Mainland company formation in Dubai: the documents

Who licenses a mainland company

A Dubai mainland company is licensed by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET); other emirates call their economic department the Department of Economic Development. The activity you choose decides the licence category, the permitted legal forms and which regulator has to sign off — MoET puts the choice at more than 2,000 economic activities. The six federal trade licence categories follow the activity. This guide covers the documents.

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The Ministry of Economy and Tourism puts trade name registration at step 3 and initial approval at step 4. Keep both receipts: they are part of the file you submit at step 8.

Documents DET asks for

What MoET lists for submission (step 8)

• Receipt of initial approval and copies of all previously submitted documents
• Copy of lease contract
• Duly attested Memorandum/s of Association, as required
• Approvals from other government entities, as required
• Duly attested service agent contract, for civil establishments and companies 100 per cent owned by non-GCC nationals (u.ae, confirm)
• Passport copies of all shareholders and the manager, trade name reservation certificate and initial approval certificate (u.ae, confirm)

The first four items are MoET’s step 8, quoted. The last two appear on u.ae and could not be re-checked; confirm them with DET. Live, activity-specific requirements sit in the Invest in Dubai activity database.

DET’s step 8 asks for a copy of the lease contract; in Dubai tenancy contracts are registered through Ejari.

What “duly attested” means

The word “attested” in that list is where money is lost. “Duly attested” for a UAE-issued MOA or service agent agreement means domestic notarisation. MoET says an MOA is required for a civil company, LLC, PJSC or PrJSC, and a local service agent agreement for a sole proprietorship, and that both are attested before a UAE notary public or court. That is not the international legalisation chain.

Foreign documents and attestation

Documents issued outside the UAE may need that chain where DET requires it — typically a corporate shareholder’s records, a power of attorney signed abroad, or a degree certificate for a regulated activity. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is not enough. Where your country issues apostilles, the apostille is the home-country authentication step; the document still needs UAE embassy attestation in the country of issue and then MoFA attestation inside the UAE — unless your UAE mission runs MoFA’s combined ‘one service, two attestations’ route, where both attestations are made under one application — see MoFA attestation.

The licensing authority decides which documents it needs, so request that list before you calculate the attestation total. Detail is on documents required for UAE business setup and commercial document attestation.

Translation

MoFA accepts English, Arabic or an official translation. The licensing authority, notary or court that receives the document decides whether it needs Arabic and which translator it accepts. See legal translation.

MoFA fees for foreign documents

MoFA charges AED 150 per individual-affairs document, such as a degree certificate, and AED 2,000 per commercial document.

MoFA’s FAQ lists examples in each band. Individual-affairs documents (AED 150) include a power of attorney of personal nature. Commercial documents (AED 2,000) include commercial registration, board of directors decisions, minutes, memorandums, trade licences, shareholder certificates, a power of attorney of commercial nature and a general power of attorney. The lists are ‘not limited to’, and MoFA says a contract or agreement may count as several documents. Confirm a borderline document with MoFA on 800 44444 before budgeting.

Do not add the MoFA component again if your mission’s combined service already includes the MoFA stage. To budget the document costs, keep licence, mission, notary and translation charges as separate lines.

Why mainland document files get rejected or stall

What this page does not cover

Tax registration, audit and beneficial-ownership filings are outside this guide; check the FTA and DET.

Ownership rules, trading rights, visa quotas and licence fees are also outside this guide; confirm them with DET. If your company will sponsor your residence, see the investor visa documents guide.