Dubai South Free Zone: Licence Cost, Packages and Visas

Dubai South is the free zone around Al Maktoum International Airport, licensed and regulated by the Dubai Aviation City Corporation (DACC). There are two official ways to set up a company there, and they are priced differently: the packages of Dubai South Business Hub, Dubai South’s own digital setup platform, and the direct route priced by the DACC tariff. This page sets out both price lists, the visa and establishment card fees, office costs, renewal and the rules that come with the licence, from the Dubai South Free Zone Rules, Companies Regulations and Tariff of 2025 and Dubai South’s own pages, as checked on 27 September 2026.

What Dubai South is and who licenses it

Dubai South was established as a free zone in 2006 under the name Dubai World Central and renamed in 2015. It covers 145 square kilometres. The Dubai Aviation City Corporation is the licensing and regulatory body, and its Registration and Licensing Department approves or declines every application; the management and operation of the zone are run by Dubai World Central Corporation. The Free Zone Rules define the districts:

• Logistics District, including EZDubai, a 920,000 square metre zone for e-commerce.
• Mohamed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub, for aviation and aerospace.
• Business Park, eleven buildings with ready offices, shell and core space and business centres.
• Residential, Commercial and Golf districts, including staff accommodation.

Dubai South Business Hub (DSBH) was launched in September 2025 as Dubai South’s digital-first free zone platform, located in the Business Park. The 2025 rules still name DACC as the licensing body, so a DSBH licence is a Dubai South licence issued under DACC, sold as a package.

Dubai South Business Hub packages

DSBH states that a trade licence starts from AED 12,500 a year, including the licence and a flexi desk, with the final cost depending on the activities, visas and additional services. It currently runs an offer, described as available for a limited time, with no end date published:

Two points change the real cost. First, a visa allocation is not a visa: DSBH’s terms state that allocation fees cover only the assignment of the visa quota and are separate from the fees for processing or issuing each visa, which are listed further down. Second, the packages include up to five business activities at no extra cost, and DSBH charges AED 2,000 for each additional activity code. DSBH also lists an instant IBAN at AED 1,500 in its cost calculator, while the offer packages are labelled “+ Instant IBAN”; it does not say whether the AED 1,500 applies on top of the offer, so ask before paying. DSBH allows the licence and setup fees to be split into interest-free instalments without changing the price.

The direct route: the DACC tariff

A company, branch or sole establishment can also register directly with DACC, taking its own lease in the zone. The Dubai South Free Zone Tariff 2025, in force since May 2025, sets these registration and licensing fees:

The tariff does not say whether the general trading fee is added to the AED 10,000 licence, so confirm that total before budgeting a general trading company. The 2023 tariff, still linked from one Dubai South page, listed two and three-year licences, a general trading licence at AED 20,000 and a professional licence at AED 7,000; the 2025 tariff replaced it, which is why other websites quote different numbers.

Visa and establishment card fees

Dubai South publishes its immigration fees in the same 2025 tariff:

Employee protection insurance is mandatory for employees other than shareholders, management and freelancers, from AED 165 for 14 months at a salary up to AED 5,000. The tariff lists no general per-visa deposit, only an absconder deposit of AED 2,000. Emirates ID and health insurance are not in the Dubai South tariff. The company, not the employee, bears all recruitment and visa costs.

On the visa quota the official sources disagree: the Free Zone Rules grant one visa for every six square metres of leased space, with room for the zone to adjust it, while the Business Park FAQ says one visa per eight square metres. Confirm the ratio for your space before signing a lease.

Offices and warehouses

Every company and branch must hold a registered lease in the zone, and a flexi desk counts as a lease; a sole establishment may choose not to have one. DSBH packages include the flexi desk. Dubai South publishes these office rents:

• Business Centre: from AED 25,000 plus VAT a year, units from 9 square metres.
• Business Park, small fitted offices of 30 to 70 square metres: from AED 1,200 per square metre a year, excluding service charges.
• Business Park, fitted offices from 120 square metres: from AED 900 per square metre a year.
• Business Park, shell offices from 300 square metres: from AED 550 per square metre a year.

Leases run for at least one year, payable in four post-dated cheques a year. Warehouse, EZDubai, aerospace hub and land rents are not published; Dubai South lists only the sizes.

Licence types, legal forms and activities

The Free Zone Rules list seven licence categories: logistics, industrial, trading, service, freelancer, e-commerce and general trading. A company can be a limited liability company (named DWC-LLC), a branch, or a sole establishment for a single individual providing professional services, with unlimited liability. A company may only carry on the activities on its licence, and an activity in another category needs a separate licence. A trading company that wants to sell to the UAE mainland must do so through a locally registered distributor or retailer. Separately, Dubai’s Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit, launched in October 2025 for eligible free zone companies holding a Dubai Unified Licence, costs AED 5,000 for six months.

Share capital, shareholders and audit

The Dubai South Companies Regulations 2025 set a minimum share capital of AED 300,000 with a par value of AED 1, and allow one to fifty shareholders. Dubai South’s own Business Park pages say there is no paid-up share capital requirement and a maximum of eight shareholders. The regulations are the binding text, so plan for their figures and ask how much must actually be paid up. Every company must have its accounts audited each year by a UAE-licensed auditor, the audited statements are needed to renew the licence, and the Violations Code fines failure to file them AED 15,000.

Renewal and tax

A licence is renewed within the 90 days before its expiry date, on condition that the company holds a valid lease and files its audited financial statements. On the direct route renewal costs AED 10,000 a year, and a late renewal is fined AED 500 a month. DSBH does not publish its renewal price. Dubai South’s home page advertises a tax exemption, but its 2025 Free Zone Rules require every free zone entity to register for corporate tax unless exempt, and for VAT above the registration threshold.

How long setup takes

The Free Zone Rules commit DACC to review an application within seven business days. Dubai South’s website says three to five days once the documents are complete, and DSBH offers same-day or next-business-day licensing for eligible businesses, with an 11:00 cut-off each working day. Emirates ID biometrics, the medical test and, for some banks, a KYC meeting still need you in the UAE.

Opening a business bank account

A bank account does not come with a Dubai South 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 ADCB SmartStart business account, which costs AED 131.25 a month including VAT, with no minimum balance, for UAE nationals and residents, and Mashreq NeoBiz, which starts at AED 99 plus VAT a month on the Pro plan, with no minimum balance (banks’ own fee schedules, checked October 2026). Compare all of them on our UAE business banks page.

Why companies choose Dubai South

The zone is built around Al Maktoum International Airport, which Dubai South describes as the world’s largest airport when fully operational, with a freight forwarding zone that has direct access to its cargo terminals. Dubai South states it is 30 kilometres from Jebel Ali Port, linked by a customs-bonded logistics corridor, and it sits near Expo City, halfway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. That makes it a natural fit for logistics, aviation and e-commerce fulfilment; for a consultancy that only needs a licence and a desk, compare it with the cheapest UAE free zones first.

What Dubai South does not publish

• The end date of the DSBH offer, and DSBH renewal prices.
• Whether the AED 1,500 instant IBAN is charged on top of the offer packages.
• A stand-alone flexi desk price, and warehouse or land rents.
• The price of an extra visa allocation on a DSBH package.
• Which visa ratio applies in practice, six or eight square metres per visa.

For the same comparison across all zones, see the UAE free zone company setup cost census and the free zone comparison table.

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