 20,265 a year, with separate pricing for special and industrial licences. Standalone activities such as a single-family office, some real estate and DGCX cannot mix with other codes.

Trading and service must sit on separate licences. DMCC’s April 2026 blog describes “commercial” as broader multi-category trading. The Licensing Rules define Commercial Licence as SPV, holding company, single-family office and multi-family office. Follow the Rules and the Help Centre when the blog disagrees. Confirm the List of Approved Activities on dmcc.ae.

Meydan: three activity groups in the base fee

Meydan’s cost calculator and activity-hub pages (24 August 2026) include three business activity groups in the licence fee. Regular licence from AED 12,500 with 2,500+ activities; Fawri from AED 15,000 with 1,800+ activities and a sub-60-minute claim for a one-person company. Each extra activity beyond the included groups is AED 1,000. Knowledge and Innovation print at AED 10 + AED 10 on checkout. Fashion, advertising and e-commerce can share one licence if they map to three groups. That is a zone rule. It does not rewrite DET’s mainland families.

Jafza: trading types and a logistics licence

Jafza’s official licence page lists Trading, Service, Industrial and Logistics. Logistics covers storage, transport, distribution, sorting, forwarding and clearing. Trading cost tracks how many activities and groups you add, with Type 3 as general trading. Service uses Type 1 and Type 2 caps and no inventory. Industrial needs the plant in the zone. The page headlines licences from AED 5,000; price the mix on the Jafza calculator.

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Instant licence, eTrader and a normal mainland file

Khaleej Times (15 March 2025), citing DET, splits issuance into three paths: normal licence, instant licence, and eTrader licence. The path is a clock and a document set. The economic family remains commercial, professional, industrial or tourism. A normal file wants a memorandum of association and a site lease (Ejari). Instant is for activities that need no external approvals and can issue in about five minutes; with an MoA the owner can take a virtual site for the first year. The same briefing ties instant files to Dubai Chamber membership for commercial activities, a GDRFA establishment card, and a MOHRE card with an option to employ three people, for LLC, one-person LLC, sole establishment and civil company.

eTrader is a sole-establishment licence for Dubai home-based businesses, issued with the trade name. Commercial eTrader is described as UAE and GCC nationals only; some professional activities are open to expatriates; food and cooking are not. If Municipality, TDRA, health or education must stamp the code, the five-minute path is closed. Confirm the live DET condition on the first-year virtual address before you treat it as a permanent home office. The path fits a constrained home-based file. It fails a team that needs a warehouse, a full visa quota, or a regulated activity.

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Dual licensing under Executive Council Resolution 11 of 2025

Executive Council Resolution No. (11) of 2025, issued 3 March 2025 and published on the Dubai Legal Portal, is the emirate rule for free zone establishments that want to work outside the zone and inside Dubai. It applies to companies licensed by a Dubai free zone authority. Financial establishments licensed in DIFC are excluded. Article (3) requires separate financial records for the onshore work. Article (4) lets DET issue a branch located in the emirate, a branch operating out of the free zone, or a permit for specific activities. The two licences last one year. The permit lasts no more than six months. The zone authority must approve first. The onshore branch has no separate legal personality.

Branch in the emirate versus branch operating out of the zone

Article (5) is the mainland-premises branch: the branch must be located in the emirate, fees follow applicable legislation, and extra regulators stamp the activity if required. Article (6) is the dual-licence pattern founders mean in conversation: a DET licence for a branch that still operates out of the free zone, with MoA, zone trade licence, and manager passport and Emirates ID in the pack. Article (12) prices that second instrument at ten thousand dirhams (AED 10,000, about USD 2,720) per year to issue or renew, and prices the temporary permit at five thousand dirhams (AED 5,000, about USD 1,360). Confirm live DET collection practice; the Resolution is the gazette line.

Fits when the zone company has real mainland customers and can keep two books. Fails when the “mainland” story is a few invoices a year that a distributor could cover, or when the activity is still waiting on DET’s eligible-activity list under Article (9). DIFC financial firms need DFSA logic, not this Resolution.

The activity list, inspections and the grace window

Article (9) gave DET, with each licensing authority, up to six months from 3 March 2025 to publish which activities need which instrument. Search that list on Invest in Dubai before you apply. Article (11) puts authorised establishments under inspection. Article (13) gave firms already on the mainland one year from 3 March 2025 to comply (to 3 March 2026), with a possible one-time extension. Corporate Tax follows the split books. Qualifying Free Zone Person treatment, if claimed, attaches to qualifying income from the zone; mainland activity sits on the federal 0 percent / 9 percent bands. Accounting and tax for UAE companies is the filing side. Dual licensing is a permissions product.

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When the printed activity is not enough

External approval is the silent half of the code. Food, pharmacies, schools, clinics, nurseries, recruitment, transport, telecommunications, real estate brokerage and virtual assets all pull in another regulator. The DET or zone licence issues only after that stamp, or it issues with a condition. Instant paths exclude these codes by design.

Wrong codes are the other failure. Nataly Medici’s line on the licensing page still holds: a licence rejected for sloppy documentation is harder to recover from than one that was never filed. A licence that issued on the wrong list creates the same mess after the fact. You invoice outside the print, fail a Municipality inspection, or hand a bank an activity list that cannot explain the website.

A DET or DMCC consultancy code does not authorise virtual-asset exchange, custody or broker-dealer work. VARA (outside DIFC) and the financial free zone regulators issue those permissions. AML and compliance work belongs in the file when the model is high-risk. Confirm the sector perimeter before you treat the economic licence as complete.

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Official fee lines as of August 2026

DET does not publish one mainland tariff for every commercial or professional combination. The dual-sourced lines below are issuance and extra-activity tariffs. Visas, medical, Emirates ID, office rent, Ejari, bank balances, bookkeeping and advisory sit on other receipts. Confirm live on the cited calculator or gazette. Commercial formation and compliance retainers sit outside this map; they are not a Medici quote.

Invest in Dubai’s issuance service, as Google quoted it on 24 August 2026, states AED 1,070 (licence plus Knowledge and Innovation) plus AED 300 Dubai Chamber membership. Khaleej Times, quoting DET, gives the same split for eTrader (AED 1,370, subject to activity), initial approval AED 120, trade name AED 620, and an extra AED 2,000 if the trade name is English. Knowledge Dirham AED 10 and Innovation Dirham AED 10 come from Dubai Laws No. 1 and No. 2 of 2018; Meydan’s calculator still prints both.

DMCC’s 8 April 2026 guide puts the licence from about AED 20,285 a year (about AED 20,000 to AED 50,000 by type and sector), with Basic Biz AED 35,484 and Jump Start AED 43,780 as published packages. Extra-activity lines are AED 1,500 / AED 10,000 / AED 20,265 as above. Meydan Regular from AED 12,500, Fawri from AED 15,000, three groups included, AED 1,000 per extra activity. Resolution 11: AED 10,000 a year for the branch operating out of the zone, AED 5,000 for the temporary permit. MoIAT: AED 250,000 capital and 10 employees for the federal production licence. Jafza’s page headlines licences from AED 5,000; price the type on the Jafza calculator. Run the portal for your codes the week you pay.

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FAQ

How do I check a Dubai trade licence online?

Use Invest in Dubai’s search-licence tool with the licence number, DUL number, or the English or Arabic name. u.ae also points to the National Economic Register. The result should show status, expiry, legal form and the activity list. A PDF screenshot is not a live check. Search the zone portal as well if the company is not on DUL.

Is a commercial licence the same as a professional licence?

They are different DET families. Commercial covers goods: import, export, wholesale, retail, distribution. Professional covers services and skill. A company that does both needs both families approved, and in DMCC that means two licences. Tourism and industrial are separate families. Pick from the activity search.

Can a free zone company sell on the Dubai mainland on its zone licence alone?

The usual zone permission is in or from the zone and overseas. Direct mainland work needs a distributor, a mainland entity, or a DET instrument under Executive Council Resolution No. (11) of 2025. DIFC financial establishments are excluded. Confirm the activity on DET’s eligible list before you sign mainland contracts.

How much is the official eTrader fee?

Invest in Dubai and DET-quoted figures put the eTrader government line at AED 1,070 plus AED 300 Chamber membership (AED 1,370), with initial approval AED 120 and trade name AED 620 on the wider path. Instant issuance is for codes without external approvals. Confirm on app.invest.dubai.ae the week you apply. Formation-firm packages are commercial fees, not DET tariffs.

Do I need MoIAT if I already have an industrial trade licence?

Only if you want the federal industrial production licence and the customs-relief path that sits on it. MoIAT’s service FAQs still want the local industrial licence, AED 250,000 capital and 10 employees, then an inspection. A zone or DET industrial trade licence is the local permission. Light assembly on a commercial code will not pass that inspection.

Can I add any activity I like to one licence?

Only inside the issuer’s grouping rules. DMCC prices extra codes by how far the ISIC-style digits sit from the existing block and keeps trading off a service licence. Meydan includes three groups, then AED 1,000 per extra activity. Jafza caps activities by trading type. DET will refuse combinations that cross families or that need a second regulator you have not cleared.

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Sources

• https://www.dubaidet.gov.ae/en/licences-and-permits/business-licensing
• https://www.dubaidet.gov.ae/en/licences-and-permits
• https://www.dubaidet.gov.ae/en/licences-and-permits/tourism-businesses
• https://www.dubaidet.gov.ae/en/licences-and-permits/hospitality-services-and-permits
• https://www.investindubai.gov.ae/en/business-setup/business-setup-services/request-to-issue-a-trade-licence
• https://www.investindubai.gov.ae/en/business-setup/company-set-up-options-in-dubai/dubai-unified-licence-guide
• https://app.invest.dubai.ae/search-license
• https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/business/important-digital-services/inquire-about-licences-names-and-activities
• https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/business/important-digital-services/national-economic-register
• https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/business/Doing-business/doing-business-on-the-mainland/steps-to-start-a-business-on-the-mainland
• https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/business/Managing-and-growing-your-business/ecommerce
• https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/business/Doing-business/doing-business-in-free-zones/starting-a-business-in-a-free-zone
• https://www.khaleejtimes.com/life-and-living/dubai-trade-licence
• https://dmcc.ae/hubfs/Compliance%20Documents%202024/Licensing%20Rules-%20Final.pdf?hsLang=en
• https://dmcc.ae/blog/complete-guide-on-dmcc-licences
• https://dmccsf.my.site.com/DMCCHelpCentre/s/article/What-are-the-pricing-rules-for-licenses-activities
• https://dmccsf.my.site.com/DMCCHelpCentre/s/article/Can-a-trading-and-service-activity-be-on-the-same-license
• https://www.jafza.ae/business-setup/business-license/
• https://www.meydanfz.ae/cost-calculator
• https://www.meydanfz.ae/activity-hub/multiple-business-activities-one-dubai-license
• https://www.meydanfz.ae/why-choose-meydan-free-zone
• https://moiat.gov.ae/en/services/issue-industrial-production-license
• https://moiat.gov.ae/en/services/issue-industrial-registry
• https://assets.u.ae/api/public/content/4d91c03a4430462bbe81f1589e0a4a85?v=b6808785
• https://www.moet.gov.ae/en/establishing-business-in-the-uae