FREE ZONE FILE
DIFC, Dubai International Financial Centre
What we think
Publishes promotional innovation licence prices, registration fees, capital and audit rules, then stops: the ordinary commercial licence fee, visa costs, office rents and closure charges all sit behind gated handbooks.
Publishes its headline prices, but not everythingPackages
- Plus 100 dollars registration
- Up to 4 visas on the first office
- 50 percent off coworking, data protection free
- Subsidy runs 2 years
- Licence subsidised by 90 percent
- Coworking 250 dollars per month
- Data protection 250 dollars per year
- One flexible desk minimum at 500 dollars plus VAT per month
- Up to 4 visas
- Up to 40 percent off visa fees
Where each line was read: product page, a commercial commitment on the zone's own site. Official document, a downloadable schedule, regulation or terms. Blog only, an article on the zone's site, editorial and not contractual. Not published, the zone does not say.
Visas
Offices and desks
Year two, and closing down
The two figures nobody advertises. A cheap first year means nothing if year two doubles, and nothing at all if leaving costs a fortune.
Renewal, per year
USD 1,500 per year while the innovation subsidy lasts, then USD 12,000 per year above ten employees. The renewal of an ordinary commercial licence is published nowhere.
Closing the company
Not published. No striking off, liquidation or deregistration fee appears on any public DIFC page. The Companies Regulations refer to a fee appendix whose amounts are not accessible.
Other fees and penalties
Binding terms
- Entities not regulated by the DFSA must have at least 50,000 dollars of authorised and paid-up capital.
- Companies that are neither reporting entities nor ancillary service providers are exempt from audit and filing.
- Protected cell companies lose that audit exemption.
- Innovation Hub licences require at least one flexible desk as a compulsory premises commitment.
- Visa and establishment card fees are released only after you submit an email address.
Contradictions on the zone's own site
- The same Innovation Hub flexible desk is 250 dollars per month on the landing pages and 500 dollars plus VAT on innovationhub.difc.ae.
- The innovation subsidy lasts 2 years on the offer page and 2 to 5 years on the main difc.ae page.
- Visa allocation on the first desk is up to 4 on the licence pages and up to 2 on the coworking page.
What this zone does not publish
- The standard commercial licence fee for anything other than an innovation entity.
- The renewal schedule from year two.
- Deregistration, strike off and liquidation costs.
- Absolute employee visa and establishment card fees.
- Name reservation fee and late filing penalties.
- Office rent per square foot, service charges and lease terms.
Where every figure above comes from
- landing.difc.ae/innovation-license-offer
- landing.difc.ae/ai-licence-europe-offer
- innovationhub.difc.ae/the-hub/licencing-and-setup/innovation-holding-license
- difc.ae/business/operating/data-protection/forms-fees/
- difc.ae, Companies Regulations, PDF
Read on the zone's official site on 13 aout 2026. We print the addresses rather than link them, so you can check any figure word for word, and so this page stays a comparison rather than a doorway.
AED 1,000 back on this zone
This zone pays us an introduction fee, and we hand AED 1,000 of it back to you once your trade licence has actually been issued. You pay the zone exactly what you would pay going direct, we never take a dirham from you, and the cashback is only due if you filled in the Free Zone Radar form first.
Figures quoted from the zone are left in the language the zone published them in, so you can check them word for word. This file is available in English and French. The comparator itself is in Arabic too.