DMCC Business Setup: License Cost, Visas and Steps

DMCC quotes itself two ways: a schedule of individual charges, and bundled setup packages. The two rarely get compared, which is how a package can look like a saving when it is mostly the same money with a desk attached. Below are both, taken from DMCC’s own schedule of charges and business setup packages pages, checked by us on 8 August 2026 and again on 4 October 2026. DMCC states that all charges include AED 20 of Knowledge and Innovation Dirham fees and are subject to change without notice.

One time charges

Annual charges

The general trading licence is the line that catches people out. At AED 50,265 a year it is roughly two and a half times the trading and service licence, and it is what you need if you want to trade broadly rather than in a defined set of goods.

The packages DMCC publishes

DMCC ran a Business Acceleration Offer with 10% off one-year packages for applications filed by 31 August 2026; it is now closed to new applicants. The figures below are the package prices on DMCC’s packages page, read on 4 October 2026.

Reading the package against the schedule

Add the standard route from the schedule: AED 1,035 application, AED 9,020 registration, AED 2,020 articles of association, AED 20,285 licence and AED 1,825 establishment card comes to AED 34,185 for the first year. Basic Biz at AED 35,484 is AED 1,299 above that and includes a flexi desk. Jump Start at AED 43,780 is AED 9,595 above it and includes a desk plus one residency visa, against AED 2,972.50 for that visa, plus the medical test and Emirates ID, if bought separately.

So the packages are not discounts on the licence. They are the same licence with premises and sometimes a visa folded in. That is worth knowing before you compare a DMCC package price against a cheaper zone that quoted you a licence alone, which is not the same purchase. Our cheapest free zones guide makes that comparison across zones.

DMCC visa costs

DMCC’s schedule of charges prices each step of an employment visa. The figures below include the AED 20 Knowledge and Innovation fee and were read on 4 October 2026.

The Emirates ID and medical lines are DMCC’s typing services, and DMCC does not say whether the government fees behind them are included, so confirm that before you budget. Employees also need employee protection insurance, from AED 115 to AED 414 for a two-year visa depending on salary. Anyone taking a visa has to visit the UAE for the medical test and the Emirates ID biometrics.

What DMCC costs from the second year

On the schedule route the yearly bill after the first year is the licence renewal, AED 20,265, plus the establishment card, AED 1,825: AED 22,090 a year before the office and visas (our arithmetic). A two-year employment visa renews at AED 2,790 every second year. Packages renew at their own prices, so ask for the year two figure in writing; the first-year package price says nothing about it.

How long DMCC company setup takes

DMCC says registration typically takes around 10 working days, depending on how complete the documents are, and that the trade licence is issued electronically within 2 to 3 working days once the setup process is completed. Everything runs through DMCC’s online portal: a pre-approval application, payment and document signing, then the choice of office. You can apply from abroad. DMCC asks for documents identifying everyone with 25% or more ownership or control.

Licence types and share capital

DMCC describes four licence categories: service for professional and consultancy work, trading for importing, exporting, distributing and selling goods, commercial for broader trading across multiple product categories, and industrial for manufacturing. On capital, DMCC states the minimum share capital is typically AED 50,000 depending on the business activity, with a minimum of AED 10,000 per shareholder, while its company regulations require capital sufficient for the activities permitted under the licence rather than one fixed figure. Treat AED 50,000 as the working assumption and the licensed activity as what actually sets it.

Activities are a separate question

This page prices the company. What you are allowed to do with it is a different list, and DMCC publishes activities across a large number of sectors with some needing approval from a body beyond DMCC itself. That belongs on our DMCC activity list page, which covers the licence categories, the sectors, the activities needing outside approval, and how activities are added or changed later. Read the two together: pick the activity there, price it here.

DMCC business setup, step by step

Every charge below is the one from the schedule above, placed in the order it falls due.

1. DMCC business setup starts with the activity. DMCC states every registered company must operate under at least one approved business activity; the sectors and the ones needing outside approval are on our DMCC activity list.
2. Pick the licence category. Service, trading, commercial or industrial: the choice sets the annual fee, and general trading is a different animal at AED 50,265 a year.
3. Submit the application. AED 1,035 per application.
4. Register the company. AED 9,020 for standard activities, plus AED 2,020 for the articles of association.
5. Pay the licence. AED 20,285 for a new one-year trading and service licence. On renewal DMCC lists AED 20,265 for one year, AED 40,530 for two and AED 60,795 for three; it labels the longer terms with 5% and 10% discounts, but each equals the one-year renewal fee times the number of years.
6. Take the establishment card. AED 1,825, annual, and the line most often left out of a headline quote.
7. Process visas last. AED 2,972.50 for a two-year employment residence visa applied for from outside the country, plus the medical test and Emirates ID. The AED 1,115 permanent identity card applies only to 10-year visa holders, GCC and Emirati nationals, and employees on father or husband sponsorship.

That is AED 34,185 through step 6. Source: DMCC schedule of charges, checked 8 August 2026 and again on 3 October 2026.

What a DMCC licence does not give you

• A DMCC free zone licence is not a mainland licence. To sell directly into the UAE local market, read mainland vs free zone vs offshore first.
• A DMCC free zone licence does not include premises. DMCC requires every company to lease or own office space in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, but the schedule route buys no desk at all; the desk comes inside a package such as Nook or Basic Biz, or as a separate lease.
• A DMCC free zone licence does not include a visa. The residence visa, the medical test and the Emirates ID are separate charges, and the establishment card must come first.
• A DMCC trading and service licence does not permit general trading. That is AED 50,265 a year, roughly two and a half times the price.
• A DMCC free zone licence does not make the company a Qualifying Free Zone Person. Corporate tax turns on conditions the licence alone does not satisfy; see the Qualifying Free Zone Person test.
• A DMCC free zone licence does not fix your share capital at AED 50,000. DMCC calls that figure typical and its regulations require capital sufficient for the licensed activity, so the activity decides it.
• A DMCC free zone licence does not open a bank account. No zone controls that; the bank decides.

Opening a business bank account

A bank account does not come with a DMCC 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 the RAKBANK business account, which costs AED 103.95 a month plus a required RAKvalue package from AED 51.45, with no minimum balance, and ADCB SmartStart, which costs AED 131.25 a month including VAT, with no minimum balance, for UAE nationals and residents (banks’ own fee schedules, checked October 2026). Compare all of them on our UAE business banks page.

What DMCC says it offers

• Ownership: full foreign ownership without a local partner, and capital repatriation.
• Tax: 0% personal income tax, and DMCC is a qualifying free zone for corporate tax, so a company can get 0% on qualifying income if it meets the Qualifying Free Zone Person conditions.
• Process: a 100% digital setup and multi-year licence options.
• Office: every company must lease or own physical office space in Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

DMCC itself puts initial setup costs at AED 10,345 to AED 84,515, depending on the package.

Where DMCC sits among the zones

DMCC is a Dubai free zone in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and it prices at the upper end. If cost is the deciding factor, DMCC is unlikely to win on price alone; what it sells is the address and the ecosystem around it. The table below puts the entry prices side by side, and the free zone comparison table carries the wider set.

DMCC is about six times the Sharjah entry tier and nearly three times Meydan, before a desk or a visa. That is the honest shape of the choice: the cheaper zones sell a licence, DMCC sells an address in Jumeirah Lakes Towers with the licence attached. If the address is not doing commercial work for you, the gap is hard to justify. Consultants who handle this are listed under free zone company formation.

Do you need a consultant for DMCC?

DMCC says you don’t: its online setup wizard lets you apply directly, and it describes a consultant as a paid intermediary who handles the application for an added service fee. A consultant can still save time on attestation, bank introductions and visas, and holding companies and special purpose vehicles must use a DMCC registered agent. How to choose one, and what DMCC pays its partner consultants, is in DMCC business setup consultants.

Who does this work

Of the 41 company formation firms in our directory, 35 record free zone company formation as a specialism. When you ask for a quote, ask which of the charges above are inside it and which are billed at cost, because the establishment card, the visa and the Emirates ID are the ones most often left out of a headline number.

How the DMCC packages sit against every UAE zone that publishes a price is set out in UAE free zone company setup cost.

Other Dubai free zones we cover: JAFZA, DIFC, Dubai Airport Freezone, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai South, DWTC, Dubai Development Authority zones, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Design District and Dubai Healthcare City.

Every DMCC company has its yearly accounts audited by a firm on DMCC’s own list; see DMCC approved auditors for the list, the six-month deadline and the filing.