A Dubai mainland company is licensed through the Department of Economy and Tourism for approved activities. Kinzaad helps confirm the activity, legal form, ownership eligibility, approvals, premises and visa requirements before preparing the application.
Mainland company formation, in brief. Choose the activity and legal form, check foreign-ownership eligibility and external approvals, obtain initial approval, reserve the trade name, arrange acceptable premises where required and complete the licence application.
Use the official Invest in Dubai mainland guide and Dubai business registration steps to verify the current government process.
Mainland — sometimes called an "onshore" company — is licensed by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) in Dubai, or the equivalent authority in each emirate. Unlike a free zone company, it can do business directly across the whole UAE market without a local distributor.
A mainland route may be relevant if you plan to:
Not sure yet? Compare a free-zone company as well. The correct route depends on the licensed activity, customer market, workspace, visas and authority rules—not the headline licence fee alone.
We handle the full process so you're not chasing four different providers:
We confirm the activity, ownership, customer market, premises and visa needs, then compare the mainland and free-zone routes.
The proposal separates quoted authority fees, Kinzaad service fees and known recurring components for the selected route.
We prepare the name-reservation, initial-approval, legal-form and supporting documents required for submission to DET and any relevant external authority.
After licensing, we support the establishment-card and visa stages and help prepare the UAE corporate bank account application. Each authority and bank makes its own decision.
The honest short version — the full breakdown is in our comparison guide.
| Mainland | Free Zone | |
|---|---|---|
| Trade in the UAE market | Directly, anywhere | Within zone / via distributor |
| 100% foreign ownership | Yes (most activities) | Yes |
| Contract eligibility | Check the tender's licence and local-presence rules | Check the tender and zone rules |
| Cost basis | Activity, legal form, approvals, premises and visas | Zone, legal form, package, workspace and visas |
| Office requirement | Tenancy (Ejari) needed | Flexi-desk often enough |
| Visa allocation | Scalable | Capped by package |
Book a free consultation and we will confirm the activity, legal form, ownership, approvals, premises and visa requirements before preparing an itemised quote.