Dubai has launched a brand new allow scheme that allows free-zone firms to conduct enterprise inside its mainland, a transfer designed to dismantle long-standing regulatory obstacles between jurisdictions and unlock new industrial alternatives.
Beneath Government Council Choice No. 11 of 2025, the “Free Zone Mainland Working Allow” permits firms already holding a Dubai Unified Licence to use for mainland entry digitally through the Spend money on Dubai platform. The allow spans six months, priced at AED 5,000, and could also be renewed below the identical phrases. The scheme applies initially to non-regulated sectors corresponding to expertise, consulting, design, skilled companies and buying and selling. Corporations granted the allow should preserve distinct monetary information for mainland operations and can incur a 9 per cent company tax on revenues generated onshore.
Dubai Enterprise Registration and Licensing Company, a part of the Dubai Division of Economic system and Tourism, has partnered with the Dubai Free Zone Council to manage the framework. Ahmad Khalifa Al Qaizi Al Falasi, CEO of DBLC, described the initiative as a step towards “regulatory modernisation” and a extra seamless investor expertise. Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, Assistant Secretary-Normal on the Free Zones Council, stated the allow enhances Dubai’s competitiveness by combining the pliability of free zones with entry to home markets.
Authorities anticipate the allow to learn over 10,000 present free-zone companies, including 15–20 per cent to cross-jurisdiction enterprise exercise in its first 12 months. Companies can now faucet home buying and selling avenues and contend for presidency tenders beforehand off-limits to entities with out a mainland presence. Current free-zone workers might serve mainland operations, eliminating the necessity for brand spanking new hiring below these permits.
Although the allow removes many structural hurdles, sure limitations and compliance obligations stay. Companies dealing in regulated actions—corresponding to banking, healthcare, training or monetary companies—should nonetheless safe approvals from related regulators. The brand new scheme prohibits its use for entities throughout the Dubai Worldwide Monetary Centre, which stays below a definite authorized regime.
The decision introduces three permitted pathways: establishing a department bodily within the mainland, establishing a department that operates out of the free zone, or acquiring a brief allow for restricted operations. All purposes require consent from each DET and the corresponding free-zone authority. The allow regime mirrors the necessities of Decision No. 11, which mandates separate bookkeeping and compliance below federal and native legal guidelines.
Dubai’s regulatory structure has advanced lately: free zones historically supplied full international possession and streamlined processes, however lacked direct entry to native markets. To counter that hole, firms typically needed to replicate operations through separate mainland entities or twin licences—a burden that elevated prices and administrative duplication.
The brand new allow scheme thus indicators a strategic pivot towards harmonising town’s jurisdictional divide. Company regulation specialists notice that easier buildings cut back overhead, ease governance challenges and mitigate tax or substance-test scrutiny. As one regional authorized adviser put it, “Companies can now use a single platform to increase quite than duplicating company filings.”
The pricing and validity phrases are notable. The six-month, AED 5,000 allow is considerably extra inexpensive and versatile than establishing a full mainland firm, reducing the brink for smaller companies and startups to experiment with onshore operations. The 9 per cent tax fee aligns with federal guidelines that apply to mainland revenue, whereas free-zone revenues stay eligible for preferential regimes.