Start a home business in the UAE: licence and TDRA

Do I need a licence to start a home business in the UAE?

Yes, if you are selling. The UAE Government portal states it plainly: "You must have the appropriate licence to conduct eCommerce activities." The governing law is Federal Decree by Law No. 14 of 2023 on Modern Technology-Based Trade, covering goods, services and data sold through websites, mobile applications, social media platforms and digital marketplaces. Selling through an Instagram account or a social media shop sits inside that definition, not outside it.

On the mainland that means a commercial licence including eCommerce activity, from your emirate's Department of Economic Development. Some emirates issue a standalone individual eCommerce licence, others fold it into a regular commercial licence, and the federal portal does not say which does which, so ask yours.

One step is easy to miss: every eCommerce licence also requires approval from the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority. TDRA publishes this one clearly: the no-objection certificate for practising an e-activity is free of charge and takes 2 working days, applied for with UAE Pass. You attach a commercial licence if you have one, plus no-objection certificates from the competent authorities for any restricted activities.

Once licensed, the obligations are ongoing: issue a clear digital invoice for every transaction, sell only permitted products, obtain approvals for regulated ones, and comply with data privacy rules. Licensing is your own responsibility as the owner, not something a marketplace grants or checks for you.

Which licence fits, and which emirate?

Here general advice stops being useful. Even the count of licence types is disputed: on one federal page the Ministry of Economy and Tourism says six, Abu Dhabi's department says seven, and Invest in Dubai says eight. Start with the home business licence guide, then read your emirate's own page.

Dubai

Two routes matter, and only one of them still has a current fee. Invest in Dubai described the eTrader licence as a sole establishment licence for Dubai home-based businesses, at AED 1,070 in licence and knowledge and innovation fees plus AED 300 for Dubai Chamber membership. Treat that as historical: the DED Trader portal no longer resolves, no official page says the licence was retired or replaced, and the archive record is laid out in the eTrader guide. Confirm the current position with Dubai Economy and Tourism before you plan around it.

Intelaq costs AED 1,070 a year to issue and renew. DET's service page says "a fee of AED 1,070 will be charged" for issuing and renewing every year, and that the amount does not include fees and guarantees for federal government agencies and some other entities (Invest in Dubai, Wayback, 10 April 2026). The live page blocks visitors from outside the UAE, so that snapshot is the figure's date. The AED 1,050 you will still see quoted everywhere was the published figure as late as 19 November 2025 (Wayback), so read it as superseded and confirm the amount with DET or Dubai SME at the counter. Eligibility is narrow: 100 per cent owned and managed by UAE or GCC nationals, residence in Dubai, no more than five trade licences already held, and a no objection letter from your landlord consenting to the home being the business address. The Intelaq guide covers who qualifies.

The Intelaq page contradicts itself: the copy calls it an opportunity for "a Dubai resident", while the requirements restrict it to UAE and GCC nationals. If that gap describes you, ask Invest in Dubai before paying.

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi lists a Mobdea licence, also written Mubdiah, for female UAE citizens only, covering 44 largely creative activities with no physical headquarters required. It also lists a Trader Licence, Tajer Abu Dhabi, issued electronically to citizens and residents, and a Freelancer Licence open to citizens and foreigners for practising remotely without office premises.

The fees are published, as itemised lines rather than a total, on TAMM, the platform that takes the application. On Tajer Abu Dhabi, five of the ten fee lines carry a charge and they come to AED 1,425, with a processing time of 10 working days. On Mubdiah the lines come to AED 1,110 on the English page and AED 1,160 on the Arabic page, the gap being a sole proprietorship fee shown as AED 0 in English and AED 50 in Arabic, with a processing time of 2 working days (TAMM, verified 3 October 2026). ADRA still quotes a basic AED 860 for Mobdea covering two activities, which reads as the older figure. TAMM prints no total on either page, so those sums are ours, and TAMM warns that the final payable amount depends on the activities you pick and is shown before you pay. We did not check the Freelancer Licence fee in this pass, so ask ADDED on 800 555 for that one. The line by line breakdowns are in the Tajer Abu Dhabi guide and the Mubdiah guide.

Sharjah

Sharjah publishes its fees, structured unlike anywhere else. Licence issuance is a percentage of the lease contract value or area: 8 per cent for citizens, minimum AED 800, and 13 per cent for other nationalities, minimum AED 1,300. It is gated on a lease contract and a SEWA electricity deposit, and late renewal costs AED 200 a month. No page explains how a business run from home meets the lease contract basis, so ask the Sharjah Economic Development Department.

Ajman and the northern emirates

Three of these four do publish something, and only one is genuinely silent.

Ajman DED publishes its home licence, the Reyada Program, on an English page: the conditions every home activity must meet, a 3 year exemption from local fees, and one working day to issue when no other authority's approval is needed. What you pay from year 4 is not published, and a food activity needs a second approval that adds time. The details are in the Ajman guide.

Fujairah's licence is Mashroui, and Dibba Al Fujairah Municipality publishes a service card for it in English as well as Arabic, at AED 100 to issue, the only fee on the card. The Arabic card limits it to UAE nationals living in the emirate while the English card says nothing about nationality, so a non-national should get a written answer before paying. Fujairah Municipality in the city publishes no Mashroui issue fee at all. See the Mashroui guide.

Ras Al Khaimah still issues Al Ghad. The last figures published were AED 1,000 to issue and renewal at either AED 800, on DED's own page as captured in 2023, or AED 1,000, on a RAK Government fee table last updated in November 2019. Residents of any nationality have a separate home licence, Forsa, at AED 1,500 a year. See the Al Ghad guide.

Umm Al Quwain is the real absence. Its Department of Economic Development lists permits only, its two licensing guides both link to a placeholder file, and no fee or issue time is published for any home licence. See the northern emirates guide.

What does each step cost, and how long does it take?

Four warnings. Those are online transaction times, not end to end times including external approvals, and no source gives a realistic total. Once you receive a trade licence payment voucher, you have 30 days to pay it or the application is cancelled. The Dubai trade name and trade licence figures come from archived snapshots of 12 December 2024 and 26 December 2024, and the Intelaq figure from a snapshot of 10 April 2026, because the live Invest in Dubai pages block access from outside the UAE, so re-confirm them before budgeting. And the eTrader figure is historical in a stronger sense: its own portal, dedtrader.ae, no longer resolves, and no official page has replaced it.

Tax and banking: the numbers most guides get wrong

Three figures get conflated constantly. Keep them apart.

VAT registration is mandatory once taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 over the previous 12 months, or you expect to within the next 30 days. Voluntary registration opens at AED 187,500, and that one can be met by taxable expenses as well as supplies.

Corporate tax is a different rule. Holding a sole establishment or home licence makes you a natural person, and the Federal Tax Authority says a natural person is subject to corporate tax only once turnover from business activity exceeds AED 1,000,000 in the calendar year. Below that, it says natural persons should not register. Wages, personal investment income and real estate investment income are excluded from the test. The AED 375,000 attached to corporate tax is the 0 per cent rate band on taxable income, not a registration trigger, and above it the rate is 9 per cent. That it matches the VAT threshold is coincidence.

Small Business Relief sits higher again: revenue of AED 3,000,000 or less in the current and all previous tax periods, open to a resident natural person. It must be actively elected, and a simplified return still filed on time.

On banking, no bank publishes a document checklist for a home licence holder, and a minimum balance means nothing until you know which product it belongs to. The same bank runs several.

RAKBANK asks AED 25,000 average monthly balance on its Business Current Account, while its RAKstarter account is zero balance. Mashreq's key facts statement for the Business Current Account sets the minimum average monthly balance by tier: AED 50,000 on Business First, AED 150,000 on Business Premium and AED 350,000 on Business Platinum, with a fall below fee of AED 400, AED 550 or AED 650. Its digital NEOBiz account is a different product and advertises no minimum balance at all, at AED 99 a month on Pro and AED 199 on Pro Plus, so the AED 50,000 to AED 350,000 range you may have read is the branch account, not the digital one. Wio Business publishes two plans on its own site, Essential at AED 99 a month and Grow at AED 249, both stating no minimum balance required (checked 3 October 2026). Emirates NBD offers six business account packages, Connect, Proprietor, Prime, Preferred, Prestige and Platinum, and its own account opening FAQ says only Connect carries no minimum monthly average balance, the others charging a fee if the balance falls below theirs (Emirates NBD, account opening FAQ, read 3 October 2026). The FAQ does not give each package's figure, so ask which package your licence qualifies for and what its minimum is. Compare on the balance you can hold every month, and the bank account guide has the document lists.

Pricing, orders and delivery

Set a price that survives your costs

Work upward from ingredients or materials, packaging, your own time, and any fee charged on the sale, never from someone else's price. The pricing guide has the arithmetic.

Decide how customers order and pay

You can take orders in a chat thread, on a website builder such as Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, Salla or Zid, or through a marketplace. Whichever you choose, the digital invoice rule applies.

KLU is one option. It is free to join, with no listing, subscription or setup fees. You pay 5 per cent commission on completed orders plus 2 per cent card processing, and payouts land weekly in a UAE bank account. You get a storefront link to share, buyers order on iOS, Android or the web, and onboarding is in English and Arabic.

Decide how orders reach the customer

Pickup, your own drop offs, or a courier such as Quiqup or Careem Box. On KLU you can offer pickup or delivery, with the buyer paying the delivery fee at checkout. The delivery guide covers the trade offs.

How do I get my first customers?

Density beats reach. Sell first to people who can physically receive an order this week: your building, your street, your neighbourhood. Show the real thing, not a designed graphic, and answer every message the same day.

Frequently asked questions

Can a home licence sponsor a residence visa?

No official source answers this, for any emirate. Neither the Invest in Dubai eTrader and Intelaq pages nor Abu Dhabi's licensing page mentions visas, establishment cards or sponsorship. Dubai's instant licence does bundle a residency establishment card and a labour ministry card, and the eTrader licence carries no such statement. Ask your Department of Economic Development for a written answer.

Can I hire staff on a home business licence?

Unclear, and the federal process suggests real limits. Hiring requires a Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation establishment file, an electronic signature card, and a physical inspection of the establishment's facilities. The ministry sets your quota partly by "the size of the work facilities", and no source states how that applies to a residential address. Ask the ministry first.

Do I need a physical address if I work from home?

The federal portal says all UAE businesses must have a physical address and that a rental agreement must be provided. Yet Abu Dhabi lists a Freelancer Licence practised remotely with no office premises and a Mobdea licence with no physical headquarters, and Dubai's eTrader is explicitly for home-based businesses. The authorities have not reconciled this in public, so ask the department that issues your licence.

Do I need a food safety approval to prepare food at home for sale?

We could not verify this either way. The federal approvals list covers sectors such as telecoms, aviation and media, and does not address food prepared at home. Do not assume it is unnecessary. Check the current rule with your emirate's municipality or food safety authority, and with your Department of Economic Development, before taking an order.

Sources

• eCommerce, The Official Platform of the UAE Government (11 August 2026)
• No-objection certificate for practising an e-activity, TDRA (fetched 24 August 2026)
• Steps to start a business on the mainland, u.ae (16 July 2026)
• Recruiting on the mainland, u.ae
• Corporate tax, u.ae (30 March 2026)
• Registration for VAT, Federal Tax Authority (6 April 2026)
• Basis of Taxation, Natural Person, Federal Tax Authority
• Small Business Relief, Federal Tax Authority
• FTA on simplified returns under Small Business Relief
• Licensing Requirements, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (24 July 2026)
• Issue Economic Licence, Tajer Abu Dhabi, TAMM (verified 3 October 2026)
• Issue Economic Licence, Mobdea, TAMM (verified 3 October 2026)
• Mobdea licence, Abu Dhabi Registration Authority
• Tajer Abu Dhabi licence, Abu Dhabi Registration Authority
• Reyada Program, Ajman Department of Economic Development
• Issue Mashroi License, Dibba Al Fujairah Municipality and trade name card (Arabic)
• Issue Trade Name, Sharjah Economic Development Department
• Licence issuance, Sharjah Economic Development Department
• Request to book a trade name, Invest in Dubai (archived 12 December 2024)
• Request to issue a trade licence, Invest in Dubai (archived 26 December 2024)
• Request for Intelaq licence, Invest in Dubai (Wayback, 10 April 2026), showing AED 1,070, and the Arabic page at AED 1,050 (Wayback, 19 November 2025)
• Ministry of Economy and Tourism
• Al Ghad licence, RAK Department of Economic Development (archived 8 February 2023) and Chance (Forsa) Licence, RAK DED
• Mashreq Business Account Key Facts Statement, Business First, Premium and Platinum tiers (read 3 October 2026)
• Business Current Account, RAKBANK and RAKstarter
• Wio Business, Wio Bank PJSC (Essential and Grow plans, read 3 October 2026)
• Business Accounts, Emirates NBD (read 3 October 2026)

Last verified: 3 October 2026.