IFZA (International Free Zone Authority) business setup in Dubai costs roughly AED 12,900 for a zero-visa licence and AED 17,000 to 22,000 for a one-visa company in year one, based on 2026 market quotes. IFZA itself does not publish a price list, so every figure you see online, including these, is a consultant estimate that moves with promotions, visa count and office choice. This guide explains what sits inside those numbers, what gets added at renewal, and when IFZA is the right pick against Meydan, SHAMS or Ajman.
Key takeaways
- IFZA has no public tariff. Prices come from registered agents, and quotes for the same package can differ by a few thousand dirhams.
- A realistic first-year budget is about AED 12,900 with no visa, AED 17,700 to 22,000 with one visa, and AED 25,000 to 36,000 for two or three visas, before optional office upgrades.
- The licence fee is only the base. Add the establishment card (about AED 2,000 to 2,500) and AED 3,800 to 5,000 per visa for entry permit, medical, Emirates ID and insurance.
- Renewal costs closely mirror year one. Late renewal penalties run around AED 1,000 a month.
- A three-year licence bundle, quoted around AED 43,470, saves 10 to 15 percent for companies that are certain they will stay.
- IFZA suits consultants, agencies, e-commerce sellers and holding companies. It does not suit warehousing, manufacturing or businesses that need a prestige office from day one.
Why IFZA pricing is hard to pin down
Most UAE free zones publish at least a headline licence fee. IFZA takes a different route. It sells through a network of registered partners and channel agents, and lets them package licence, visas and services into bundles. The result is that the authority’s own website lists licence types and activities but no dirham amounts, and third-party guides openly label their figures as estimates.
That matters for two reasons. First, comparing IFZA against a zone with fixed public fees, such as Meydan (AED 12,500 for a regular licence in 2026), is comparing an estimate against a list price. Second, the quote you receive depends on who you ask. Two agents can quote the same one-visa package AED 3,000 apart, purely because one bundles a bank-account introduction or insurance and the other does not.
The practical response is to ask every agent for a line-by-line breakdown rather than a single package figure, and to hold them to the components listed below.
IFZA licence packages by visa count (2026 estimates)
The table below consolidates the ranges published by UAE setup firms between May and August 2026. Treat them as planning numbers, not offers.
| Package | Indicative year-one cost (AED) | Typical user |
|---|---|---|
| Zero visa | 12,900 | Holding companies, non-resident owners, IP-holding entities |
| One visa | 17,700 to 22,000 | Solo consultants, freelancers, remote founders |
| Two visas | 25,000 to 30,000 | Co-founder pairs, small partnerships |
| Three visas | 32,000 to 36,000 | Small teams that also want a dedicated desk or office |
| Three-year licence, no visa | About 43,470 | Businesses committed to a long stay, saves 10 to 15 percent |
For Codeeo’s current IFZA packages and what each one includes, see our IFZA licence cost page, which is updated as the zone’s partner pricing changes.
Some agents quote a one-visa package as low as AED 14,900 to 15,000. Read those quotes carefully. They usually cover the licence and the visa allocation but leave out the establishment card and the per-person immigration costs, which is where the gap to AED 20,000 comes from.
What the licence fee actually includes
A standard IFZA package generally covers the following.
- A one-year trade licence, professional for services or commercial for trading, with up to seven activities on a single licence chosen from a list of more than 2,000.
- Registration of the company as an FZCO, with the certificate of incorporation, memorandum and share certificates.
- Flexi-desk or shared workspace access at the IFZA campus in Dubai Silicon Oasis, which satisfies the legal address requirement.
- A visa allocation matching the package tier. This is the right to sponsor visas, not the visas themselves.
Anything beyond that list is an add-on. That includes the immigration file, each visa, any dedicated office, extra activities beyond the bundle, attestations, and the corporate bank account.
The costs that get added on top
Establishment card
The establishment card (also called the immigration card or company immigration file) is mandatory before a company can sponsor any visa. Budget AED 2,000 to 2,500. It renews annually alongside the licence.
Per-visa processing
Each investor or employee visa costs about AED 3,800 to 5,000 all in. That range covers the entry permit, status change if the person is already in the UAE, medical fitness test, Emirates ID for two years, and basic health insurance. Visas are valid for two years, so this cost recurs every second year, at roughly AED 3,000 to 4,500 per renewal.
Family sponsorship
Once the investor visa is stamped, dependants can be sponsored. Market quotes in 2026 sit around AED 5,500 for a spouse and AED 3,500 per child, plus insurance.
Office upgrades
Flexi-desk access is included. A dedicated desk or private office ranges from about AED 5,000 to 20,000 a year depending on size. Larger visa quotas may require physical office space, so confirm the quota-to-space rule for your package before you commit.
Mainland trading approvals
An IFZA company can serve clients across the UAE for services, but selling physical goods into the mainland usually requires a local distributor or additional approvals. Guides put the extra cost at AED 10,000 or more when it applies. If most of your revenue will come from mainland retail, model that cost before choosing any free zone.
Year-two and renewal costs
This is the number most first-time founders underestimate. IFZA renewal costs closely mirror the initial setup: expect the licence fee (from about AED 12,900) plus the establishment card renewal each year, and the visa renewal every second year. There is no meaningful “renewal discount” in the standard packages, which is exactly why the three-year bundle exists.
Late renewal is expensive. Penalties are quoted at roughly AED 1,000 per month of delay, and an expired licence can freeze the bank account and block visa renewals. Put the renewal date in the company calendar the day the licence is issued.
Sample budgets: three real scenarios
| Scenario | Year one (AED) | Year two (AED) |
|---|---|---|
| Non-resident owner, holding company, no visa | About 13,000 to 15,500 including establishment card | About 13,000 to 15,500 |
| Solo consultant, one investor visa, flexi-desk | About 19,000 to 22,500 | About 15,000 to 17,500 (no visa renewal until year three) |
| Two founders, two visas, dedicated desk | About 30,000 to 40,000 | About 20,000 to 27,000 |
These are before VAT where applicable, before bank-account fees, and before any accounting or corporate tax registration work. From 2026 every UAE company, including free zone companies, must be registered for corporate tax and keep proper books, so add bookkeeping to the running cost from month one. Our corporate tax team can explain what the Qualifying Free Zone Person rules mean for an IFZA entity in plain terms.
IFZA versus Meydan, SHAMS and Ajman
IFZA is a mid-priced Dubai zone. That places it above the northern-emirate value zones and below DMCC or DIFC.
- Meydan Free Zone publishes fixed fees (AED 12,500 licence, AED 1,850 visa allocation, AED 3,500 employment visa in 2026), which makes budgeting simpler. Meydan also has a Dubai address with a strong banking track record. If you value price transparency, compare its list price against IFZA’s best written quote. See our Meydan Free Zone page for the setup path.
- SHAMS (Sharjah Media City) and Ajman Free Zone start well under AED 6,000 for a no-visa licence and offer all-inclusive one-visa packages in the AED 11,000 to 16,000 range. You give up the Dubai address, which matters for some clients and some banks, but for an online business the saving is real.
- DMCC starts above AED 20,000 for the licence alone and is the better choice for commodities trading and companies that need a premium address and the strongest banking reputation.
A simple rule: if your clients are international and you never need to say “Dubai” on a proposal, a northern zone is usually the better spend. If you are selling to Dubai companies, want an address near the airport, and want to scale from one visa to six without changing zone, IFZA is a sound middle option.
How to get an accurate IFZA quote
- Decide your visa count for year one and for year three before you ask anyone for a price. Package prices jump with visas, not with activities.
- Pick your activities first. A few combinations need approvals from outside IFZA, and those carry their own fees.
- Insist on a line-item quote that separately lists the licence, establishment card, each visa component, insurance, office and the agent’s own fee.
- Get the year-two figure in writing. A cheap first year followed by a full-price renewal is the oldest trick in the market.
- Ask what it costs to add a visa halfway through the year. Upgrading a package is rarely just the difference between two tiers.
- Ask which banks are currently opening accounts for your activity and nationality. Account opening delays more new companies than licensing does, and a good agent knows the current answer.
Codeeo handles UAE free zone company formation from the first document to the bank account: licence issuance, visa processing and the bookkeeping setup that follows. If you are weighing IFZA against other zones, start with our IFZA free zone setup page, check current package pricing at setup.codeeo.com/ifza, or send us your activity list and visa count for a line-item quote.
