FREE ZONE FILE
d3, Dubai Design District
What we think
Publishes freelance and statutory licence tariffs, capital, deregistration and audit rules. Hides every office, coworking and retail rent, every employee visa cost, and the visa quota.
Publishes its headline prices, but not everythingPackages
- 24/7 business centre access
- High speed Wi-Fi
- Meeting rooms
- 1 to 3 activities
- Free zone limited company
- AED 10,000 capital
- 5 activities
- AED 100,000 capital
- Free zone limited company
- Activities of the added segment
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
AED 15,000 per year for a standard segment, AED 20,000 with manufacturing, plus AED 20. The regulator states that renewal follows the published licence tariff, so year two equals year one.
Closing the company
Deregistration of a free zone limited company, four working days, requiring an auditor letter and bilingual newspaper notices. AED 1,000 for accelerator companies.
Other fees and penalties
Binding terms
- Audited financial statements must be filed within six months of the year end.
- Minimum paid-up capital is AED 10,000, rising to AED 100,000 for manufacturing segments.
- Each licence segment allows one to five activities depending on the segment.
- Licences are annual and renew through the group portal.
- Executive search licensees must keep an AED 100,000 deposit or bank guarantee with the authority.
Contradictions on the zone's own site
- The zone advertises the freelance licence at AED 7,520 while the regulator's tariff sets AED 7,500. The gap is the two statutory dirham fees.
- The zone markets warehouses under its own offerings while the units described sit at Dubai Industrial City, not inside d3.
- The FAQ lists questions on setup cost and financial requirements, but serves no answer text publicly.
What this zone does not publish
- Office, coworking and retail rent cards.
- Visa quota per office size.
- Employee visa fees for a company.
- Initial trade name reservation fee.
- Late licence renewal penalty.
- Broker or referral commission terms.
Where every figure above comes from
- dubaidesigndistrict.com/offerings/gofreelance
- dda.gov.ae, licensing categories decision, PDF
- dda.gov.ae/en/registration-licensing/existing-businesses/license-cancellation
- dda.gov.ae/en/registration-licensing/existing-businesses/license-renewal
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.