Mubdiah licence Abu Dhabi: fees and activities

What is the Mubdiah licence in Abu Dhabi?

It is an economic licence for Emirati women to practise approved creative activities from their residence in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with no physical business location and no employee sponsorship. That is TAMM's own description of the service. The programme goes back to By-Law No. 6, Session 39/2005 of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, dated 29 September 2005, which allowed women nationals to practise some business activities from home.

ADRA sets out the practical shape: you run the business directly from home, you may not hire employees, the business must be set up as an Establishment, and applications go through TAMM.

It is also growing fast. The Abu Dhabi Media Office reported that new Mobdea licences rose from 2,503 in 2024 to 3,306 in 2025, up 32 per cent. An earlier release counted 2,768 Mobdea licences among the 5,930 new licences issued to Emirati women between July 2024 and June 2025, 46.6 per cent of them.

Who can apply for a Mubdiah licence?

TAMM's terms of service are the most current official text, so start there. You qualify if:

You are an Emirati woman with a residence in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
You are at least 18.
You do not hold a valid or expired Mobdea licence. The Arabic page makes clear this covers only a previous Mubdiah licence, not any other Abu Dhabi licence.
You choose your activities from the approved list.

TAMM adds that the licence does not allow worker sponsorship, and that the service needs no documents. ADRA agrees: "No additional documentation is required."

The Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council publishes an older and stricter set of rules. Its pages carry a 2017 copyright line, and they set a minimum age of 21, bar any woman previously licensed by any authority in Abu Dhabi for any activity, allow one Mubdiah licence per woman, limit it to a single activity, and require approval from a husband or guardian with an undertaking to cover liabilities. Its document list runs to 13 items, including the guardian's passport, a birth register abstract, the home title deed and, if you rent, the landlord's approval.

TAMM now contradicts the Council directly on age and on prior licences, and TAMM is the platform that takes your application. Treat TAMM's terms as current. The guardian approval is not mentioned by TAMM or ADRA at all, and ADRA allows up to two activities where the Council allows one, so ask ADDED on 800 555 whether either rule still applies to you.

How much does a Mubdiah licence cost in 2026?

The TAMM service page itemises the issue fee. On the English page the lines are:

Organizational Entities Fee: AED 790
Registration Fee in the Economic Register: AED 10
Abu Dhabi Chamber Membership Fee: AED 300
Commercial Licence Issuance Fees: AED 10
Sole proprietorship Establishment Fees: AED 0
An additional AED 100 for each activity after the sixth

Those lines add up to AED 1,110. TAMM does not print a total; that sum is ours.

TAMM's Arabic page lists the same lines with one difference: the sole proprietorship fee (رسوم مؤسسة فردية) is AED 50, not AED 0, which brings the Arabic total to AED 1,160. Both pages are TAMM's own, so the AED 50 is unresolved. TAMM also warns that "the final payable fees may vary based on the selected economic activities" and other charges, and that "the final amount will be displayed before completing the payment." Budget for AED 1,160 and treat anything lower at checkout as a saving.

ADRA's Mobdea page gives a different figure: a basic cost of AED 860 including two activities, then AED 100 per additional activity. That conflicts with TAMM on the amount and on when the per-activity charge starts. One possible explanation, which no authority has confirmed: 790 + 10 + 10 + 50 is 860, and in 2021 Abu Dhabi cut the Chamber membership fee to AED 50, as Gulf News reported. TAMM now shows AED 300 for the Chamber. Read ADRA's AED 860 as the older figure and TAMM's lines as the journey you will actually pay through.

Is there a fee waiver?

Not one that appears on TAMM. In August 2020 ADDED announced a decision by the General Directorate of Civil Defence to exempt Emirati women from the fees attached to issuing and renewing a Mubdiah licence. It was a Civil Defence decision announced by ADDED, not an ADDED waiver of the licence fee, and a Civil Defence decision most likely covered Civil Defence's own charges. TAMM's 2026 fee table has no Civil Defence line and no exemption line. ADDED's article is no longer live; the Wayback snapshots are dated 27 June 2022 (Arabic) and 28 February 2024 (English). Ask ADDED whether any Civil Defence fee applies to your activity.

The Council also promises a 50 per cent discount on Abu Dhabi Chamber activity fees for Mubdiah applicants. TAMM charges the full AED 300 Chamber fee with no discount line, so check with ADDED or the Chamber whether the discount still exists.

Renewal

Renewal runs on TAMM. TAMM's renewal service names Mobdea as one of the licence types that need no approved lease contract. None of TAMM, ADRA or the Council publishes a Mobdea renewal fee, and the renewal page lists fees for the general commercial licence, not Mubdiah, so ask ADDED for your renewal amount. The Council's text gives the only published term: one year, renewable. Our guide to renewing a home business licence covers the general steps.

How do you apply for a Mubdiah licence on TAMM?

TAMM lists five steps and a processing time of 2 working days:

Log in to TAMM with UAE PASS.
Submit the application, choosing your activities from the approved list.
Receive a notification of approval or rejection.
Pay the fees. ADRA says you can pay through TAMM's Pay Application Fees service, or from the My Locker screen by entering the application number and your card details.
Receive the economic licence, Mobdea.

TAMM asks for no documents. It also shows no separate Businesswomen Council step. Both the Council and ADDED's 2020 announcement describe the Council reviewing applications and granting preliminary approval, and no current page says whether that now happens inside the TAMM journey. If your application stalls after step 2, that is the question to put to ADDED.

Which activities are allowed on a Mubdiah licence?

Three official bodies give three catalogue sizes. ADRA says the licence covers 50 activities in one place and "approximately 50" in another, the Media Office says "over 50", and ADDED's licensing page says 44. The only list any official body has published is the Businesswomen Council's (Wayback snapshot of 12 April 2026). It has 44 entries, two of them near-duplicates for pastries, so 43 distinct activities. The English wording below is ours; the official names are Arabic.

Food and drink (11): preparing and selling sweets; traditional dishes; pies and pastries; animal ghee; snacks and light meals; achar and pickles; bread and bakery products; hot and cold drinks. Retail sale of coffee, of spices and herbs, and of dates.

Beauty and fragrance (6): selling cosmetics; a women's beauty and personal care centre; henna; training in women's beauty salon work; retail sale of perfumes; retail sale of oud, incense and perfume.

Fashion and textiles (12): women's tailoring; designing and tailoring children's clothes; embroidery; printing on textiles; selling fabrics; retail sale of Arabic clothing; ready-made children's clothing; clothes rental; women's shoes, bags and leather goods; non-precious jewellery and accessories; designing precious jewellery; organising fashion shows.

Creative and design (10): a calligraphy and drawing shop; handicrafts and heritage crafts; interior design and decor; graphic design; computer-aided design; a women's photography studio; selling frames, pictures and paintings; printing and document copying; arranging natural and artificial flowers; gift wrapping.

Events and teaching (3): organising parties and entertainment events; cooking lessons; sewing lessons.

Home (1): selling household tools and utensils.

This is the Council's published list, not necessarily the full catalogue. ADRA names e-commerce websites and legal translation among Mubdiah activities, and neither appears on the Council's page. No public page lists the rest of ADRA's 50; TAMM shows the approved list inside the application after you log in with UAE PASS, so check it there before you settle on a trade name.

How many activities one licence carries is disputed too. ADRA says up to two, similar in nature. TAMM's fee rule charges AED 100 per activity only after six, which implies six are included. The Council says one. Confirm with ADDED before you plan a second line of products.

If your business is beauty, fashion or crafts, our guide to selling beauty and crafts from home covers the selling side.

What does the licence not allow?

No employees

TAMM and ADRA both rule out staff: no worker sponsorship, and ADRA says plainly you are not permitted to hire employees. The Council's older text allows household staff to help temporarily on work unconnected to the activity. Work to the flat ban.

Retail from the home

The Council prohibits retail sale from the home, in English and Arabic. ADRA promotes Mubdiah as a way to sell at Abu Dhabi's pop-up shops and craft markets and lists e-commerce websites as an activity. The two reconcile only if the ban covers walk-in customers at your door, and no official source says so. If you plan to ship orders from home, get that confirmed in writing.

Signs and display

The Council allows one sign at the entrance, no larger than two square feet, showing the licence number, the activity and the words "Mubdia'h Programme". No hoardings on the outer walls, no goods stored or displayed outside.

What if your Mubdiah business sells food?

Food was the largest part of Mubdiah on the last published count. In 2020 ADDED reported 1,632 Mubdiah licences issued since 2005 (884 in Abu Dhabi city, 625 in Al Ain, 123 in Al Dhafra). The biggest group was food and drink, with 424 licences, followed by women's tailoring with 342.

No official Mubdiah page addresses food safety: whether a food handler certificate, a food-safety approval or a home inspection applies. Check that with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, not with the licensing desk. Our Abu Dhabi food guide covers that step, and the UAE home business licence overview compares the emirates.

Mubdiah or Tajer Abu Dhabi?

Tajer Abu Dhabi is the other no-office route. On TAMM the base fee lines of the two are identical; Tajer adds an Establishment Card and runs longer.

	Mubdiah (Mobdea)	Tajer Abu Dhabi
Who can apply	Emirati women with a residence in Abu Dhabi, 18 or over (TAMM)	UAE and GCC nationals; UAE residents only through an LLC in partnership with Emiratis (ADRA)
TAMM fee lines	790 + 10 + 300 + 10, plus a sole proprietorship fee of AED 0 (English page) or AED 50 (Arabic page): AED 1,110 or 1,160	790 + 10 + 300 + 10, plus AED 315 for the Establishment Card: AED 1,425
ADRA basic fee	AED 860 with 2 activities	AED 790 with 6 activities, up to AED 5,500
Extra activity	AED 100 each (after 6 on TAMM, after 2 on ADRA)	AED 100 each
Catalogue	50 (ADRA), 44 (ADDED), 43 published (Council)	Over 1,000 in one part of ADRA's page, 1,200 in another
Validity	1 year, renewable (Council)	3 years (TAMM)
Processing	2 working days (TAMM)	10 working days (TAMM)
Legal form	Establishment only	Establishment, Sole Proprietorship or LLC
Documents	None (TAMM, ADRA)	Emirates ID only
New licences to Emirati women, July 2024 to June 2025	2,768 (46.6%)	1,830 (30%)

The totals are our sums of TAMM's lines. Which licence suits you depends on whether your exact activity sits in the Mubdiah list, and only the TAMM journey or ADDED can tell you that.

Licensing is yours to sort out with the authority. KLU does not require or check a licence, and nothing here is legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Mubdiah licence fee?

TAMM's fee lines add up to AED 1,110 on its English page and AED 1,160 on its Arabic page; the gap is a sole proprietorship fee of AED 0 or AED 50. ADRA still quotes AED 860 with two activities. TAMM shows the final amount before you pay, and ADDED on 800 555 can confirm it in advance.

Is the Mubdiah licence free for Emirati women?

Not on current pages. The 2020 exemption was a Civil Defence decision announced by ADDED, and TAMM's 2026 fee table shows no exemption. Ask ADDED whether any Civil Defence fee applies to you.

What activities can I do with a Mubdiah licence?

The Council publishes 43 distinct activities, 11 of them food and drink, the rest in beauty, fashion, crafts, design, events and teaching. ADRA says about 50 and names e-commerce websites and legal translation, which are not on the Council's list. TAMM shows the approved list inside the application after you log in with UAE PASS.

Can I apply if I already hold another Abu Dhabi licence?

TAMM bars only women who hold, or have held, a Mubdiah licence. The Council's older text bars anyone previously licensed in Abu Dhabi for any activity. TAMM is current, but confirm your position with ADDED if you hold a Tajer or freelance licence.

Do I need my husband's or guardian's approval?

The Council lists it. TAMM and ADRA say no documents are needed and never mention it. Check with ADDED.

How long does it take?

TAMM gives 2 working days. For questions about selling on KLU once you are licensed, see the KLU FAQ.

Sources

Last verified: 22 September 2026.