A Dubai trade licence is issued for a fixed term and stops being valid the day it expires — nothing rolls over automatically. Renewing it comes down to three things, whichever authority…
A Dubai trade licence is issued for a fixed term and stops being valid the day it expires — nothing rolls over automatically. Renewing it comes down to three things, whichever authority issued it: a tenancy contract that is currently valid and properly registered, all fees and any accrued fines settled, and any activity-specific approvals still in date. Where you file depends on who issued the licence — Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, which most founders still call the DED, for mainland licences, and your own free zone authority for free zone licences. Once the file is complete, the filing itself is usually processed within one to three working days. Assembling the file is the part that takes time.
This guide covers renewal across both licence types: the sequence, the documents, what a late renewal actually costs, and what else is worth correcting while the file is open. For the mainland-specific mechanics — Ejari, the BR/1 form, external approvals and the DED payment voucher — see our guide to renewing a Dubai mainland or DED trade licence.
Renewal is not a fresh application. The authority is re-confirming that the facts on your licence are still true and that nothing tied to it has lapsed. In practice that means four checks, in this order:
Clear all four and the renewal is administrative. Fail one and the file simply sits, which is where most of the cost of a late renewal comes from.
The requirements diverge more than most owners expect, and the free zone process is not simply a lighter version of the mainland one.
| Mainland (DED) licence | Free zone licence | |
|---|---|---|
| You renew with | Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism | Your own free zone authority |
| Premises proof | Ejari-registered tenancy contract | Lease, office or flexi-desk agreement issued by the zone |
| Application form | BR/1, signed by the partners | The zone’s own renewal form or portal workflow |
| External approvals | Often, depending on activity | Usually handled inside the zone |
| Audited accounts | Not generally part of renewal | |
| Typical processing | ||
| Multi-year terms |
If you are weighing whether the licence you hold is still the right one, our mainland company and free zone pages set out what each structure allows. Renewal is a reasonable moment to ask the question, because changing structure later means a fresh licence rather than an amendment.
The core file is broadly the same across routes. Every document has to be valid at the moment of submission, not merely on file.
The most common cause of rejection is not a missing document but an expired one — a partner passport that lapsed quietly, or a lease with too little remaining term to satisfy the authority.
Start early enough that a rejected document can be replaced before the licence lapses. The conventional guidance is to begin, and that is realistic only if your lease and partner documents are already in order. If a passport needs renewing or an external approval has expired, four weeks is tight.
An expired licence is not a paperwork inconvenience. Trading on one is unlawful, and the consequences escalate.
| Stage | What typically happens |
|---|---|
| Renewal window, before expiry | Normal fees. The licence never lapses. |
| Immediately after expiry | The licence is invalid and the company cannot lawfully trade. |
| Fines accruing | Late penalties are charged against the establishment. |
| Extended lapse | Knock-on blocks: visa issuance and renewals stop, and government transactions tied to the establishment can be refused. |
| Prolonged non-renewal | Cancellation or strike-off of the licence, with the owner’s record affected. |
The practical damage usually arrives before the fines do. An expired licence blocks visa work for staff, and banks routinely freeze or restrict accounts when the licence on file has lapsed.
Renewal is usually priced close to the original licence issuance, because the same components are being re-charged — the licence fee itself, activity fees, chamber of commerce membership on the mainland, and market fees calculated against your rent. It is not a fixed number: two companies on the same street with the same activity can pay very differently because their leases differ.
Two components move the total more than the rest: the rent your market fee is calculated on, and the number of visas you carry. Reducing office space to cut the market fee is a common move at renewal and one worth modelling before you commit, because it also caps your visa allocation.
Renewal is the one moment each year when the file is open and the details are being checked anyway. Worth handling in the same pass:
Standard licences run for one year and are renewed annually. Some free zones offer multi-year packages that renew on a longer cycle, and the licence itself carries its expiry date.
In most cases yes. Mainland renewals are filed through the government’s business services platform or app, and free zone authorities run their own portals. Files needing external approvals or a structure change usually still require a service centre.
You renew it late and pay the accrued penalties — the route back is the same process, plus fines. The company cannot lawfully trade in the meantime, and visa transactions tied to the establishment will be blocked until the licence is current.
Yes. Mainland renewal requires an Ejari-registered tenancy contract with sufficient remaining validity; free zone renewal requires a current lease or desk agreement from the zone. A licence cannot be renewed against an address you no longer hold.
The principle is identical but the mechanics differ: you deal with the zone rather than the DED, the lease comes from the zone, and some zones ask for an audit report or a P.O. Box renewal alongside the licence.
Yes, and renewal is the sensible time to do it. An activity amendment is filed alongside the renewal, may need fresh external approvals, and can change your fees — so raise it at the start of the process rather than after payment.
Most renewals that go wrong were never rejected on the merits. They stalled on an expired partner passport, a lease with three weeks left on it, or an external approval nobody realised had its own renewal cycle. We track licence, lease, establishment card and visa expiry dates together, flag the dependencies before the window opens, and file the renewal across mainland and free zone routes. See licence renewal for what the service covers.
Talk to us before your renewal window opens and we will tell you what in your file needs fixing first.
Filed under Business Setup, Company Registration