A trade licence in Dubai is issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) in a category that follows your activity: commercial, professional, industrial or tourism on the mainland, with Dubai-specific formats such as the instant licence and the eTrader licence on top. Under Dubai Law No. 13 of 2011 the licence runs for one year and must be renewed within the last month before it expires, which you can do on the Invest in Dubai portal, by SMS to 6969 or at a service centre. Renewal needs a valid lease and any external approvals, and Dubai’s published fee schedule charges AED 250 for missing the renewal plus AED 200 for every month of delay.
Figures were read on official sources on 14 September 2026 and are indicative. This is general information, not legal advice.
Key takeaways
- Your activity list decides the licence category and which outside approvals return at every renewal.
- Law No. 13 of 2011 sets a one-year term, allows up to four years with DET approval, and expects renewal inside the final month before expiry.
- Executive Council Resolution No. 13 of 2011 lists AED 250 for failing to renew on time and AED 200 per month of delay, with part months rounded up.
- A lapsed licence stops more than trading: the UAE government portal says a company’s licence must be valid and free of violations before a work permit is issued.
- Dubai’s 2026 incentive package waives automatic monthly late renewal fines for some sectors and lets them renew before the lease, with three months to catch up on the tenancy contract.
- A dormant business should formally suspend or cancel rather than drift, because the law spares a business that has genuinely stopped trading from non-renewal fees and fines.
Which trade licence types Dubai issues
The UAE government portal lists six licence types under the Ministry of Economy and Tourism (industrial, commercial, professional, tourism, agricultural and crafts) and eight Dubai varieties: industrial, commercial, professional, eTrader, dual, instant, SME and Intelaq. The two lists mix two different ideas.
The first idea is the category. A trading company in Deira importing kitchen equipment holds a commercial licence. A management consultancy in Business Bay usually holds a professional licence. A joinery workshop in Al Quoz that manufactures cabinets needs an industrial licence. A tour operator falls under tourism. The category follows from the activities you pick from DET’s list.
The second idea is the format. Invest in Dubai’s trade licence page describes three, and they behave differently at renewal.
| Format | What Invest in Dubai says it involves | What to watch at renewal |
|---|---|---|
| Normal licence | A Memorandum of Association and a site lease contract, plus approvals from other government agencies where required | The lease and every external approval must still be valid |
| Instant licence | Issued within five minutes for activities that need no external approvals, with a virtual site for the first year, Dubai Chamber membership for commercial activities, a GDRFA establishment card and a MOHRE card allowing three employees | The virtual site covers year one only, so the premises question arrives with the first renewal |
| eTrader licence | A sole establishment licence for home-based businesses, at AED 1,070 in licence and knowledge and innovation fees plus AED 300 for Dubai Chamber membership | Suits small online sellers; outgrowing it means a new structure, not a renewal |
A consultancy that starts on an instant licence’s virtual site should budget for a real tenancy by month eleven.
How long a licence lasts and when the renewal window opens
Article 8 of Law No. 13 of 2011, which regulates economic activities in Dubai, sets the rule plainly. A licence is valid for one year and renewable for the same period. At the business’s request, and with approval from the licensing authority in coordination with the competent entity, the validity can run longer than a year, up to four years. The same article says a business must renew within the last month prior to expiry.
That does not mean starting the paperwork 30 days out. A lease renewal or a Dubai Health Authority approval has its own processing time, so we usually suggest diarising the expiry 60 days ahead and treating the final month as the filing window.
The renewal itself is fast once the file is clean. Invest in Dubai’s renew trade licence page describes a proactive SMS reminder sent near expiry, three channels (service centres, SMS to 6969, or the Invest in Dubai portal) and a service “completed instantly”. It states that the renewal fee depends on the business activity. Direct debit is listed through Dubai Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Emirates Islamic.
What has to be valid before DET renews
The lease and Ejari
A normal licence rests on a site lease contract, so an expired tenancy is the most common reason a renewal stalls. Registering or renewing a tenancy contract on Ejari costs AED 177.75 through the Dubai Land Department website or the Dubai REST app on the DLD’s published breakdown: AED 100 registration, AED 10 knowledge fee, AED 10 innovation fee, a AED 55 service partner fee and AED 2.75 VAT on that partner fee. Service centres charge more.
One issue we often see is a lease agreed verbally before the licence expires but signed weeks after. The rent was never the problem; the missing Ejari was.
External approvals
Law No. 13 of 2011 ties licensing to approvals from competent entities. A clinic, a food outlet or a security company carries an approval that sits outside DET, and that approval has its own expiry. Check those dates first, because DET cannot renew around them.
Unpaid fines elsewhere in Dubai
Decree No. 20 of 2018 said unpaid fees or fines owed to other Dubai government entities would not affect a licence renewal, but only for renewals completed before the end of 2018. That a time-limited decree was needed suggests the normal position runs the other way. Clear anything owed to other Dubai government entities before the renewal month, not during it.
The 2026 relief measures
Dubai approved an AED 1 billion incentive package that started on 1 April 2026 and a second AED 1.5 billion package in May 2026. Invest in Dubai’s FAQ for the second package says a commercial licence can be renewed without a valid tenancy contract temporarily, provided the tenancy contract is renewed within three months of the licence renewal date. It also says automatic monthly fines for delayed commercial licence renewals will be waived during the specified period. The same FAQ says the initiative applies to specific sectors only, and the page did not list those sectors or the period when we read it on 14 September 2026.
The first package let new and renewing businesses defer fees including licence amendment, newspaper announcement, local service, accommodation and waste management fees for three months from 1 April 2026, with an update promised at the end. If you renewed between April and June, check whether deferred amounts reappear on your next invoice.
Amendments made at renewal
Article 10 of Law No. 13 of 2011 says you cannot change the legal form or modify licence details without prior approval from the licensing authority and competent entities, and some changes, such as a new trade name or a partner withdrawing, are published in a newspaper at the owner’s expense.
The trade-off is timing. If a new activity needs a regulator’s sign-off, renew on the existing activities first and amend afterwards. A simple related activity can usually ride with the renewal.
What late renewal actually costs
Executive Council Resolution No. 13 of 2011 approved the fees and fines of what was then the Department of Economic Development. The Dubai Legal Portal lists it as in force. Its Schedule 2 contains the numbers that matter for a lapsed licence:
- AED 250 for failure to renew the licence within the prescribed period.
- AED 200 per month for delay in renewing, with part of a month rounded up to a full month.
- AED 5,000 for conducting an economic activity without a licence.
- AED 10,000 for trading while the establishment has been closed by the licensing authority.
Article 3 doubles a fine repeated within a year, up to AED 100,000, and allows closure for up to six months or revocation on top.
Here is how the arithmetic works on the published schedule. A licence expires on 1 February and is renewed on 20 May. The delay is three months and 19 days, which rounds up to four months, so the late renewal cost is AED 250 plus AED 800, or AED 1,050. Add AED 5,000 if the business is caught trading in the meantime.
Many setup websites quote a flat AED 250 per month or a fixed 30-day grace period. We could not find either in the resolution or in Law No. 13 of 2011. The published schedule separates the one-off AED 250 from the AED 200 monthly charge. Your renewal invoice from DET is the final word, so read it line by line rather than relying on a figure from a blog, including this one.
What stops working when the licence lapses
The fine is usually the smallest cost. The UAE government portal’s work permit page lists, among the conditions for issuing a work permit, that “the company’s trade licence must be valid and free of violations.” A mainland restaurant in Al Barsha that needs to replace two chefs in the month its licence lapses cannot start those permits until the renewal clears.
Visibility is the second problem. DET launched the Dubai Unified Licence in December 2023 as a unique identifier for every Dubai business, mainland or free zone, and Dubai Media Office said businesses can display the DUL QR code on premises, websites and social media instead of the traditional licence certificate. Invest in Dubai’s business directory lets anyone search by business name or DUL number.
Tax does not pause either. A lapsed licence does not cancel a Corporate Tax registration. FTA Decision No. 6 of 2023 requires a legal person to apply for tax deregistration within three months of the date it ceases to exist, ceases business, dissolves or liquidates.
If the business has stopped trading
Article 13 of Law No. 13 of 2011 gives a dormant business two protections that few owners use. A business owner can ask for the licence to be suspended for a specific period because activity has stopped. And a business is not subject to licensing fees or non-renewal fines where the licence expires and the business has ceased economic activity, or where it has applied for suspension.
The weak point is proof. Invoices, a live online store or staff on MOHRE contracts dated after expiry mean you have not ceased activity. A formal suspension or cancellation, followed by FTA deregistration within three months, is cleaner than silence. Our guide to closing a UAE company in the right order covers the tax sequence.
Free zone licences follow different clocks
Everything above is about DET mainland licences. Each free zone sets its own renewal terms, and they can be stricter. RAKEZ’s FAQ states a late renewal penalty of AED 50 per day, says renewal quotations are emailed 60 days before expiry and can only be generated in the two months before, and lists failure to renew for six months after expiry as grounds for striking a company off. A struck-off RAKEZ company can apply for restoration within two years, and the FAQ says the liability of the company, its directors and shareholders continues after strike-off.
On those numbers a 30-day lapse costs AED 1,500 at RAKEZ, against AED 450 on Dubai’s mainland schedule (AED 250 plus one month at AED 200). We compared renewal economics in more detail in RAKEZ vs Ajman Free Zone costs.
A 60-day renewal checklist
- Day 60: confirm the expiry date on the licence itself, and list every external approval with its own expiry.
- Day 50: speak to the landlord. Get the renewed tenancy signed early enough to register it on Ejari.
- Day 40: check for unpaid fees or fines owed to Dubai government entities, MOHRE and immigration, and clear them.
- Day 30: the renewal window under Article 8 opens. Renew through the portal, SMS 6969 or a service centre, and read each fee line.
- After renewal: send the new licence to your bank relationship manager, update the licence copy held by your accountant, and check that your website shows the current DUL QR code if you display one.
Each choice in the steps to start a business in Dubai reappears at every renewal, so it is worth rereading before the next one.
Keeping the licence and the tax file in step
A renewal goes smoothly when the licence date, the lease and the tax calendar are tracked together. Codeeo’s accounting and bookkeeping and corporate tax pages cover the finance side of staying compliant, and our business setup solutions page compares mainland and free zone options if the next renewal is the moment to reconsider the structure.
Figures are indicative, read on official Dubai and UAE government sources on 14 September 2026, and may change. This article is not legal or tax advice. Cover photo: Al Satwa – Dubai – United Arab Emirates – panoramio by ianpudsey, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
