SPC Free Zone: Packages, Costs and the Dual License

An SPC Free Zone setup starts at AED 5,750 for a zero-visa package and AED 13,175 with one visa. Both include a business licence with up to five activities. Those are the two package figures SPC (Sharjah Publishing City) publishes today. Everything on this page was checked on SPC’s own pages, first on 8 August 2026 and again on 14 August 2026, with the visa prices re-read on 3 October 2026, and where SPC publishes nothing, this page says so instead of guessing.

Source: SPC Free Zone, UAE business setup packages (updated 15 July 2026), checked 14 August 2026 and again on 3 October 2026. The e-commerce, publishing and media licence is quoted “from AED 5,750” on the SPC homepage, checked the same day.

If you saw different SPC prices elsewhere

SPC’s packages page (updated 15 July 2026) lists the One Visa Package at AED 13,175, and SPC’s own cost calculator adds up to the same figure: licence AED 5,750, visa quota AED 1,600, establishment card AED 640, e-channel AED 2,280 and investor visa processing AED 2,895 (including the AED 365 medical test and AED 330 Emirates ID), plus the AED 10 Knowledge fee. The FAQ on the same SPC page still quotes AED 6,875 with one visa. AED 6,875 is SPC’s Standard licence tier with no visa, so a one-visa price of AED 6,875 is out of date.

SPC free zone setup, step by step

SPC describes the route in outline rather than as a numbered procedure, so this is that outline put in order, from the zone’s own pages checked on 14 August 2026.

1. SPC free zone setup starts with the trade name. SPC runs a name check tool that lets you check and reserve a preferred trade name before anything else is filed.
2. Pick the activities, up to five on one licence. They may be mixed across sectors, drawn from a catalogue SPC states runs to more than 2,000 activities.
3. Choose the package by visa count, not by licence type. Zero visa from AED 5,750, one visa from AED 13,175, multi-visa up to six on request; the licence itself is the same.
4. Submit the licence application. SPC advertises an instant licence, so this step is where the published timings stop being useful and a written quotation starts being necessary.
5. Add premises if the visa count needs them. Office or warehouse space is secured separately and is not part of the headline package price.
6. Process the visas. SPC advertises UAE residency in five working days, which covers the visa stage rather than the whole setup.
7. Open the bank account. SPC advertises a guaranteed bank account with the licence; treat that as a commitment to introduce, and get the bank named in writing.

Activities and the dual licence

Source: SPC Free Zone, trade licence activities list, checked 8 August 2026. Five mixed activities on one licence is more than Meydan includes (three groups), and the dual licence is the feature that lets an SPC company serve Sharjah mainland clients without a second licence.

What SPC publishes and what it does not

A first-year price without a renewal price is half a decision. Get the renewal figure and the full visa arithmetic in writing before paying, and get the package contents in writing too, since the published pages describe them in one line each.

What an SPC free zone licence does not give you

• An SPC free zone licence does not give you a Dubai address. The company is registered in Sharjah, and that is what the lower price reflects.
• An SPC free zone licence does not include unlimited mainland trading. The dual licence covers Sharjah mainland; other emirates are a separate arrangement.
• The headline package does not include premises or a sixth activity. Office and warehouse space is priced separately and unpublished, and activity groups beyond the five included cost AED 2,200 each in SPC’s cost calculator.
• It does not come with a published renewal price. Year two is unquoted until you ask, which is the most important number missing from every SPC comparison online, including this one.
• An advertised bank account is not an opened bank account. Approval remains the bank’s decision, not the zone’s.

Opening a business bank account

A bank account does not come with an SPC Free Zone licence: the bank opens it separately, after its own review of the company, its owners and the expected transactions. For a new small company, two common starting points are ADCB SmartStart, which costs AED 131.25 a month including VAT, with no minimum balance, for UAE nationals and residents, and Mashreq’s NeoBiz account, which starts at AED 99 plus VAT a month on the Pro plan, with no minimum balance (banks’ own fee schedules, checked October 2026). In Sharjah, InvestBank is a local option, but it publishes no business account fees online. Compare all of them on our UAE business banks page.

SPC against its neighbours, on published figures only

SPC against SHAMS is the comparison that matters: both sit in Sharjah and both open at about AED 5,750: AED 5,750 at SPC and AED 5,760 at SHAMS. The difference is what sits on top. SHAMS charges AED 1,600 for each visa allocation plus a one-time AED 640 immigration card and AED 2,280 e-channel registration; SPC’s cost calculator shows the same three lines at the same amounts. Both are roughly half of Meydan on entry price, which buys a Dubai address instead. SHAMS figures come from the SHAMS packages page and calculator, as recorded in our own SHAMS cost guide; none of the three publishes a renewal, so three-year cost is a quotation exercise. Wider market: IFZA, RAKEZ, DMCC, cheapest free zones.

How many consultants here work with SPC

From the Emirae directory, measured 8 August 2026.

SPC is a thinner bench than Meydan or DMCC in this directory: six firms against seventeen for DMCC. A founder choosing SPC has fewer independent advisers to compare, which is a reason to ask several of them for the same scope. Free zone company formation is the service this sits under.

Other Sharjah free zones we cover: all Sharjah free zones, SAIF Zone, Hamriyah Free Zone and SRTIP.