FREE ZONE FILE
DWTC Free Zone, Dubai World Trade Centre
What we think
Publishes its licence prices, visa fees, setup charges, visa quotas, capital and audit rules, and its exit cost. What it does not publish is the renewal price, which its own rules oblige you to pay every year.
Publishes its headline prices, but not everythingPackages
- Single licence type
- Visas optional
- Workspace optional
- Trade with no category restriction
- Visas optional
- Workspace optional
- Investment advice
- Asset management
- Visas optional
- Services to several families
- Visas optional
- Workspace optional
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
Not published. The rules require renewal no later than thirty days after expiry and refer to the tariff for the fee, but the published tariff contains no licence renewal line at all.
Closing the company
Deregistration is priced in the official tariff, appendix 1 of the free zone rules. Winding-up procedures are in the company regulations, but liquidator, clearance and deposit refund costs are unpublished.
Other fees and penalties
Binding terms
- A licence runs one year and must be renewed no later than thirty days after expiry.
- Failing to renew triggers fines, cancellation of employee and dependant visas, and absconding reports.
- Shares carry a minimum nominal value of AED 1,000, with at least one share per shareholder.
- Audited accounts must be examined by an approved auditor and laid before a general meeting within six months of the year end.
Contradictions on the zone's own site
- The rules mandate an annual renewal fee as per the tariff, yet the tariff has no licence renewal line.
- Three versions of the free zone rules, V4, V10 and V14, are all live with differing tariffs and no stated effective date.
What this zone does not publish
- The annual licence renewal price.
- Office, desk and coworking rental rates.
- Name reservation fee.
- Late renewal fine amounts.
- Any agent or referral commission terms.
Where every figure above comes from
- dwtc.com/en/free-zone/our-solutions/on-demand-licensing/
- media.dwtc.com, Free Zone Rules and Regulations V14, PDF
- media.dwtc.com, Free Zone Company Regulations V7, PDF
- dlp.dubai.gov.ae, Law No. 9 of 2015
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.