How to renew a UAE home business licence

How do you renew an Intelaq licence in Dubai?

An Intelaq renewal comes in two halves. Dubai SME approves it, by email rather than through a self-service portal, and the licence itself is then renewed through the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). You must still qualify on the same terms as at first issue: DET requires a house in the Emirate of Dubai, an enterprise 100% owned and managed by UAE or GCC nationals, and no more than five trade licences in total (Invest in Dubai, Wayback 10 April 2026). Dubai SME's renewal page words this differently in English and Arabic, at one point naming only UAE citizens living in Dubai and at another GCC nationals resident anywhere in the UAE, so treat DET as the authority: in practice, UAE or GCC nationals living in Dubai. For getting the licence in the first place, see the Intelaq licence guide for Dubai.

The steps

Dubai SME's renewal page sets out the journey (Dubai SME renewal, Wayback 20 May 2025):

Email your request to Dubai SME at info@sme.ae.
Read the terms and conditions and fill in the service request form.
Send the documents listed below.
Receive a letter approving the renewal. It is valid for six months.
Take it to an external, outsourced service centre to complete the renewal.

Dubai SME puts its own part at one working day, with a 10 minute service delivery time, and takes requests by email around the clock. It does not say what happens if the letter runs out before you reach a service centre, so ask. DET's Intelaq page mentions applying online through Invest in Dubai or at a service centre in about 5 minutes, but that page describes issuing; no DET page describes renewing an Intelaq licence without Dubai SME's letter.

The documents

A copy of your National ID.
A copy of your current Intelaq licence.
The project performance form, which the English page calls a project annual progress report.
A copy of your passport or, if you are a decree holder without a family book (Khulasat Al Qaid), the original decree, addressed to DET.

The decree applies only to decree holders. DET defines one as someone granted UAE nationality by a Ruler's decree and issued a UAE passport, but not a Khulasat Al Qaid family book (Invest in Dubai, Wayback 10 April 2026).

The fee

AED 1,070 a year, the same as issuing, according to DET, which adds that this "does not include fees and guarantees for federal government agencies and some other entities". Dubai SME's renewal page last showed AED 1,050, in a snapshot from May 2025, so the DET figure is the newer one. Dubai's 2011 fee schedule set the base fee to issue or renew an Intelaq licence at AED 1,000 (Executive Council Resolution No. 13 of 2011); DET does not break down the difference, so check the total before you pay. DET takes direct debit at Dubai Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai or Emirates Islamic, and cash or cheque at Aafaq Islamic Finance, Commercial Bank of Dubai or Emirates Islamic.

If your Dubai SME membership ends in 2026, ask one more question. In May 2026 Dubai announced that Dubai SME would extend membership licences by two more years for every company whose membership expires in 2026 (Dubai Media Office). The announcement does not say whether that covers an Intelaq licence, and left the timing to the entities concerned.

When to renew, and what late costs

Dubai Law No. 13 of 2011 makes a licence valid for one year, renewable for the same period, and says a business "must renew its Licence within the last month prior to its expiry" (Dubai Legislation Portal). The same article lets DET approve up to four years on request, though every Intelaq page describes the fee as yearly. There is no official grace period.

The 2011 fee schedule sets AED 250 for failing to renew within the prescribed period, plus AED 200 for each month of delay, where part of a month counts as a full month. A repeat within a year doubles the fine, up to AED 100,000. Renewing two and a half months late would therefore add AED 250 plus 3 × AED 200, so AED 850 on top of the fee. The official text says AED 250 once, then AED 200 a month. It is a general schedule for licences DET issues, with no Intelaq version, and a later resolution may have changed the amounts; ask DET what applies to you.

If you stop trading, or let it expire

The law is kinder to a business that stops than to one that drifts. Under Article 13, no licensing fees or non-renewal fines are due if the licence expires and you stop trading, or if you apply to suspend the licence because you are ceasing the activity. If you are pausing, applying to suspend is the cleaner route.

Leave it expired after you stop trading and DET may, under Article 30, close the business or revoke the licence after publishing a notice in a daily newspaper, if nobody objects within two weeks. Keep selling on an expired licence and you are trading without one: the 2011 schedule fines that AED 5,000, and Article 29 of the law allows fines from AED 100 to AED 100,000.

The Dubai Municipality food permit

Selling food adds a second renewal. A 2020 Dubai Municipality services list described the home business food permit as issued by email to FoodPermits@dm.gov.ae against a valid DED home business licence, food items listed on FoodWatch and a municipality inspection report, at AED 200, valid for one year and renewed by following the application process again (Dubai Municipality, Wayback 6 July 2022). That document has since been taken down, and the municipality's 2023 guide gives no fee or validity, so confirm the current terms with FoodPermits@dm.gov.ae or 800900.

The 2023 guide does require Intelaq holders to register on FoodWatch (foodwatch.dm.gov.ae) and log daily food operations there, and every food establishment to hold an annual permit for a food transport vehicle or delivery motorbike, one more yearly renewal if you use one (DM-FSD-GU62).

Year five, and the exempted licence

When Intelaq opened to food in 2020, food activities were allowed for five years, "provided the licence is renewed every year", after which "the licence must be converted into a commercial licence" (Dubai Media Office). The current DET and Dubai SME pages neither repeat nor withdraw this.

Separately, Dubai SME converts an Intelaq licence into an exempted trade licence, for which "a nominal value is paid annually for a period of five consecutive years"; the conversion has no listed fee and its approval letter is valid for six months (Dubai SME conversion, Wayback 20 May 2025). The page gives two start dates for those five years: the transfer in its description, the first renewal after conversion in its FAQ. Renewing the exempted licence costs AED 1,000 a year for the first three years and AED 2,000 a year for the fourth and fifth, for an enterprise 100% owned and managed by UAE or GCC nationals living in the city (Dubai SME exemption renewal, Wayback 20 May 2025). In November 2021 Gulf News reported the exemption extended from five years to seven for Emirati members who had not yet completed five (Gulf News), while Dubai SME's 2025 pages still say five. No source links this route to the food cap, so if you are nearing your fifth food renewal, ask Dubai SME which applies.

What happens when an eTrader licence needs renewing?

The u.ae page for eTrader covered who could hold one, the single named owner, and the limits on shops and visas, but said nothing about renewal. That page has since been removed; the last capture that still loads is from 29 April 2025 (u.ae, Wayback 29 April 2025).

The terms that do exist come from the DED Trader portal's own FAQ and brochure, archived before the portal went offline. Both put the licence fee at AED 1,070, and the FAQ scopes Dubai Chamber membership of AED 300 to commercial activities only, so a professional activity paid AED 1,070 and a commercial one AED 1,370 (DED Trader FAQ, Wayback 8 December 2022; DED Trader brochure, Wayback 24 January 2023). The FAQ gives the licence a term of one year and a grace period of exactly one month from the expiry date, with no fine for renewing late, but says the trade name is cancelled automatically once that month passes, leaving you to register again from scratch. It does not say whether you may keep trading during that month, so assume not.

Those are 2022 and 2023 pages, the portal they sat on no longer exists, and no 2026 source confirms either figure. Check the current fee and renewal window with Dubai Economy and Tourism before your own date comes up. Full detail is in the eTrader licence guide for Dubai.

How does Mubdiah renewal work in Abu Dhabi?

The Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council's own terms make the licence valid for one renewable year, for a single activity, with no more than one per woman, and set it for UAE national women resident in Abu Dhabi aged 21 or over, with preliminary approval from the council, a husband's or guardian's approval and Abu Dhabi Chamber membership (Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, Wayback 20 May 2026).

Two of those terms are out of date. TAMM, the platform that actually takes the application, sets the minimum age at 18 and asks for no guardian approval at all, so read TAMM as current and the council's page as the older text (TAMM, verified 3 October 2026). Either way, the council's page is an issuing page with no separate renewal procedure, so ask the council and ADDED whether renewal means resubmitting the same approvals or a lighter check.

On cost, read the 2020 announcement carefully. 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 (WAM; ADDED, Wayback 28 February 2024). That 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 Mubdiah fee list has no Civil Defence line and no exemption line: its fees add up to AED 1,110 on the English page and AED 1,160 on the Arabic one, charged in full, checked on 3 October 2026. None of TAMM, the Abu Dhabi Registration Authority or the council publishes a Mubdiah renewal fee at all. So do not plan on a free renewal. Ask ADDED on 800 555 what your renewal will cost, and whether any Civil Defence charge applies to your activity. More on the licence itself is in the Mubdiah licence guide for Abu Dhabi.

What about Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain?

Sharjah's Eitimad licence, granted by the Sharjah Economic Development Department for a business run from home or through social media, is open to UAE nationals resident in Sharjah aged 18 and over, and does not allow the holder to take on staff (u.ae, Wayback 30 May 2025; the live u.ae page has since been removed). Neither that page nor SEDD's own site states an Eitimad-specific issuance or renewal fee, validity period, or grace period. SEDD's FAQ does describe a general late-renewal penalty for commercial licences, starting at AED 200 a month and rising to AED 5,000 or more, without stating whether that schedule applies to Eitimad specifically; SEDD points fee questions to its digital services portal, its fees calculator, or its call centre.

There has been a temporary exception. From 16 June 2026, for three months, SEDD exempted micro licences, named explicitly as e-commerce and Eitimad domestic licences, from late payment penalties, and cut issuance and renewal fees for those licences by half (WAM, 21 June 2026, Wayback 23 June 2026). By our count that ended around 16 September 2026 and we found no extension, so check with SEDD whether any relief is still running.

For the remaining four emirates, none of the official sources checked publishes a home business renewal process comparable to Intelaq, Mubdiah or Eitimad. Ajman's Department of Economic Development site shows only the standard commercial trade licence. The Ajman Businesswomen Council, part of Ajman Chamber, names a three year fee exemption for women starting a project from home, such as a beauty salon, a home restaurant or event planning, which the chamber page spells "Bedayat Certificate" and Ajman's own government service catalogue spells Bidayat; we follow the government spelling. The Arabic service page says it is issued only to women who are UAE citizens and is exempt from fees for those three years, while the council's approval request shows a fee line with no amount (Department of Digital Ajman, Bidayat, Arabic). Neither page states a validity or renewal term beyond the three years, so ask the council. Steps are in the home business licence guide for Ajman. Ras Al Khaimah's government site has a renewal page for standard trade licences only, and neither Fujairah Municipality nor Umm Al Quwain's economic development department lists a home business scheme. If you hold a licence in any of these four, ask your local department of economic development, chamber or municipality for the process, fee and deadline rather than assuming it mirrors Dubai. A wider comparison is in the home business licence guide for the northern emirates.

What happens if a home business licence is left to lapse?

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the two places with a documented answer. In Dubai, Law No. 13 of 2011 covers it: no fees or fines if you stop trading or apply to suspend, possible revocation after a newspaper notice once you stop trading, and fines for renewing late or trading unlicensed, all set out in the Intelaq section above. That law governs licences DET issues generally, so ask DET how it applies to an eTrader licence.

In Abu Dhabi the answer is partial, and it comes from the authority itself. Under Abu Dhabi regulations a licence left unrenewed is moved to an expired registry, and once it has been expired for three years or more it becomes subject to revocation (Abu Dhabi Registration Authority, via Abu Dhabi Media Office, 31 October 2025).

The Abu Dhabi Registration Authority (ADRA) has run two penalty relief windows. The first ran throughout November 2025 for licences that expired before 2010, with full exemption from late renewal penalties and a timeline for licences expired after 2010 to be announced later. The second exempted establishments from outstanding fines for late renewal; ADRA says it ran for three months until 15 August 2026, and that 7,823 commercial and industrial establishments took it up, with exemptions worth more than AED 11.6 million (Abu Dhabi Registration Authority, via Abu Dhabi Media Office, 8 September 2026). ADRA names commercial and industrial establishments, not Mubdiah, and publishes no standing late fee for a home business licence, so ask ADRA whether a home business licence was ever covered and what applies to yours now.

For the other schemes and emirates, no official source checked states a grace period, a home business late fee, or what happens the day after expiry. Ask the issuing authority, Dubai SME for Intelaq, Dubai Economy and Tourism for eTrader, the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council for Mubdiah, SEDD for Eitimad, what their own lapse policy is before your renewal date, not after it.

Scheme	Emirate	What is confirmed on renewal fee	Where to check
Intelaq	Dubai	AED 1,070 a year per DET (Dubai SME's page last showed AED 1,050); late renewal AED 250 plus AED 200 a month under the 2011 schedule	Dubai SME (info@sme.ae), then DET
eTrader	Dubai	AED 1,070, plus AED 300 Dubai Chamber for a commercial activity, per the archived DED Trader FAQ and brochure (2022 and 2023); one month grace, no late fine, trade name cancelled after it. No 2026 source	Dubai Economy and Tourism
Mubdiah	Abu Dhabi	Not published by TAMM, ADRA or the council. TAMM charges the issuing fees in full (AED 1,110 English page, AED 1,160 Arabic page) with no exemption line	ADDED (800 555), Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council
Eitimad	Sharjah	Not published; a 50% discount and penalty waiver ran from 16 June 2026 for three months	SEDD digital services
Ajman	Northern Emirates	Standard trade licence; separately Bidayat, a 3-year fee exemption for women who are UAE citizens running a project from home, with no renewal term published	Ajman Businesswomen Council, Ajman DED
Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain	Northern Emirates	No dedicated home business scheme found on any official source	Your local DED or municipality

None of that changes what you need once the licence itself is settled. KLU is a marketplace for home businesses across the UAE: joining is free, with no listing, subscription or setup fees, a 5% commission on completed orders plus 2% card processing, weekly payouts to a UAE bank account, and a storefront link you can share, with orders through the iOS app, the Android app or the web. Buyers choose pickup or delivery and pay the delivery fee themselves, and onboarding runs in English and Arabic. Holding and renewing the correct licence stays entirely your own responsibility. Questions about selling on KLU itself are answered in the FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Is renewing a home business licence the same process as applying for one?

Not always. Intelaq's renewal starts with an email to Dubai SME and its own document list. Mubdiah's official page describes issuing only, Eitimad publishes no renewal process at all, and eTrader's renewal terms survive only on an archived portal that no longer exists.

How much does it cost to renew an Intelaq licence?

AED 1,070 a year, per DET's Invest in Dubai page (snapshot of 10 April 2026); Dubai SME's renewal page last showed AED 1,050. Federal fees and the municipality food permit are extra. The exempted trade licence route costs AED 1,000 a year for three years, then AED 2,000 a year for two, per Dubai SME.

Is the Mubdiah renewal fee free?

Do not count on it. The August 2020 announcement that is usually read as a licence fee waiver was ADDED announcing a General Directorate of Civil Defence decision, which most likely covered Civil Defence's own charges rather than the licence fee. TAMM's 2026 Mubdiah fee list has no Civil Defence line and no exemption line, and charges its fees in full, AED 1,110 on the English page and AED 1,160 on the Arabic one. No renewal fee is published by TAMM, ADRA or the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, so ask ADDED on 800 555 what yours will be.

Is there a grace period for renewing an Intelaq licence?

No official source gives one. Dubai Law No. 13 of 2011 asks you to renew in the last month before expiry, and the 2011 fee schedule charges AED 250 plus AED 200 for each month of delay. Ask DET whether those amounts still apply to Intelaq.

What happens if my home business licence has already expired?

In Dubai, no fees or fines are due if you have stopped trading or applied to suspend the licence, though DET can revoke a lapsed licence of a business that has stopped, after a newspaper notice. If you keep trading, late fines run. In Abu Dhabi, ADRA says expired licences move into an expired registry and become subject to revocation after three years or more, and it has run two penalty relief windows, the later of which closed on 15 August 2026. For every other scheme here, no official source states a grace period or a specific penalty, so contact the issuing authority directly.

Sources

Last verified: 3 October 2026.