Dubai CommerCity Company Setup 2026: E-commerce Licence, Warehouses, Visas and Tax

Dubai CommerCity company setup is the process of incorporating a free zone company or registering a branch in Dubai CommerCity, a free zone in Umm Ramool near Dubai International Airport dedicated to digital commerce, licensed and regulated by the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority under Dubai Law No. 16 of 2021. A Dubai CommerCity company can be fully foreign-owned, hold an e-commerce, trade or service licence, lease an office and a bonded warehouse or fulfilment service in the same zone, and sell online to customers across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

Dubai CommerCity describes itself as “the first and leading free zone dedicated exclusively to digital commerce” in that region, and as a joint venture between DIEZ and Wasl Properties. Its plot is one of four free zones approved by DIEZ Resolution No. 1 of 2022, alongside Dubai Airport Freezone, Dubai Silicon Oasis and DAFZA Industrial Park.

This guide explains who the zone suits, its legal forms and licences, the setup steps and what is officially published about time and cost, documents, space and visas, customs, VAT and corporate tax for online sellers, mainland access, compliance and alternatives. For the free zone versus mainland decision in general, see our free zone vs mainland guide. If you want the whole file handled, our free zone company setup support covers Dubai CommerCity from first enquiry to bank account. The wider context is in our Dubai free zones list and free zones in the UAE guide.

Dubai CommerCity company setup at a glance

The headline for most founders: Dubai CommerCity makes most sense if you will actually use the logistics side. A seller who ships from a third-party warehouse elsewhere, or who sells digital services, may be better served by a licence-first zone; compare quotations. A seller who wants stock, packing and dispatch a few minutes from the airport, under the same free zone as the company, is exactly who it was built for.

DIEZ and Dubai CommerCity: one regulator, three different zones

Dubai Law No. 16 of 2021 created DIEZ and gave it power to “license, regulate, control, and supervise” activities in its zones. DIEZ Resolution No. 1 of 2022 named Dubai Commercity as one of its free zones. Every Dubai CommerCity company therefore follows the DIEZA Implementing Regulations 2023, the same company law as Dubai Airport Freezone and Dubai Silicon Oasis. On 17 August 2026, Dubai Media Office reported DIEZ-wide occupancy of 96% and a 13% rise in companies in the first half of 2026.

So the choice between the three is about the business model, not the paperwork:

What Dubai CommerCity is known for

Dubai CommerCity was planned around one idea: an online seller should be able to register, sit, store, pack and ship from the same place, close to the airport and the region’s main trade routes. It organises the zone into three clusters.

• Business Cluster: offices from a smart desk to fitted and shell-and-core premises, co-working, meeting rooms and event venues.
• Logistics Cluster: dedicated warehouses (with temperature-controlled options), third-party warehousing, a fulfilment centre offering “order processing, packaging, and shipping”, and last-mile delivery services.
• Social Cluster: retail, restaurants, a food hall and kiosks for the people who work there.

The zone’s FAQ says both the Business Cluster and the Logistics Cluster are “bonded zones” with “special customs, import, and export duty arrangements”. For an e-commerce business this is the core benefit: goods can arrive and be stored without duty being paid until they enter the local market, and goods re-exported to other countries can leave without ever entering it.

Dubai CommerCity positions itself for brands selling into the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, and in February 2026 published a thought-leadership paper on UAE-India digital trade under the CEPA agreement. It does not name tenant companies on its public pages, so we do not either.

How Dubai CommerCity differs from other options for online sellers

• Against the DET e-Trader licence on the mainland, which is aimed at individuals selling online on a small scale, Dubai CommerCity gives a full free zone company with foreign ownership, warehouses and visas.
• Against IFZA or Meydan Free Zone, which are licence-first zones without their own e-commerce logistics clusters, Dubai CommerCity keeps the company, stock and fulfilment in the same zone.
• Against JAFZA, which suits containerised sea freight and large warehouses, Dubai CommerCity is built for smaller parcels, fast dispatch and consumer delivery.

Legal forms, shareholders and capital in Dubai CommerCity

The capital conflict matters only at the margin, but it is worth settling in writing. The DIEZA Implementing Regulations 2023, which apply to all DIEZ zones, set an FZCO minimum of AED 1. Dubai CommerCity’s FAQ still states AED 1,000. Ask Dubai CommerCity which figure it applies when it issues your quotation, and in practice set a capital that reflects your stock purchases, since banks and payment providers will ask how the business is funded.

An FZCO needs at least one director who is a natural person, a manager resident in the UAE and a company secretary (DIEZA Regulations 39, 48 and 49). A branch is run by a manager appointed by the parent, and the parent is liable for its debts.

Dubai CommerCity licence types and the e-commerce licence

According to the zone’s FAQ, a base licence includes three activities from the same industry group, and a single licence can carry up to 20 activities from four industry groups. Activities follow the ISIC Rev. 4 classification. An online seller of electronics and home goods, for example, might combine e-commerce activities with trading activities for each product family, and add a service activity if it also runs a marketplace for others.

Products that need another regulator

Selling online does not remove product rules. Cosmetics, food and supplements need Dubai Municipality registration; medicines and medical devices need approval from the Emirates Drug Establishment; wireless devices need TDRA type approval; and some goods are restricted or prohibited by Dubai Customs. Plan these before you list products, because your fulfilment partner will not release goods that lack the required registration.

Dubai CommerCity company setup process, step by step

Dubai CommerCity publishes a seven-stage process. It gives no time for any stage, so the times below come from general official statements where they exist.

1. Initial consultation. Discuss your model, products and markets with Dubai CommerCity. No official time.
2. Select the licence type and activities (up to 20 from four groups on one licence).
3. Prepare documents, including beneficial owner documents (below).
4. Company registration. DIEZ registers the company. Dubai CommerCity publishes no time; u.ae says free zone applications are approved “within 14 working days” as a general rule.
5. Office space allocation, from a smart desk to a fitted office, and warehouse or fulfilment space if you hold stock.
6. Visa processing for founders and staff: establishment card, entry permit or status change, medical, Emirates ID and residence.
7. Bank account opening with Dubai CommerCity’s support; timing is the bank’s.

Two steps are missing from the zone’s list and matter for online sellers: corporate tax registration within three months of incorporation (FTA Decision No. 3 of 2024), and a Dubai Customs client code so that goods can be cleared in and out of the zone.

Documents required

Dubai CommerCity’s setup page lists beneficial owner documents: the UBO declaration form, certified passport or ID copies, proof of residential address (a utility bill or lease less than three months old), corporate structure charts, a certified copy of the shareholder register and the latest audited annual report. The full application checklist follows the DIEZ pattern:

• Individual shareholders and manager: passport copies, UAE visa and Emirates ID if resident, proof of address, and a no-objection letter from the manager’s sponsor if employed elsewhere in the UAE.
• Business information: a short business plan or profile explaining products, sales channels and markets.
• Corporate shareholders: certificate of incorporation “certified by the relevant authority” (DIEZA Regulation 18.2(b)), memorandum and articles, board resolution, good standing, shareholder register and group structure, notarised and attested for use in the UAE.
• Branches: the parent’s constitutional documents and a board resolution appointing the branch manager.

Foreign documents normally need notarisation, UAE embassy legalisation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs attestation, because the UAE is not a party to the Apostille Convention. Our document attestation service handles this, and our UBO register guide explains beneficial ownership.

Dubai CommerCity license cost: what is and is not published

Dubai CommerCity publishes no licence, registration, office, warehouse or visa fees on its website. Its licence comparison page lists features (business registration, virtual office services, customs and logistics services, office space) but no prices, and its facility pages invite enquiries. Any fixed “Dubai CommerCity license cost” you see online is a consultant’s package or an old quotation, not a published tariff.

DIEZ’s relief measures of 9 April 2026 also apply to Dubai CommerCity companies: stable rents on renewal, monthly rent instalments without instalment fees, a waiver of “late licence renewal penalties, until conditions stabilise”, and waived or deferred fees for restructuring, capital, shareholder and activity amendments. Ask whether they still apply when you renew.

Build your budget from these lines

• Registration and licence (ask how many activities and industry groups are included).
• Office or desk rent, and whether a desk carries any visa allocation.
• Warehouse rent or fulfilment fees (per order, per pallet or per cubic metre), and last-mile delivery rates.
• Establishment card and per-visa costs, including medical, Emirates ID and health insurance.
• Dubai Customs client code, customs declarations and duty on goods sold locally.
• Payment gateway set-up, product registrations and trademark filing.
• Audit and bookkeeping, and year-two renewal.

Government and free zone fees are passed on at cost; our own fee is quoted in writing (see our fees page).

Offices, warehouses and visas in Dubai CommerCity

Offices are “available for lease only”, according to the FAQ. The zone does not publish how many visas each space carries. Because the visa count follows the space in every DIEZ zone, ask for the allocation in writing with the lease offer, and check whether warehouse space you rent through a third-party provider counts towards your company’s visa allowance (it usually will not, because the lease is the provider’s).

Visas

Once the company holds its licence, lease and establishment card, it can sponsor residence visas for owners and staff through the usual Dubai steps: entry permit or status change, medical test, Emirates ID and residence. Dubai CommerCity does not publish processing times. Owners and employees can sponsor families under the family visa rules, and founders who qualify for a Golden Visa may not need a company visa. Our free zone visa service can run each step.

Customs, VAT and corporate tax for an e-commerce company

Customs: the bonded advantage and its limit

Because Dubai CommerCity describes its Business and Logistics Clusters as bonded, goods can be imported and stored there without customs duty being paid on arrival. Duty becomes payable when goods leave the zone for the UAE local market: generally 5% of the CIF value, with higher rates for tobacco and alcohol and exemptions for some goods. Goods re-exported to other countries can leave without UAE duty. Register with Dubai Customs for a client code before your first shipment.

VAT: the question to settle before you trade

Whether Dubai CommerCity is a VAT designated zone changes how your sales are taxed. It was not on the original 2017 list in Cabinet Decision No. 59 of 2017, but the FTA’s published list of designated zones, as amended up to Cabinet Decision No. 81 of 2021, shows Dubai CommerCity as a designated zone effective 1 January 2021. We could not read the FTA’s live web page from our research environment, so check the current list, and remember that designated-zone treatment applies to goods under specific conditions (a fenced zone with customs controls), not automatically to every sale. Ask your tax adviser to confirm how it applies to your flows. Either way, sales of goods to UAE consumers are subject to 5% VAT, and a company must register once its taxable supplies exceed AED 375,000 in twelve months (voluntary from AED 187,500). Digital services supplied to UAE customers are also taxable.

Corporate tax

Dubai CommerCity’s FAQ still refers to “zero corporate or income tax”. That is no longer accurate: a Dubai CommerCity company is subject to UAE corporate tax at 9% on taxable income above AED 375,000, unless it is a Qualifying Free Zone Person earning qualifying income, which is taxed at 0% (Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023).

For online retailers the key rule is that sales of goods to consumers in the UAE mainland are generally not qualifying income. Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025 lists as qualifying the “distribution of goods or materials in or from a Designated Zone” (to customers that resell or process the goods) and logistics services, among others. A business-to-consumer online store selling mainly to UAE shoppers should therefore plan for 9% on profits above AED 375,000, while a logistics provider or a distributor selling to resellers abroad may be in a different position. The de minimis limit for non-qualifying revenue is the lower of 5% of revenue or AED 5 million, so even modest local retail sales can end 0% treatment for the whole company. Take tax advice before choosing your structure, and see our corporate tax registration guide.

Selling into the Dubai mainland from Dubai CommerCity

Shipping goods to UAE customers after customs clearance is how most Dubai CommerCity sellers reach the local market. Operating directly on the mainland, for example running a showroom, providing services on site or contracting as a mainland supplier, needs one of these:

• The dual licence with DET that Dubai CommerCity offers, which lets its companies obtain a DET licence “without the need for physical office space”.
• A Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit (AED 5,000) or a DET branch licence (AED 10,000 a year) under Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025.
• A separate mainland company.

Banking and payments

An online business needs two things: a corporate bank account and a payment gateway. Banks will ask for the licence, lease, incorporation documents, passports and Emirates IDs of owners and signatories, a business plan with expected order volumes and average basket size, and the countries you ship to and buy from. Payment gateways run their own checks and usually want to see a live website with clear refund, delivery and privacy policies. Our company formation support includes preparing the bank pack; see also our corporate bank account guide.

Renewal and ongoing compliance

• Licence and lease: renew annually; DIEZ waived late renewal penalties “until conditions stabilise” (9 April 2026).
• Accounts and audit: keep records and appoint an auditor (DIEZA Regulations 65 to 72); audited statements are also required for 0% corporate tax.
• Beneficial owners: declaration annually and on renewal, changes within 14 days (DIEZA Regulation 22); the federal limit is 15 days (Cabinet Decision No. 109 of 2023).
• Tax: corporate tax return within nine months of year end; VAT returns if registered.
• Customs: keep the Dubai Customs client code renewed with the licence.
• Product registrations: renew them when they expire, or stock will be held.

Dubai CommerCity free zone: pros and cons

Who Dubai CommerCity company setup suits

• Online retailers and D2C brands holding stock in Dubai for the GCC, Africa and South Asia.
• Marketplace sellers who want a local company and a fulfilment partner in the same zone.
• Regional and international brands running cross-border e-commerce hubs.
• Logistics, fulfilment and last-mile companies serving online sellers.
• E-commerce service providers: agencies, payment and software firms that want to sit among their clients.

Who should look elsewhere

• High-value B2B air-freight distributors: Dubai Airport Freezone.
• Software and AI companies with no physical goods: Dubai Silicon Oasis.
• Sellers who only need a licence and use a 3PL elsewhere: IFZA or Meydan Free Zone.
• Importers of full containers by sea: JAFZA.
• Businesses selling mainly to UAE consumers who want to avoid customs steps: a mainland company.

Dubai CommerCity company setup: worked cases

These cases are built from the situations we see most often. Names and identifying details are left out, and the figures are the published ones.

Case 1: a fashion brand selling across the GCC

A European fashion label wants to sell online to customers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. It forms an FZCO with an e-commerce licence plus trading activities for apparel and accessories, takes a smart desk for the company, and uses the zone’s fulfilment centre instead of leasing its own warehouse. Goods sit in bond and are cleared only when orders ship. UAE orders attract 5% duty and 5% VAT on clearance; GCC orders leave as re-exports and are subject to the destination country’s rules. Because most revenue is B2C, it plans for 9% corporate tax above AED 375,000.

Case 2: a marketplace seller moving from a mainland e-Trader licence

A resident selling electronics accessories through marketplaces outgrew a DET e-Trader licence and wanted stock close to the airport and staff visas. We compared a mainland LLC with a Dubai CommerCity FZCO. Because nearly all customers were in the UAE, the mainland company avoided customs clearance on every order. She chose the mainland route. A colleague exporting the same products to Oman and Bahrain chose Dubai CommerCity.

Case 3: a last-mile delivery start-up

Two founders launching a same-day delivery service for online stores form an FZCO with a service licence for logistics and courier services and lease space in the Logistics Cluster. Logistics services are a qualifying activity under Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025, so revenue from other free zone companies and qualifying logistics work may qualify for 0% if they meet the substance and audit conditions. Deliveries to consumers on the mainland may also need approvals from the roads authority; we check those before launch.

Case 4: an Indian brand opening a regional hub

An Indian consumer brand wants a regional e-commerce hub under the UAE-India trade agreement. It registers a Dubai CommerCity branch so the parent’s brand and contracts carry over, leases a dedicated warehouse with temperature control, and obtains Dubai Municipality product registrations for its cosmetics. The parent’s documents are notarised in India and attested by the UAE embassy and MOFA before filing.

What circulates online about Dubai CommerCity that is not true

How to verify every figure in this guide

Dubai CommerCity company setup: how MIRDXB PRO helps

MIRDXB PRO is an independent PRO and company formation consultancy in Al Barsha 1, Dubai. We are not Dubai CommerCity, DIEZ or Wasl, and none of them lists us as a partner. We work on your side: we check the model, choose the licence and space, prepare the file and run the government steps.

What we do

• Test your e-commerce model against Dubai CommerCity, other free zones and the mainland, including customs and tax, and put the comparison in writing.
• Choose licence types and activities, and flag product registrations.
• Match office and warehouse or fulfilment space to your visas and volumes.
• Prepare the application and beneficial owner documents, and run attestation for corporate shareholders.
• Follow registration, lease, licence, establishment card and visas to Emirates ID.
• Prepare the bank pack and register for corporate tax, VAT and a Dubai Customs client code.

How it works

1. Message us on WhatsApp with your products, markets, team and expected order volume.
2. We reply in writing with the structure, the items to request from Dubai CommerCity and our fee.
3. You approve; we prepare documents and file.
4. After the licence we run visas, banking, tax and customs registration.

What it costs

Free zone and government fees are passed on at cost with receipts. Our fee is quoted in writing before we start; see our fees.

Why founders use us

• We cite the official source for each rule and flag where the zone’s own pages are out of date.
• We tell you when the mainland or another zone suits your sales model better.
• We handle visas, Emirates ID, attestation and tax registration too.
• Our Al Barsha 1 office is open Monday to Thursday and Saturday 09:00 to 18:00, and Friday 09:00 to 12:00.

To begin, see our business setup service, where we compare every route for business setup in Dubai.

What we will and will not do

• We will show the official source for every rule we rely on, and the free zone’s receipts.
• We will tell you if your model works better elsewhere.
• We will quote our fee in writing first.
• We will not promise approvals, payment gateways, bank accounts or timelines controlled by others.
• We will not present ourselves as Dubai CommerCity or DIEZ.
• We will not give tax opinions; we work with your tax adviser on VAT and corporate tax.

Related guides

• DAFZA company setup, the DIEZ airport zone
• Dubai Silicon Oasis company setup, the DIEZ technology zone
• IFZA company setup
• JAFZA company setup
• General trading licence in Dubai (mainland)
• Dubai free zones list
• Free zones in the UAE
• Corporate tax registration in the UAE

Keeping your Dubai CommerCity licence, lease, customs code, visas and beneficial owner filings current is what our PRO services in Dubai team handles.