Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit in Dubai: AED 5,000 Permit vs Branch Licence, Rules and Steps

In short: As of October 2026, a Dubai free zone company that wants to serve mainland clients on site, bid for local contracts or trade on the mainland can apply to DET, through Invest in Dubai, for a Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit: AED 5,000 for up to six months, renewable. It needs a Dubai Unified Licence, its free zone’s approval and an activity on DET’s eligible list.

The Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit is the short-term route in Dubai’s 2025 rules for free zone companies that work outside their zone. It sits next to two branch licences in the same Resolution, and the right choice depends on how long, how often and how permanently you will work on the mainland.

This guide covers the permit itself: what it allows, who qualifies, the costs, validity and renewal, the documents, the steps and the penalties for working on the mainland without it. If you are still weighing up free zone against mainland for a new business, start with our free zone vs mainland Dubai guide; for branches of overseas parents, see our branch of a foreign company guide. Every figure below comes from the Resolution on the Dubai Legislation Portal, DET’s and the Government of Dubai Media Office’s announcements, and Invest in Dubai, checked on 22 October 2026.

What is the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit?

It is a temporary DET permit, valid for up to six months, that lets a company licensed in a Dubai free zone carry out some of its licensed activities outside the zone and inside the emirate of Dubai. The company stays a free zone company; nothing new is incorporated.

• Legal basis. Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 Regulating the Conduct of Free Zone Establishments’ Activities within the Emirate of Dubai, issued on 3 March 2025. Article 7 creates the permit; Article 12 sets its fee.
• The name. The Resolution calls it a “Permit to conduct specific Activities”. DET’s Dubai Business Registration and Licensing Corporation (DBLC) and the Dubai Free Zone Council launched it under the name Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit on 8 October 2025.
• Who it is for. Companies licensed by any free zone authority in Dubai. The Resolution does not apply to financial establishments licensed in the Dubai International Financial Centre (Article 2).
• Dubai only. The permit covers the emirate of Dubai. For work in another emirate, Article 3(c) says the company needs the licences and permits of that emirate’s own authorities.

Permit, branch or a new mainland company? A decision table

Resolution No. 11 of 2025 gives a Dubai free zone company three DET routes onto the mainland, and a separate mainland company remains a fourth option. The permit is the lightest and shortest; a mainland company is the heaviest and most complete.

Sources: Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025, Articles 4 to 7 and 12; DET and Media Office, 8 October 2025; Invest in Dubai, “Setting up in a free zone” (free zone companies “cannot trade directly within the UAE mainland unless they obtain the relevant licence or establish a mainland branch”). Both branch licences have no separate legal personality: the free zone company remains fully responsible (Articles 5(b) and 6(b)). Setting up a separate mainland company is covered in our mainland company formation guide, and its costs in our mainland setup cost guide. Moving the whole company from a free zone to the mainland is a different process and is not covered here.

The fee arithmetic most people miss

Two six-month permits in a year cost AED 10,000 in DET permit fees, the same as one year of a branch operating out of the free zone. So the permit is cheapest when the mainland work is short or occasional. If you expect to keep working on the mainland all year, compare it with the branch: the fee is the same, the branch runs for a full year, and the permit is limited to the activities on DET’s permit list.

Which route fits your situation?

Who can apply for the permit?

A company licensed by a Dubai free zone authority can apply if it meets the conditions in Article 7 of the Resolution and DET’s launch conditions. In practice that means all of the following:

• A valid free zone licence. The licence issued by your free zone authority must be valid (Art. 7(5)).
• A Dubai Unified Licence. DET’s launch announcement says “eligible free zone companies holding a Dubai Unified Licence (DUL) can apply digitally via the Invest in Dubai (IID) platform”. The DUL is the single business number DET issues to mainland and free zone companies; our Dubai Unified Licence guide explains how to find and check yours.
• Your free zone authority’s approval (Art. 7(3)). Each zone runs its own approval process and sets any fee for it.
• The approval of any government body that supervises the activity, where one is required (Art. 7(4)).
• An activity on DET’s list. Article 9 told DET, with each free zone authority, to issue a list of activities free zone companies may carry out in Dubai, stating for each whether it needs the permit, a branch out of the zone or a branch in the emirate. The activity must be on that list (Art. 7(6)).
• Payment of the fee and any further conditions set by a DET Director General resolution (Art. 7(7) and (8)).

What activities does the permit allow?

The permit covers some of the activities already on your free zone licence, not new ones, and only those on DET’s eligible list. In its first phase DET opened it to non-regulated activities, naming technology, consultancy, design, professional services and trading, with plans to extend it to regulated sectors.

We could not find DET’s Article 9 activity list published as a public document. The activities your company can select appear in the application on Invest in Dubai, so confirm your exact activity with DET before you commit to a client contract.

How much does the permit cost?

DET’s fee is AED 5,000 for each permit or renewal (Resolution 11/2025, Article 12), and DET says the permit renews for the same fee every six months. Other costs depend on your free zone and your activity.

Confirm the final DET amount on your application before you pay, in case DET adds service or other charges to the permit fee. The corporate tax point is worth taking seriously: DET says companies working on the mainland are “subject to 9% corporate tax on related revenues” and must keep separate records “in line with Federal Tax Authority (FTA) requirements”. How mainland income affects a Qualifying Free Zone Person’s 0% rate is explained in our free zone vs mainland guide; take tax advice for your own figures.

How long is the permit valid, and how is it renewed?

The permit is valid for no more than six months (Article 7). DET’s launch announcement says it is “valid for six months at a cost of AED5,000 renewable for the same fee every six months”.

• Renewal fee. AED 5,000, the same as the first issue (Article 12(2)).
• Conditions continue. Your free zone licence must stay valid and your free zone’s approval in place; let either lapse and the basis for the permit goes.
• No published renewal window. DET does not publish how far ahead you can renew. Diarise the expiry date and renew before it, because work after expiry is work without a permit.
• Upgrading. If the mainland work becomes permanent, compare the branch operating out of the free zone (AED 10,000 a year) or a branch within the emirate before your next renewal.

What documents do you need?

Article 7 names two documents and lets DET ask for more; the approvals come from your free zone and, where relevant, a regulator.

For the branch operating out of the free zone, Article 6 adds a copy of the passport and Emirates ID of the company’s manager to the same two documents.

How to get the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit, step by step

Sources: Resolution 11/2025, Articles 3, 7 and 8; DET and Media Office, 8 October 2025; Invest in Dubai business directory.

Can your free zone staff work on the mainland?

Yes. Article 8 says a company licensed or authorised under the Resolution “may engage its existing workforce registered on the Free Zone portal” and may continue to benefit from the free zone employment privileges that apply to that workforce. DET’s announcement puts it plainly: permit holders can use existing staff in mainland operations “without the need to recruit new ones”.

What rules apply once you have the permit?

• Separate books. Keep financial records for the mainland activity separate from the free zone activity (Art. 3(b)(2)).
• Mainland law applies to mainland work. You must follow the federal and local legislation for the activity (Art. 3(b)(1)), and Dubai’s legislation, “including the administrative penalties and measures”, applies to that work (Art. 10).
• Inspections. The company is subject to audit and inspection under the applicable federal and local legislation and procedures agreed between DET and the free zone authority (Art. 11).
• Corporate tax. DET says mainland revenue is subject to 9% corporate tax and must be recorded in line with FTA requirements.

What happens if you work on the mainland without a permit or licence?

A free zone company working on the Dubai mainland without one of the Resolution’s licences or permits is outside Article 3, and Dubai’s licensing law and fines apply. The fines below are from the schedule attached to Executive Council Resolution No. 13 of 2011, as published on the Dubai Legislation Portal.

How DET classifies a particular case is its decision, and the fine is rarely the largest cost: a mainland client or a government tender will usually ask to see your permit or licence before signing. The Resolution took effect on its publication in the Official Gazette (Article 15); whether DET has extended the one-year transition is something to confirm with DET. For the wider DET fines picture, see our trade licence fines guide.

Common mistakes with the mainland operating permit

1. Starting work before the permit is issued. A signed contract is not a permit.
2. Assuming the free zone licence covers the mainland. Invest in Dubai is clear that it does not.
3. Choosing an activity that is not on your free zone licence. Amend the free zone licence first.
4. Picking the permit for a regulated activity. The first phase is for non-regulated activities.
5. Letting the free zone licence lapse. A valid free zone licence is a condition of the permit.
6. Mixing mainland and free zone revenue in one set of books. Separate records are a legal condition.
7. Renewing permits for years. Two permits a year cost the same as the out-of-zone branch licence.
8. Using the Dubai permit for work in another emirate. Each emirate licenses its own territory.

Applying from abroad

The application is online, so a founder outside the UAE can run it, provided the free zone company already exists and holds a Dubai Unified Licence. The parts that usually need someone in Dubai are the free zone approval request on the zone’s portal and the coordination with the mainland client. If you have not yet set up in a free zone and most of your clients will be on the mainland, compare a mainland company from the start; our start-a-business route map sets out the order of a UAE setup, and our Dubai free zones list shows which authority licenses each zone.

How MIRDXB PRO helps

We check your free zone licence, activities and DUL, tell you which route fits (permit, branch operating out of the zone, branch within the emirate or a mainland company), request the free zone approval, prepare the file and submit it through Invest in Dubai with your authorisation, and keep the renewal diary. If you are in Meydan, IFZA, DMCC, DAFZA or DWTC, our zone guides cover each zone’s own rules. You get a fixed fee in writing before anything is paid; DET and free zone fees are paid at cost.

MIRDXB PRO is a private PRO and business setup services company in Al Barsha 1, Dubai. It is not DET, the Dubai Free Zone Council or a free zone authority, and it cannot speed up or guarantee any approval.

See our business setup service in Dubai for what is included.

Frequently asked questions