What is the Tajer Abu Dhabi licence?
It is an economic licence issued by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) for specific commercial activities run without an official establishment site. TAMM's own description of the service, code DED/0076, says the licence is valid for 3 years and includes a standard Memorandum of Association (TAMM).
It started small. ADDED says the activity catalogue has grown "from 30 when it was launched to more than 1,200 currently", and that new Tajer licences rose 24 per cent in 2025 and a further 8 per cent in the first half of 2026 (Abu Dhabi Media Office, 24 September 2026). ADRA's page disagrees with itself on that count, saying "over 1,000 activities to choose from" in its introduction and "1,200 Activities to Choose From" a few lines below (ADRA). ADDED's figure is the newer one. No page publishes the Tajer list as a list, but TAMM runs a public economic activity search you can use without signing in, by legal form, activity name and category (TAMM activity search). You pick your own activities inside the application.
Who can apply for a Tajer Abu Dhabi licence?
This is where four official sources say four different things, and no consultancy page will tell you that.
- TAMM, the platform that actually takes the application, publishes no terms and conditions for Tajer at all. The conditions field on its service record is empty in English and in Arabic. On TAMM's Economic Licence list the service is tagged "Emirati" only, while the Commercial licence and the Freelancer licence are each tagged "Expat" as well as "Emirati" (TAMM service list).
- ADRA headlines the opposite: "Open to UAE Nationals, UAE Residents and GCC Nationals". Read the next sentence, because it is the actual rule. Tajer suits "one person companies owned by Emiratis or GCC nationals and limited liability companies owned by residents in partnership with Emiratis" (ADRA). An expat resident is not being offered a licence of their own there; they are being offered a partnership.
- ADDED's licensing page, updated 24 September 2026, says only that the licence "is issued electronically for specific commercial activities to UAE citizens and residents", with no mention of GCC nationals and no mention of a partner (ADDED).
- ADAFSA, the food authority, is stricter again on the food side. See the food section below.
The history backs ADRA rather than ADDED. Tajer launched in 2017 for UAE nationals, and in 2018 ADDED widened it to GCC nationals and UAE residents under three legal forms, the third being a "limited liability company for residents in partnership with Emiratis" (u.ae, archived snapshot of 9 December 2022). The National reported the same expansion at the time as open to all GCC nationals and to "UAE residents with an Emirati partner" (The National, 30 July 2018).
So: if you are an Emirati or a GCC national, the sole route is yours. If you are a resident of any other nationality, three sources say you need an Emirati partner in an LLC and one says you do not. Get it in writing from ADRA before you pay anything. ADRA allows three legal forms overall, an Establishment, a Sole Proprietorship or a Limited Liability Company, which is wider than Mubdiah's single form.
No official page states a minimum age for Tajer. TAMM sets 18 for Mubdiah and publishes nothing for Tajer, and ADRA, ADDED and u.ae are all silent. Several private pages assert 18. Ask ADDED on 800 555 rather than trusting any of them, ours included.
Hiring is the other eligibility question people ask, and the answer is an asymmetry rather than an answer. TAMM charges AED 315 on Tajer for an ICP establishment card, charges nothing like it on Mubdiah, and states a worker sponsorship ban for Mubdiah while publishing no conditions for Tajer at all. That much is real. It is not a permission: ICP's own page describes the establishment card as an electronic record of registered business data and says nothing about recruiting staff (ICP). If staff are part of the plan, make ADDED say yes before you budget for them.
How much does a Tajer Abu Dhabi licence cost in 2026?
TAMM itemises the issue fee in ten lines, five of which carry a charge:
- Organizational Entities Fee: AED 790
- Request for Establishment Card from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship: AED 315
- Abu Dhabi Chamber Membership Fee: AED 300
- Registration Fee in the Economic Register: AED 10
- Commercial Licence Issuance Fees: AED 10
Sole proprietorship establishment fees, contract notarisation, social contributions and Ministry of Economy fees are all shown at AED 0, and the tenth line is the per activity note below, also priced at AED 0. The five charged lines come to AED 1,425. TAMM prints no total on the Tajer page, so that sum is ours. TAMM promises to show the final amount before you complete the payment, but it makes that promise in the Mubdiah conditions text; the Tajer page carries no conditions text at all. Unlike the Mubdiah service, where TAMM's English and Arabic pages disagree on one line, the Arabic Tajer page carries the identical ten figures (TAMM).
The AED 790 you will see quoted everywhere else is one of those five lines, not the bill. ADRA describes the licence as costing "AED 790 to 5,500 depending on the economic activities", with the basic AED 790 covering 6 activities chosen by the investor and AED 100 for each additional one (ADRA). TAMM states the same per activity rule: "an additional amount of 100 each is calculated after 6 activities". Neither explains the AED 5,500 ceiling, which would imply roughly 47 extra activities.
Applying is short. TAMM lists seven steps: sign in with UAE PASS, submit the application, obtain other entities' approvals if any are required, receive an approval or rejection notification, register or confirm the Real Beneficiary details if required, pay the fees, which TAMM takes through AD PAY, and obtain the licence. Processing time is 10 working days, five times Mubdiah's 2. Step 3 is where a food business meets ADAFSA, and step 5, the Real Beneficiary declaration, does not appear on the Mubdiah journey at all. TAMM says the service "does not require any documents" and its document list is empty, and ADRA says the same, adding that you can set up using your Emirates ID. Bring the Emirates ID.
Can you sell on a website or social media with a Tajer licence?
Yes, and that is close to the reason the licence exists. To sell online on the UAE mainland you need a commercial licence that includes eCommerce activity from your emirate's economic department, and the UAE portal names "Issue economic licence - Tajer Abu Dhabi" as the Abu Dhabi route (u.ae, updated 25 September 2026). The older ADDED wording was more explicit still: a new licence to do business "through websites and social media networks".
Two things that page adds are missing from every Abu Dhabi page. First, u.ae says all eCommerce licences also require the approval of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), which regulates eCommerce in the UAE. Neither TAMM nor ADRA nor ADDED mentions TDRA anywhere in the Tajer journey, so ask ADDED whether it is handled inside the application or falls to you. Second, paid promotion of your products on social accounts is its own permit from the UAE Media Council, covered in the advertiser permit guide.
One historic detail to treat with care: the 2020 version of the u.ae page said Tajer holders could use an eCommerce mark, eTajer, with a licence serial number when promoting products. No current ADDED, ADRA or TAMM page mentions that mark, so ask ADDED whether it still exists before it goes on your packaging.
How long does it last, and what happens after 3 years?
The number 3 appears everywhere, attached to two different things.
TAMM's issue page says the licence is valid for 3 years, in both languages. ADRA says something narrower: "You are not required to lease an office for the first three years", and its Arabic page counts those three years from the start of the business. ADDED's Arabic press release is narrower again and clearer, saying the licence lets entrepreneurs start and run their business for three years without a requirement to provide premises (Abu Dhabi Media Office, Arabic). That sentence is not in the English release.
TAMM's own renewal service pulls the other way. It renews a commercial economic licence "for one year or more, depending on the licence type, lease validity, and approved requirements", and says an approved lease contract "is not required for the Tajer Abu Dhabi Licence during the first three years" (TAMM renewal). A lease exemption during the first three years only makes sense if renewals happen inside them. Read the 3 years as the period you may trade without premises, treat annual renewal as the likely rhythm, and let ADDED confirm which applies to your licence number. No official page says what year four looks like, or whether an ordinary tenancy contract satisfies the lease requirement when it arrives.
No authority publishes a Tajer specific renewal fee. The nearest published figures are TAMM's general commercial renewal lines: AED 890 organisational entities, AED 10 renewal and AED 10 economic register, with Chamber membership, the federal service fee and social contributions at AED 0, so AED 910 by our sum. Read that carefully before you budget: the federal line is labelled "Service fees - Federal: 52.07" but priced at AED 0, so a renewal that charges it would come to AED 962.07.
Then the news. On 24 September 2026 ADDED extended by one additional year the period Tajer holders may operate without physical premises, for holders whose current period expires during 2026 (Abu Dhabi Media Office). The release does not say whether that extra year is automatic or has to be applied for. If your no premises period runs out this year, that is the question to put to ADDED before you sign a tenancy contract.
Mubdiah or Tajer Abu Dhabi?
Both are Abu Dhabi licences you can hold without a shop. The choice is usually decided by who you are and whether your exact activity is on the Mubdiah list.
| Tajer Abu Dhabi | Mubdiah (Mobdea) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can apply | Emiratis and GCC nationals directly; other residents through an LLC with an Emirati partner (ADRA), though ADDED says "citizens and residents" and TAMM tags it Emirati only | Emirati women with a residence in Abu Dhabi, 18 or over (TAMM) |
| TAMM fee lines | 790 + 315 + 300 + 10 + 10: AED 1,425 | 790 + 300 + 10 + 10, plus a sole proprietorship fee of AED 0 or AED 50: AED 1,110 or 1,160 |
| Activities | More than 1,200 (ADDED); 6 included, AED 100 for each one after that | About 50 (ADRA), 44 (ADDED) |
| Legal form | Establishment, Sole Proprietorship or LLC | Establishment only |
| Processing | 10 working days (TAMM) | 2 working days (TAMM) |
| Premises | None required for the first 3 years | No physical business location |
| Employees | TAMM publishes no conditions at all, empty in English and Arabic; not a permission, ask ADDED | No worker sponsorship (TAMM and ADRA) |
| New licences to Emirati women, July 2024 to June 2025 | 1,830, 30% | 2,768, 46.6% |
That last row is worth sitting with. Of the 5,930 new economic licences issued to Emirati women in Abu Dhabi between July 2024 and June 2025, almost a third were Tajer, not the licence designed for them (Abu Dhabi Media Office). The wider activity list and the three legal forms are the likely reason. The fee lines and activity rules for the other side are in the Mubdiah guide.
What if your Tajer business sells food?
The licence never covers food on its own. ADAFSA, the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, requires the ADDED licence first, then a no objection certificate for your address after an inspection, and permits no activity at all before that certificate is issued (Al Ittihad, 25 August 2021, reporting an ADAFSA session). The full requirement list, the separate preparation space, the training and the labelling rules are in our Abu Dhabi food guide.
Two points belong here rather than there. The food activities ADAFSA listed as permitted from the residence under Tajer were preparing and selling banquets, sweets, spices, popular dishes, pickles, light snacks, and hot and cold drinks. And once the certificate is granted, the same briefing said a business may sell and market through social media or a delivery service under Decision No. 6 of 2020. That is the official basis for taking orders online.
The warning is the nationality line. ADAFSA's 2021 requirements for that certificate began with the applicant being a UAE citizen, and its 2024 practice guide is silent on nationality. An expat resident could therefore hold a Tajer licence through a partnership and still be refused the food approval, which is the more expensive half of the mistake. Ask ADAFSA in writing, before the licence, not after.
Licensing is yours to sort out with the authority. KLU does not require or check a licence, and nothing here is legal advice. Once you are trading, KLU is a UAE marketplace for home businesses: free to join, no listing, subscription or setup fees, 5% commission on completed orders plus 2% card processing, weekly payouts to a UAE bank account, and a storefront link to share. Buyers order on iOS, Android or the web and choose pickup or delivery, with the buyer paying the delivery fee, and onboarding is in English and Arabic.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Tajer Abu Dhabi licence?
TAMM's five charged lines add up to AED 1,425: AED 790 organisational entities, AED 315 for the ICP establishment card, AED 300 Abu Dhabi Chamber membership, AED 10 economic register and AED 10 issuance. TAMM prints no total on the Tajer page, so that sum is ours. The AED 790 quoted elsewhere is the first line, not the price.
Can an expat resident get a Tajer Abu Dhabi licence?
Not alone, on the weight of the sources. ADRA, the archived u.ae page and The National all describe the resident route as an LLC in partnership with an Emirati, and TAMM tags the service Emirati only. ADDED's page says "citizens and residents" flatly. Ask ADRA in writing which applies to you.
Is there an age limit for a Tajer licence?
No official page publishes one. TAMM's conditions field for Tajer is empty in both languages, while TAMM does state 18 for Mubdiah. Confirm with ADDED on 800 555.
How long is a Tajer Abu Dhabi licence valid?
TAMM's issue page says 3 years. ADRA and ADDED describe those 3 years as the period you may trade without premises, and TAMM's renewal service points to annual renewal. ADDED added one more year in September 2026 for holders whose period expires during 2026.
Do I need a separate approval to sell food?
Yes, ADAFSA's no objection certificate for your address, after an inspection, and no selling before it is issued. The steps are in the Abu Dhabi food guide, and questions about selling on KLU once you are licensed are answered in the FAQ.
Sources
- Issue Economic Licence, Tajer Abu Dhabi | TAMM
- Economic Licence service list | TAMM
- Search Economic Activities | TAMM
- Renew Economic Licence, Commercial | TAMM
- Issue Economic Licence, Mobdea | TAMM
- Tajer Abu Dhabi Licence | Abu Dhabi Registration Authority
- Mobdea Licence | Abu Dhabi Registration Authority
- Licensing requirements | ADDED
- ADDED extends the period to operate without physical premises by one year | Abu Dhabi Media Office (24 September 2026)
- The same release in Arabic | Abu Dhabi Media Office
- ADRA issues 5,930 new economic licences to Emirati female entrepreneurs | Abu Dhabi Media Office
- eCommerce | u.ae (updated 25 September 2026)
- Tajer Abu Dhabi | u.ae (archived, 9 December 2022)
- Abu Dhabi extends company licence package to GCC nationals and UAE residents | The National (30 July 2018)
- 350 licences for selling food from residences in Abu Dhabi | Al Ittihad (25 August 2021)
- Establishment card service | Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship
- Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority
Last verified: 26 September 2026.
