Key takeaways
- Mainland licences renew with DET; free zone licences renew with the zone authority.
- A registered Ejari (mainland) or a current zone lease is the condition that blocks most renewals.
- Late renewal draws fines, and an expired licence stops visa and establishment card renewals.
- Corporate tax and VAT duties continue while the licence is expired; only formal deregistration ends them.
How does trade licence renewal work in Dubai?
The authority that issued your licence renews it. Four things decide whether the file goes through on time.
- Authority: DET for a Dubai mainland licence; JAFZA, DMCC, IFZA, Meydan or another zone for theirs.
- Premises: a valid Ejari on the mainland, or a current zone lease, for the renewal period.
- Approvals: health, education, food and similar activities need the regulator's approval current first.
- After the licence: the establishment card, then staff visas, which depend on it.
How early should you start the renewal?
Start 30 to 60 days before expiry. The lease and any regulator's approval have to be renewed first, and the establishment card and visas follow the licence.
Late renewal draws a fine on the mainland and in every free zone, and it grows with each month the licence stays expired. There is no informal grace period to plan around.
What documents do you need to renew a trade licence?
The file rests on the current licence, a valid lease and any activity approval, plus updated company documents if owners or the manager changed during the year. We assemble it, file it and track it to the new licence.
Ejari for trade licence renewal. Ejari is the Dubai Land Department's tenancy registration. A mainland renewal fails when the Ejari has expired or names a different tenant or address, and many delays start here.
What happens if you do not renew your trade licence?
The company does not close. It stays on the register with an expired licence, and four things follow.
Trading
Invoicing and signing contracts on an expired licence is a violation of its own, and counterparties check.
Visas
The establishment card cannot be renewed, so new visas and renewals for staff and family stop.
Bank
Banks ask for a valid licence at review and can restrict or close the account.
Fines and cancellation
Fines keep growing, and after a long lapse the authority can move to cancel the licence with the debts still attached.
Do corporate tax and VAT continue if the licence expires?
Yes. Your corporate tax registration stays open, and a return is due for each tax period within nine months of its end, even with no income.
A VAT-registered company keeps filing VAT returns until the FTA approves deregistration, and a business that stops has a deadline to deregister for corporate tax. See corporate tax and VAT.
Renew, or close the company?
If the company has no future, renewing it only to keep it alive adds a year of filings. A planned closure ends them.
Closure has its own order across visas, tax, the bank and the licence, and it usually needs the licence brought current or the arrears settled first. Our company liquidation team runs it, and the guide on how to close a UAE company correctly explains what is at stake.
- Letting the Ejari lapse a week before the licence, then finding the renewal blocked.
- Forgetting the regulator's approval for a supervised activity until the portal rejects the file.
- Renewing the licence but not the establishment card, which then holds up a staff visa.
- Leaving a dormant company to expire on the belief that it closes itself.