Free Zone vs Mainland Dubai 2026: Visas, Quota, Costs, Tax and Which Company Set-Up to Choose

Free zone vs mainland Dubai is the choice between licensing your company with the Department of Economy and Tourism (mainland), which lets you trade anywhere in the UAE and hire through MOHRE, or with one of Dubai’s free zone authorities, which gives you a zone-based licence, visa numbers tied to your package or premises, and possible 0% corporate tax on qualifying income, but restricts direct selling to the mainland. Both routes allow full foreign ownership for most activities, and on both your staff get their residence visas and Emirates IDs from GDRFA or ICP. The differences sit in who licenses you, where you may trade, how many visas you can get, what you pay each year, and which labour and tax rules reach your payroll.

This free zone vs mainland Dubai guide is written for business owners and HR managers: authorities, ownership, onshore trading, the free zone vs mainland quota logic, the free zone vs mainland visa cost, employment, WPS, Emiratisation, tax, banking, switching and worked cases. Where a neighbouring topic has its own guide we summarise it in a few lines and link it: how MOHRE quota is increased is in our visa quota guide, the immigration card in our establishment card guide, Emiratisation targets and contributions in our Emiratisation guide, and every fee line for one mainland hire in our employment visa cost breakdown.

If you already know your route, our free zone visa services team handles employee visas inside the zones, and our corporate PRO services team runs mainland labour, immigration and licence work. This page is for the step before either: choosing, with the numbers in front of you.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai at a glance

The table answers the free zone vs mainland Dubai question in one screen; each row is sourced below. “Free zone” here means the non-financial zones such as DMCC, JAFZA, DAFZA, Dubai South, Dubai Silicon Oasis or IFZA; DIFC has its own laws and is treated separately where it matters.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai: how MIRDXB PRO helps

Most owners who ask us about free zone vs mainland Dubai already have a quote in hand, usually a free zone package that looks cheap and a mainland estimate that looks expensive, and no way to compare them because the lines are bundled differently. We put both on the same basis and tell you in writing what each allows and costs in year two, not only year one. We are a PRO and visa services firm in Al Barsha 1, Dubai, and we handle mainland files at DET, MOHRE and GDRFA, ICP files for the other emirates, and employee visas inside the free zones through each zone’s portal.

What we do on a free zone vs mainland Dubai decision

• Run the free zone vs mainland Dubai comparison. Your activity, customers and two-year hiring plan against both routes.
• Rebuild quotes line by line. Government fees, zone charges, office cost, establishment cards and per-visa lines separated, so a free zone package and a mainland estimate can actually be compared.
• Check the free zone vs mainland quota before you sign. How many visas the package supports and what an increase costs.
• Set up the employer side. Immigration establishment card, MOHRE labour file and e-signature for mainland companies; employee visa files on the zone portal for free zone companies.
• Handle employee visas, free zone or mainland Dubai. Entry permits, status changes, medicals, Emirates ID, residence, renewals and cancellations.

How it works

1. Message us on WhatsApp with your planned activity, where your customers are, how many people you will hire in the next 24 months, and any quotes you already have.
2. We reply in writing with a side-by-side view: what each route allows, the published government fees, the costs we cannot publish (office, zone package) and the questions to put to the zone or landlord, plus our own fee.
3. You choose, and we prepare the files: licence documents with DET or the zone (through your formation provider where one is used), then the establishment card, labour file or zone portal registration.
4. We process the first hires: entry permit or status change, medical, Emirates ID biometrics, residence, contract and WPS registration where it applies.

What it costs

Mainland government fees are passed on at cost, exactly as printed on the receipt; DMCC lines are billed from our October 2026 DMCC price list or from the zone’s invoice. For a sense of scale on the free zone vs mainland visa cost: on published lines a mainland overseas hire is about AED 1,964 to AED 5,164 depending on your MOHRE category, and a DMCC hire about AED 4,196 on that price list with a normal medical, both before health insurance. Our own fee depends on the route, the number of employees and whether you want a one-off comparison or ongoing support, and it is quoted in writing before we start. You can see how we price our work on our fees page.

Why business owners use us

• We have no preferred route. We do not sell free zone packages or earn formation commissions on either route; we handle staff and government files for both, so our advice does not depend on which you choose.
• We publish our sources. Every rule and fee in this guide links to the official page it came from, and we show where the official pages are silent or disagree.
• We are easy to reach. Our office is in Al Barsha 1, Dubai (visits by appointment; whatsApp us any time, 24 hours; office open Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 (Dubai time)), and we act under power of attorney for owners who are abroad where the step allows it.

Who licenses and regulates what: mainland vs free zone company Dubai

A common mistake is to treat a free zone as a separate country. In practice, the mainland vs free zone company Dubai difference sits in two layers only: who issues your licence, and who issues your employees’ work permits and sets your visa numbers. Almost everything else, from immigration to medicals to the Emirates ID, runs through the same federal and Dubai authorities.

So the free zone vs mainland Dubai question is commercial, not procedural: where you may sell, how you add headcount, what premises cost and which tax regime applies.

If you are unsure which immigration authority holds your file, the rule is simple: Dubai-licensed companies, mainland or free zone, sponsor residence through GDRFA Dubai; companies licensed in the other emirates go through ICP. Our guide to ICP vs GDRFA explains the split.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai ownership: 100% on the mainland since 2021

For years the main argument for a free zone was ownership. Before 2021, most mainland companies needed a UAE national to hold at least 51% of the shares, or a local service agent for professional firms. Free zones were the way around that. That argument has largely gone.

According to the UAE Government portal, Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020, which amended the Commercial Companies Law (Federal Law No. 2 of 2015), allows “100 per cent foreign ownership of mainland companies” and took effect in 2021. The law was later replaced by Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies, which keeps the same approach. The requirement for an Emirati majority shareholder or a local agent has been removed for most activities.

The exception is activities with “strategic impact”. The law lets the Cabinet set up a committee to identify them and to set licensing conditions, which “may include restrictions on foreign ownership”. u.ae lists security, defence, telecommunications, banking and finance, insurance and certain other sectors among the areas that keep restrictions. Each emirate’s economic department applies the rules to its own activity list, so the practical check is simple: before you choose, ask DET whether your exact activity can be licensed with 100% foreign ownership on the mainland.

So for most trading and service activities, ownership no longer settles the free zone or mainland Dubai question; it only does if your activity is restricted.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai trading: where you can sell

This decides most free zone vs mainland Dubai cases.

Free zone or mainland Dubai trading: the general rule

In the mainland vs free zone company Dubai comparison, a DET-licensed company may sell anywhere in the UAE and export; a free zone company trades inside its zone and abroad. For the UAE market, u.ae states that “access to the UAE mainland market is regulated” and that “direct sales in the mainland are generally not permitted unless the company obtains the required mainland licences or approvals”. Its two standard routes are to “work through a licensed mainland distributor or establish a mainland branch or company”.

For goods, the customs position is the flip side of the same rule. u.ae says free zone companies enjoy “0 per cent customs duty on goods imported into the free zone” and no duty on goods stored for re-export, but goods “become subject to the UAE customs duty if moved into the mainland market”.

Dubai’s new route: Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025

Dubai changed the position for its own free zone companies in 2025. Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025, “Regulating the Conduct of Free Zone Establishments’ Activities within the Emirate of Dubai”, was issued on 3 March 2025 and came into force on publication in the Official Gazette. It applies to establishments “wishing to conduct their Activities outside of Free Zones” in Dubai, and it does not apply to financial establishments licensed in the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Under Article 4, DET may issue three kinds of authorisation to a Dubai free zone company:

The conditions include prior approval from the free zone licensing authority, approvals from any government body that supervises the activity, a valid parent licence and payment of the fee (Articles 5 to 7). The company must “maintain separate financial records for the Activities conducted outside of the Free Zone” (Article 3), and Dubai legislation, including its administrative penalties, applies to the mainland activity (Article 10). Article 9 asks DET to publish, with the zone authorities, the list of economic activities and which authorisation each needs. Existing operators had one year to comply, extendable once (Article 13).

What Resolution 11 means for your staff

Article 8 is the part employers ask about: a company authorised under the resolution “may engage its existing workforce registered on the Free Zone portal, and may continue to benefit from all Free Zone employment privileges applicable to that workforce”. In plain terms, your zone-sponsored employees can do the mainland work covered by the DET licence or permit without being moved to a MOHRE file. The resolution does not say that the permit creates a MOHRE quota for new mainland hires, so if the mainland side of the business needs its own headcount, plan for that separately and confirm it with DET and the zone before you hire.

Free zone or mainland Dubai by customer type

Free zone vs mainland quota: how many visas you can get

The free zone vs mainland quota systems ask different questions, and you cannot hire without an approved number, so this belongs in the free zone or mainland Dubai decision itself.

Free zone vs mainland quota, part one: MOHRE on the mainland

On the mainland, u.ae says “the number of employees a company can hire depends on the quota approved by the ministry”, assessed on the company’s legal status, facility size and business requirements. MOHRE’s work permit quota service sets conditions such as a valid trade licence, an establishment with no restrictions, and a profession that matches the licensed activity. MOHRE’s FAQ also states that existing establishments are granted electronic quotas automatically, at 5 to 10% of the labour registered with the establishment, capped at 100 a year. In free zone vs mainland quota terms, the mainland grows by evidence: contracts, premises and a clean file.

The step-by-step quota application, documents and fees are in our visa quota guide, and our quota approval service files it for you.

Free zone vs mainland quota, part two: numbers set by the zone

In a free zone, u.ae says “the number of visas that a business can get depends on various factors such as the package they have signed up for”. Most zones tie the number to the package or floor area: a flexi-desk carries very few visas, larger premises more. DMCC’s schedule of charges, for example, lists an “Increase In Visa Quota” service fee of AED 500 per additional visa and a quota application fee of AED 250, on top of whatever premises the higher number requires.

Free zone vs mainland quota side by side

In free zone vs mainland quota terms: a contract-driven business usually fits MOHRE’s logic, because signed work is the evidence; a stable team with a fixed footprint usually fits the zone logic.

Free zone vs mainland visa cost: one hire on published lines

The free zone vs mainland visa cost for each employee is the figure owners ask about first, and it is closer than most comparisons suggest. The table below uses two sources: MOHRE, GDRFA, ICP and DHA cards for the mainland, as set out in our visa cost breakdown, and, for the free zone column, our DMCC price list for October 2026, because the DMCC schedule leaves the medical unpriced. Health insurance, centre typing charges and any zone service charges are extra on both.

Three things stand out in the free zone vs mainland visa cost table. First, the mainland cost depends almost entirely on your MOHRE category, because the work permit fee is the only line that changes: AED 250, AED 1,200 or AED 3,450 for two years under Cabinet Resolution No. 21 of 2020 and MOHRE’s 2022 classification. Check which category your company is in before you model anything. Second, DMCC’s figure sits between category 2 and category 3, and bundles lines the mainland shows separately, so it is not like for like. Third, a hire already inside the UAE costs more on both routes: on GDRFA’s cards the mainland adds AED 1,090 for the inside-country entry permit and status amendment, and DMCC’s schedule lists AED 3,407.50 (without amendment) or AED 4,220 (with amendment) for an inside-country visa, against its AED 2,972.50 line for a hire from abroad.

For the free zone vs mainland visa cost in other zones, schedules differ or come through calculators. JAFZA, for example, offers an online cost calculator for licence and formation; DAFZA quotes through its set-up team. Treat any single “free zone visa price” you see online with caution unless it names the zone and the line items.

Where the free zone vs mainland visa cost comparison misleads

Visa lines are paid every two years; licence, premises and establishment card every year. That is where free zone vs mainland Dubai costs really diverge.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai set-up and running costs

Comparing a mainland estimate with a free zone package usually fails because the two are built differently. The mainland bill is a set of separate government lines plus your own rent; a free zone package bundles the licence, a desk or office and sometimes visas into one price set by the zone. The table shows the structure; the figures that are officially published are given with their source.

Mainland vs free zone company Dubai: the mainland licence lines

DET builds the mainland licence fee from separate lines: a licence register fee, trade name and advertisement fees, a service request fee, the Knowledge and Innovation Dirhams, an extra fee for a foreign-language trade name, activity fees for certain activities such as general trading or business centres, and a market fee calculated from the rent on your Ejari-registered premises. Our trade licence renewal guide lists each line and how it is calculated, and our UAE government fees list collects them with the other authorities’ fees.

A worked year-one and year-two example (DMCC, published lines)

To show how the lines add up, here is a small DMCC trading or service company on a flexi-desk with two overseas hires, using the figures on DMCC’s schedule for the one-time lines and the first card, and our DMCC price list (October 2026) for the licence, the card renewal and the visas (our arithmetic):

DMCC’s schedule adds that “all charges are subject to AED 20 Knowledge and Innovation Dirham fees”, and packages and promotions change the picture, so ask the zone for its current written quote. The shape is the point: licence and premises dominate, and the free zone vs mainland visa cost per hire is secondary.

Mainland vs free zone company Dubai employment: MOHRE or the zone

For HR, the mainland vs free zone company Dubai difference is whose system holds your contracts, permits and complaints; the law is largely the same.

Mainland vs free zone company Dubai: which labour law applies

Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations governs private-sector employment on the mainland. For free zones, u.ae states that employees “are generally governed by the employment regulations of the relevant free zone authority, together with the provisions of the UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021”. The financial free zones are different: DIFC and ADGM “operate under their own independent employment regulatory frameworks”, with their own courts. In DMCC, JAFZA or DAFZA, hours, leave, notice and gratuity follow the federal law; the paperwork runs through the zone.

Who issues what

The detail on each step sits in its own guide: contracts in our UAE contract types guide, end-of-service in our gratuity guide, complaints in our MOHRE complaint guide, and cancellation in our visa cancellation guide.

One employer, one location

An employee’s permit and residence belong to the company that sponsors them. A free zone employee works for the free zone company; a mainland employee works for the mainland company. A free zone employee cannot simply start working for a sister company on the mainland: that needs a MOHRE permit on the mainland company’s file (or, for Dubai work done by the free zone company itself, the Resolution 11 route described above). Moving an employee between a free zone and a mainland company means cancelling the zone employment and residence and issuing a new MOHRE permit and residence, usually as an in-country status change. Our status change cost guide covers the fees.

WPS: free zone vs mainland Dubai payroll rules

On the mainland, the Wage Protection System is compulsory. Article 16 of the Labour Law’s Executive Regulation requires wages to be paid on their due dates “through the Wage Protection System or any other system approved by the Ministry”. MOHRE’s new WPS decision, Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026, was announced by MOHRE in June 2026 with an 85% compliance threshold and a gradual, risk-based approach; legal briefings report a single due date on the 1st of each month and measures from day 2. Repeated late payment can move a company to MOHRE category 3, which raises every work permit fee.

In a free zone, whether WPS applies depends on the zone. Free zone employees’ permits are issued by the zone, not MOHRE, and each authority sets its own payroll rules. A legal briefing on Resolution 340 (DLA Piper) said it affects companies in named free zones including JAFZA and DMCC. Ask your zone in writing whether WPS or an equivalent system applies to your company, and from when. A free zone company that also has MOHRE-registered staff, for example through a mainland company or branch, is inside the MOHRE system for those workers.

Our WPS guide sets out the rules, deadlines and penalties, and our WPS registration service sets it up.

Emiratisation: does it apply to a free zone company?

Emiratisation is often left out of free zone vs mainland Dubai comparisons, but it is a real mainland cost line. MOHRE’s FAQ states that “private sector establishments registered in the Ministry employing more than 50 workers in all aspects of the economy are targeted by the ministerial decision”. MOHRE’s guidance sets a 2% annual increase in Emiratis in skilled roles for companies of 50 or more employees, and requires companies of 20 to 49 employees in specified sectors to employ at least one UAE national and keep those already employed. Companies that miss a target pay a financial contribution per Emirati not appointed, and circumventing the targets is fined from AED 100,000 under Cabinet Resolution No. 44 of 2023.

The targets are addressed to establishments registered with MOHRE. A free zone company whose staff are all on the zone’s portal is not an establishment registered with the Ministry for those employees, and none of MOHRE’s published Emiratisation pages we read says the targets extend to zone-registered staff. That is the official position as far as it is written; it is not a formal exemption. If you have a mainland company or branch with MOHRE-registered staff, that establishment is in scope on its own headcount, and some free zones run their own national-hiring initiatives. If your headcount is near 20 or 50, confirm your position with MOHRE on 600590000 before you plan around it.

Targets, contribution amounts, deadlines and the Nafis programme are covered in our Emiratisation guide.

Corporate tax: 0% qualifying income vs 9% on the mainland

Tax is where the free zone vs mainland Dubai choice can produce a recurring saving, and where conditions are most misunderstood. Corporate tax is set by Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 and administered by the FTA. This is a summary, not tax advice.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai tax, part one: mainland companies

The Ministry of Finance sets the rates at “0% for Taxable Income up to and including AED 375,000” and “9% for Taxable Income exceeding AED 375,000”. A resident business with revenue of AED 3 million or less in a tax period may elect Small Business Relief for tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 (extended by Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026), and is then treated as having no taxable income. Salaries paid to employees are not subject to corporate tax.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai tax, part two: free zone companies

A free zone company can be a Qualifying Free Zone Person if it meets all the conditions. According to the Ministry of Finance, it must maintain adequate substance in a free zone, derive qualifying income, not elect to be subject to the standard regime, comply with transfer pricing rules and prepare audited financial statements. It then pays:

• 0% on qualifying income, which includes income from transactions with other free zone persons and income from qualifying activities (such as manufacturing, processing, logistics, fund management and others on the Ministry’s list), excluding excluded activities;
• 9% on taxable income that is not qualifying income. The Ministry says the AED 375,000 zero band does not apply to this income.

A qualifying person may earn some non-qualifying revenue without losing the status, as long as it does not exceed “the lower of 5% of total revenues or AED 5 million” in a tax period. Breaching a condition disqualifies the company from the free zone regime “for five (5) Tax Periods”. A Qualifying Free Zone Person cannot elect Small Business Relief.

Selling to the mainland from a free zone

This is where the trading and tax rules meet. The Ministry of Finance says that for the free zone regime “transactions with UAE mainland and foreign persons are treated the same”: income from them is qualifying only where it comes from a qualifying activity. And where a Qualifying Free Zone Person operates on the mainland through a permanent establishment, such as a mainland branch, “the profits attributable to such Permanent Establishment will be subject to the UAE Corporate Tax rate of 9%”.

In short, a free zone saves tax only on qualifying income: a consultancy selling to mainland companies is unlikely to benefit; a re-export trader or logistics operator may. Get that answer from a tax adviser before signing a lease.

Banking: free zone vs mainland Dubai company accounts

Whether free zone or mainland Dubai, banks apply their own compliance rules and no official source promises an account. In our experience they ask for the trade licence, the memorandum or articles of association, shareholders’ and managers’ passports and Emirates IDs, proof of address, a lease or Ejari certificate, a business plan or evidence of the business, and expected turnover and counterparties. The immigration establishment card is often requested too.

Two free zone specifics are worth knowing. Some zones issue letters or NOCs for bank account opening at a fee; DMCC lists AED 265 per NOC, including for bank accounts. Allow several weeks.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai timelines

For a free zone, u.ae says that after review and approval “you will get a licence within 14 working days”. Mainland licences in Dubai move through DET’s initial approval, trade name, premises and final licence stages, and u.ae asks that the licence be paid “within 30 days of receiving the payment voucher”. Your premises can be the slowest mainland step, because the lease must be registered with Ejari before the licence issues.

After the licence, free zone or mainland Dubai timelines converge: the establishment card (ICP publishes two days), then per hire an entry permit or status change, medical, Emirates ID and residence. Degree attestation abroad is often the longest step on both. Timings are in our visa processing times guide.

Switching later: free zone or mainland Dubai is hard to undo

There is no “conversion” button between a mainland vs free zone company Dubai set-up: it is a new company or branch with its own licence and immigration file.

A company with ten employees therefore runs ten cancellations and ten new visa files alongside a new licence. Many businesses avoid a full switch by keeping the free zone entity and adding a mainland company, or, in Dubai, by using a Resolution 11 branch licence or permit for a defined mainland activity. Closing the old company properly matters too: our company liquidation service handles the visa cancellations that go with it.

Free zone or mainland Dubai: a decision guide by business type

Most free zone or mainland Dubai decisions resolve on four questions: who your customers are, where staff work, how headcount grows, and whether income would be qualifying income.

Free zone or mainland Dubai in eight steps

1. Write down headcount at month 12 and 24, by role.
2. Mark roles that work outside your premises, and in which emirates.
3. List customers by type: UAE companies, government, public, free zone companies, overseas.
4. If most income or roles are onshore, start from the mainland; if not, from a free zone.
5. Get written zone quotes showing the visas each package carries and the next step up.
6. Get the mainland picture: DET activity check, a realistic Ejari rent, per-hire lines for your MOHRE category.
7. Ask a tax adviser whether your income would be qualifying income.
8. Model year one and year two for both, government fees separate from service charges, and decide.

When you ask a zone for a quote, get in writing the exact visa allocation, the cost of the next step up, all-in cost of one extra visa, renewal costs, whether WPS applies, and what you need to serve mainland clients.

Free zone vs mainland Dubai in practice: five 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.

1. An IT consultancy whose clients are Dubai banks and government bodies

Situation: Three founders, all foreign, planning to hire eight consultants in two years who will work at clients’ offices. Offered a free zone flexi-desk package with three visas.

Assessment: Customers are onshore and staff work on client sites, which is the mainland pattern on both counts. The flexi-desk package would cap the team at three, and a Resolution 11 permit is Dubai-only and activity-specific, while clients’ procurement teams ask for a mainland entity. IT consultancy is not a restricted activity, so 100% foreign ownership is available on the mainland. Free zone vs mainland Dubai answer: mainland LLC with a small Ejari-registered office, MOHRE quota built on signed contracts, and per-hire costs of AED 2,914 in category 2 on published lines.

2. A re-export trader moving goods from Asia to Africa

Situation: Two staff, goods stored and re-shipped, buyers abroad, no UAE customers planned.

Assessment: The customs position favours a zone (no duty on goods stored for re-export), the onshore restriction does not bite, and trading goods through a free zone can be a qualifying activity if the conditions are met. The visa need is small but the warehouse drives the allocation, so space and visas come together. Free zone or mainland Dubai answer: a free zone with storage, after a tax adviser confirms the qualifying income position.

3. A DMCC company that has started winning Dubai mainland clients

Situation: A marketing services company in DMCC, 12 staff, with mainland clients now about a quarter of revenue.

Assessment: Serving those clients directly without authorisation is the problem u.ae describes. Resolution 11 offers a branch licence operating out of the zone at AED 10,000 a year, with DMCC’s prior approval, and Article 8 lets the existing zone staff do the work. The company must keep separate accounts for the mainland activity, and the Ministry of Finance says profits of a mainland permanent establishment are taxed at 9%. Free zone or mainland Dubai answer: apply for the DET branch licence rather than rebuilding on the mainland, and take tax advice on how the mainland income affects qualifying status.

4. A fit-out contractor comparing a cheap zone package with the mainland

Situation: Plans for 40 site workers in year one across Dubai and Sharjah.

Assessment: Staff will work on sites in two emirates, which the Dubai-only Resolution 11 permit cannot cover, and a zone allocation for 40 people would require a large lease. On the mainland, MOHRE quota is built on contracts and premises; at 40 staff the company will also need to watch Emiratisation once it reaches 50 workers, or earlier if it has 20 or more in a specified sector. Free zone or mainland Dubai answer: mainland. Keep WPS spotless: a move to category 3 raises each permit from AED 1,200 to AED 3,450.

5. A mainland trading company thinking of moving to a free zone for tax

Situation: A trading company, 15 staff, taxable profit of about AED 2 million, customers mostly UAE retailers.

Assessment: Selling to UAE retailers from a free zone would need a distributor or mainland authorisation, and income from those customers would be qualifying only for qualifying activities. Moving would mean a new licence and 15 status changes. The tax saving is unlikely to materialise if the income is not qualifying. Free zone or mainland Dubai answer: stay on the mainland; if part of the business is genuine re-export, take tax advice on a separate free zone entity for that part only.

Free zone vs mainland: where the official sources are silent or disagree

Free zone vs mainland myths: what circulates online that is not true

How to verify every free zone vs mainland figure in this guide

If an official page has changed since we checked it, the official page wins.

What we will and will not do

We will run the free zone vs mainland Dubai comparison against your activity, customers and hiring plan; separate government fees from zone charges and service fees in any quote you send us; tell you the published fees and what we cannot publish; set up the immigration establishment card, MOHRE labour file and WPS for mainland companies; process employee and family visas on either route; and tell you when a question belongs with a tax adviser or lawyer.

We will not recommend a route because it pays us more; promise visa numbers, bank accounts or tax status, which are decided by the zone, the bank or the tax authority; suggest describing your activity or customers in a way that does not reflect reality to fit a package; or give tax advice on qualifying free zone status.

Related guides

• Company visa quota in Dubai: how to check and increase it
• Establishment card explained: issue, renewal and fines
• Emiratisation targets, deadlines and contributions
• Employment visa cost, line by line
• Trade licence renewal in Dubai: process and cost
• Expired trade licence: what it costs and blocks
• UAE government fees list 2026
• Why companies need PRO services
• What PRO services cost, and how to compare quotes
• MOHRE labour card guide
• Wage Protection System explained

Keeping a company’s licence, establishment card, visa numbers and staff visas aligned on either route is what our PRO services in Dubai team handles.