Documents Required for Company Setup in Dubai

Whether you are registering in a free zone or on the mainland, every company formation in Dubai starts with the same foundational documents.

Passport copy: A clear color scan of all pages with at least six months of validity remaining. If you hold more than one passport, bring both.

Completed application form: Each jurisdiction and free zone has its own form. Alsama prepares and reviews these on your behalf before submission.

Passport-size photographs: Typically two recent photos against a white background, taken within the past three months.

Proof of residential address: A utility bill, tenancy contract, or bank statement issued within the past three months. This must match the address on your application.

Email address and UAE mobile number: Required for portal registration in most free zones and the Department of Economic Development (DED) for mainland companies.

These five items form the minimum set. Everything beyond this depends on your company structure, the nature of your activity, and whether you are going free zone or mainland.

The Memorandum of Association (MoA) is the constitutional document of your company. It sets out the company name, registered address, share structure, scope of activity, and the names and nationalities of shareholders and directors.

For a free zone company (FZCO or FZE), the authority drafts the MoA template and you sign it before a notary. For a mainland LLC, the MoA is drafted by a UAE-registered lawyer or document clearing service and then attested by a notary public, the Ministry of Justice, and in some cases the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If you are the sole shareholder in a free zone, you will instead sign an Articles of Association document. The substance is similar but the form differs by free zone. IFZA, DMCC, and JAFZA each have their own standard templates.

Some activities require a Local Service Agent (LSA) agreement or a service agreement with a local sponsor for mainland professional licenses. These are additional documents that Alsama's legal partners prepare directly.

A No Objection Certificate is a letter from your current employer confirming they have no objection to you operating a business in the UAE under your own company.

You need a NOC if you are currently on a UAE residence visa sponsored by an employer and you want to add yourself as a shareholder or manager in a new company. Without it, there is a conflict of interest under UAE labor law.

If you are not currently on a UAE visa, if you are on a dependent visa, or if you are registering purely as a remote owner without taking up UAE residence yourself, a NOC is not required.

Applicants who are registering from outside the UAE and will take up the investor or partner visa issued by the free zone or DED as their primary UAE status do not need a NOC, because they have no existing employer relationship to declare.

The NOC must be on company letterhead, signed by an authorized signatory, and dated. Some free zones ask for it to be attested; others accept a scanned copy.

This is the step most clients underestimate, and the one that takes the most time. Any official document originating outside the UAE, such as a birth certificate used for family visa purposes, a marriage certificate, a university degree, a commercial registration, or a power of attorney, must go through a multi-step attestation chain before it is valid for use in the UAE.

The standard attestation chain for foreign documents is:

1. Notarization by a local notary public in the country of origin.
2. Attestation by that country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or equivalent authority.
3. Attestation by the UAE Embassy or Consulate in that country.
4. Attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dubai.

For documents that are not in Arabic or English, an official translation by a UAE Ministry of Justice certified translator is also required before submission to UAE authorities.

Passports are a special case. A foreign passport does not need attestation for company formation; it is accepted as-is. But if you are providing a power of attorney so that Alsama can sign documents on your behalf from abroad, that POA must go through the full chain above.

Plan this in advance. The full attestation process typically takes three to six weeks depending on document type and the procedures in your country of origin. Alsama monitors these timelines and advises clients when to start.

The document set is broadly similar for both, but there are meaningful differences in the specifics.

Free zone: You deal with one authority: the free zone itself. The MoA template is standardized, the forms are online, and the process is usually faster, often two to five working days once documents are in order. Most free zones accept scanned copies for initial approval and request originals only for visa stamping. Free zones also accept 100% foreign ownership with no UAE national partner.

Mainland: You register with the Department of Economic Development (DED) or the relevant professional licensing body. The MoA must be notarized locally. For most commercial activities the LLC structure historically required at least 51% UAE national ownership, though the 2021 Companies Law reforms opened certain activities to 100% foreign ownership. For those activities, a Local Service Agent (LSA) agreement replaces the old sponsorship model. The LSA is a UAE national who is a registered agent of record but has no operational role or profit share; they charge an annual fee, typically AED 5,000 to 15,000.

Bank account documents: Both free zone and mainland companies eventually need to open a UAE corporate bank account. Banks in Dubai require the trade license, certificate of incorporation, MoA, shareholder passport copies, proof of address, a business plan, and a source of funds declaration. For passport holders from certain countries or regions, some banks conduct enhanced due diligence (EDD), which may add one to four weeks. Emirates NBD, Mashreq, and several digital banking platforms have established procedures for this.

Clients who come to Alsama prepared avoid two to three weeks of unnecessary back-and-forth. Here is what to have ready before your first consultation.

Passport: Renew it if it has less than six months of validity. If you hold a second passport from another country, bring it as well.

Proof of address: A utility bill or bank statement in your name, dated within three months. If everything is in a family member's name, a notarized statement is an acceptable workaround in most cases.

Business activity decision: Know what sector you are entering. Dubai has hundreds of licensed activities across trading, services, consulting, technology, food and beverage, healthcare, and more. The activity determines which free zones are relevant and whether any special approvals are needed. Food businesses need Dubai Municipality approval; healthcare activities need DHA approval.

Shareholder structure decision: Are you the sole owner, or are there co-founders? If there are multiple shareholders, you need each person's passport and address documentation.

Initial capital: Free zones generally require AED 1,000 to 50,000 in paid-up capital depending on the zone and activity. DMCC requires AED 50,000 for most structures. IFZA and Meydan require as little as AED 1,000. Mainland LLCs have no mandatory minimum for most activities under current rules, but banks expect to see capital in the account before opening.

Having these points settled before engaging a formation service saves time and money.

Once all documents are in order, free zone company registration typically takes two to seven working days. Mainland registration through DED takes five to ten working days, longer if there are activity-specific approvals.

Government fees for free zone formation range from approximately AED 8,000 to 25,000 per year depending on the zone, which usually covers the license, registration, and one visa allocation. Adding visa allocations, flexi-desk, office space, and activity-specific approvals increases the cost.

Mainland commercial licenses through DED start at approximately AED 10,000 to 15,000 for the license alone, before LSA fees, notarization, and any activity approvals.

The UAE dirham is pegged to the US dollar at 3.67, so AED costs are dollar-stable. International investors converting from other currencies do so through licensed UAE exchange houses or foreign currency transfers, and the amounts are fully documented for banking and tax purposes.

Alsama handles the full formation process. Costs, timelines, and document requirements are confirmed in a free initial consultation before you commit to anything.

Alsama's team is multilingual and based in Dubai. We have managed company formations for international clients across DMCC, IFZA, JAFZA, Meydan, and DED mainland structures.

Our role is to assess which structure fits your activity and goals, confirm the document list specific to that jurisdiction, manage the attestation process for any foreign-origin documents, prepare all forms, liaise with free zone and DED officials, and hand you a completed trade license and corporate bank account.

For clients outside the UAE at the time of formation, we handle the process via a notarized power of attorney. You do not need to travel to Dubai to complete registration. You come to Dubai when you are ready to collect your visa and open your bank account in person, which most banks require.

The asset you are building, a UAE company and trade license, is in your name. The AED-denominated costs are dollar-pegged and do not erode with currency fluctuations. For international investors holding assets in soft-currency jurisdictions, converting a portion into a UAE company and the investor visa that comes with it is a direct way to anchor part of your financial life to a hard-currency jurisdiction.