How to Start a PRO Services Company in Dubai

This page is for people who want to open a PRO services firm on the Dubai mainland: the firm that files visas, labour transactions and licence paperwork for other companies. It sets out the licence step, what a PRO firm may and may not do, how PRO cards work, how VAT applies to government fees you pay for clients, and where the first clients come from. Every official page below was read on 5 October 2026.

Step one: the licence, and why the activity comes first

The UAE Government portal is direct about the order of decisions: the business activity “is the basis for selecting the legal form and type of licence, whether commercial, industrial or professional” (u.ae, steps to start a business on the mainland, updated 16 July 2026). The same page lists the eight licence types Invest in Dubai offers: industrial, commercial, professional, eTrader, dual, instant, SME and Intelaq. It also says a trade name must be compatible with the activity, which is why licensed centres carry names such as “Documents Clearing Services” or “Government Transactions”.

So the licence type is not something you pick for a PRO firm. You pick the activity, and DET tells you which licence it falls under, what approvals it needs and whether foreign ownership is allowed. The place to check is DET’s Search Business Activities tool on Invest in Dubai (app.invest.dubai.ae/search-business-activities). It answers interactively and we could not read its results with our tools on 5 October 2026, so this page does not print a mainland activity code or say whether document clearing is commercial or professional. Search the tool for “clearing” and “government transactions”, and keep a screenshot of the activity card with its code and licence type.

If you are weighing a free zone instead, one example on an official free zone site: Meydan Free Zone lists “Documents Clearing Services” as activity 8299.85 in its own activity hub (read on 5 October 2026). That code belongs to Meydan’s list, not DET’s. A free zone licence changes where you can serve clients, which our mainland, free zone or offshore comparison covers. Once licensed, the yearly cycle is described in our trade licence renewal guide, and the licence category itself in the professional licence guide.

What a PRO firm may do, and what it may not

The official pages we read describe channels, not a list of PRO firm powers. For the representative card, GDRFA lists two channels: digital channels (website and smart application, 24/7) and Amer service centres. For the PRO card, MOHRE lists service centres, its website, its app and Tawseel. A PRO firm is not on either list. It works through those channels on the client’s behalf, using the client’s authorisations, or it walks the client’s file into an authorised centre. Our client-side list of typing centres and Amer centres in Dubai is built from GDRFA’s published list.

The practical boundary has two sides. A PRO firm is not an Amer or Tas-heel centre unless it holds that authorisation itself, which is a separate application covered in our guide on how to open a typing centre and get accredited. And it cannot sell legal work: Dubai’s Resolution 52 of 2022 defines Legal Services as what advocacy firms are licensed to provide, from pleading and representation before judicial authorities to legal opinions and drafting contracts. When a client’s file turns into a dispute, refer it to a licensed law firm.

PRO cards and representative cards

Two different cards are involved in Dubai, and both are tied to the establishment the holder works for.

MOHRE PRO card. MOHRE describes it as an optional subsidiary procedure of the establishment file that “allows the customer to submit the Ministry’s transactions on behalf of the establishment at which he is registered”. The conditions on the page, as archived on 26 March 2026 (the live page did not respond to us on 5 October 2026):

• the PRO must have an official file with the ministry, meaning a valid work permit, and good conduct;
• a UAE national PRO may hold PRO cards for three different owners, if the first employs 100 or more workers and the second and third fewer than 100 each;
• an expatriate PRO may hold only one PRO card, for an owner employing fewer than 100 workers;
• the applicant must be the owner and authorised signatory of the establishment;
• documents: police clearance certificate and personal photo; completion in 2 working days.

Fees on the same page: service provider fees of 40 dirhams, a maximum business centre commission of Dhs.72, and no charge through the MOHRE website and app. MOHRE adds that these figures exclude tax and collection charges.

GDRFA representative card. GDRFA issues a representative’s card for the private sector, free zone and SME support companies. Its service page (read 5 October 2026) asks for a letter from the authorised authority and a certificate of criminal investigation, sets the condition that the representative’s residence is with the company he works for, and gives 48 hours as the completion time. It does not publish a base card fee. It does publish the add-ons: a collection commission of AED 20 per transaction (Commercial Bank of Dubai), AED 50 for companies or AED 15 for individuals (Emaratec), and AED 100 added if the application goes through an Amer centre.

What this means for a PRO firm: your PRO’s cards attach to your own establishment, and an expatriate PRO’s single MOHRE card belongs to one owner with fewer than 100 workers. Neither page describes a card that lets a third-party firm act for many unrelated client companies, so ask MOHRE and GDRFA how your staff should file for clients before you promise turnaround times.

VAT on government fees you pass on

Most of a PRO invoice is money you paid to a government body for the client. The Federal Tax Authority’s public clarification VATP013, Disbursements and Reimbursements (no issue date printed in the document), splits these recoveries in two. A disbursement, money paid on behalf of another person, is out of scope of VAT. A reimbursement, an expense you incurred as principal, follows the VAT treatment of your main supply.

Checklist from VATP013: the recovery is a disbursement only if

• the client is the recipient of the service;
• the client is responsible for paying the supplier;
• the invoice or tax invoice is in the client’s own name;
• the client authorised you to pay on its behalf;
• the service is clearly additional to what you supply yourself;
• the payment is shown separately on your invoice and recovered at the exact amount, without a mark-up.

Worked example (our arithmetic). Suppose your own fee for arranging a PRO card is AED 200 (your price, chosen for the example) and you paid MOHRE’s AED 40 service provider fee in the client’s name. VAT is 5% (Ministry of Finance, VAT page, read 5 October 2026). If the AED 40 meets every condition above, the invoice is AED 200 + AED 10 VAT + AED 40 disbursement = AED 250. If you mark it up or the receipt is in your firm’s name, it becomes a reimbursement and VAT applies to the whole: (AED 200 + AED 40) x 5% = AED 12, so AED 252. The difference looks small per file and adds up across hundreds of files.

Registration itself: a business must register for VAT when taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000, and may register voluntarily above AED 187,500 (Ministry of Finance, read 5 October 2026). Government fees passed on as disbursements are not your supplies. Our VAT registration guide covers the process.

Setting up, in order

1. Search DET’s activity tool for the document clearing activity and record its code, licence type and any external approvals.
2. Reserve a trade name compatible with the activity, as the u.ae page requires.
3. Choose the legal form, apply for initial approval and select a location to conduct business (the u.ae mainland steps list all three).
4. Issue the licence, open your MOHRE establishment file and hire your PRO on a work permit, since the PRO card needs one.
5. Apply for the MOHRE PRO card and the GDRFA representative card for that employee.
6. Set up invoicing that separates your fee from government fees paid in the client’s name, and decide on VAT registration.
7. Decide whether you stay a PRO firm or also apply to become an Amer or Tas-heel centre; that second route has its own conditions.

Where PRO firms find clients

People do search for this work: Semrush shows 1,600 monthly searches in the UAE for “pro services dubai” (read on 5 October 2026). On emirae.pro, clients post requests in the PRO Services category, described on our pricing page as document clearing, Emirates ID and routine government errands. A PRO firm pays AED 100 once per client, only after that client opened its contacts to the firm and the firm confirmed. Profile and offers are free, with a limit of 20 offers per day, and there is no subscription. See how it works and the document clearing requests category.

PRO work is frequent and small, so the lead price is the lowest of our categories; the value is in clients who come back every month. For the wider picture, read our guides on lead generation for UAE service firms and B2B lead platforms in the UAE.

What is not published

• The DET mainland activity code and licence type for document clearing: the official tool exists, but we could not read its results on 5 October 2026.
• A base fee for GDRFA’s representative card: the page lists only collection commissions and the AED 100 Amer add-on.
• Any official rule letting a third-party PRO firm hold cards for unrelated client companies.
• A Dubai Courts representative card for PRO staff: we found no public service page for one.
• Government fees for individual visa and labour transactions in one official table. Ask for a written quote that shows government fees and the firm’s own charge separately.