Professional licence for your consultancy in Dubai
Most people who start a consultancy business in Dubai need no regulator, only the right activity wording.
- Licence
- Standard trade licence
- Regulator
- Usually none
- Private clients
- Free zone
- Government clients
- DET mainland
You can start a consultancy business in Dubai on a professional licence when the work is strategy or business advisory. Financial or legal consultancy wording needs separate approval, from a financial regulator or Dubai's Legal Affairs Department. Consultants billing private and overseas clients mostly choose a free zone, and government work is usually billed from a DET mainland company.
How to start a consultancy business
- Activity wording
- Confirmed unregulated
- Free zone or mainland
- Matched to clients
- Ownership
- 100% foreign
- Workspace
- Flexi-desk to office
- Residency
- Visa and Emirates ID
- Corporate account
- Matched UAE bank
Corporate tax runs at 0% on taxable profit up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. Small Business Relief can apply while revenue stays at AED 3 million or less, for periods ending by 31 December 2029. Consultancy income from mainland clients is usually not qualifying income for free zone companies. See the corporate tax and VAT detail.
Recruitment and HR licensing
Recruitment is licensed by MoHRE. The agency needs an office used for nothing else.
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Recruitment agency licence, by MOHRE category
Placing candidates or supplying workers, with the MOHRE agency licence and guarantee.Recruitment agency licence in Dubai -
HR consultancy licence, for advisory firms
Employer advice on a light licence, while placements bring in MOHRE.HR consultancy licence in Dubai
Management consultancy licence wording
This licence is usually issued in days, which makes it easy to treat as done. One phrase on the form can still add an authority's approval.
Standard trade licence
Usually with no external regulator, issued quickly.
- Management and strategy consultancy
- Business and operations advisory
- Project and process consultancy
- HR and organisational advisory
Separate approval when wording trips a regulator
Needs approval from the relevant authority before the licence holds.
- Financial consultancy or investment advisory
- Legal consultancy
- Tax-agent services
- Engineering or health-related advisory
Scope defines billing
The activity on your licence sets what you may legally bill for. An engagement outside it is not covered, however reasonable the work.
Neighbouring fields need their own activity
Engineering advice needs Dubai Municipality registration under Law 14 of 2025, and tax agency needs FTA registration, so a general management consultancy line covers neither.
Payments that match the licence
A mismatch between the activity on your licence and your incoming payments is a common reason an account review stalls.
For the licensing question on its own, before you weigh structure, see how a consultancy is licensed in the UAE.
Where should your professional licence sit?
Who you invoice matters more than cost. Since October 2025, DET's six-month operating permit lets a free zone consultancy holding a Dubai Unified Licence take mainland work, because consultancy sits in the permit's first phase.
| Free zone | DET mainland | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays your invoice | International and UAE private businesses, B2B | UAE government bodies or local public entities, billed directly |
| Ownership | 100% ownership | Full foreign ownership applies |
| Workspace and setup | A flexi-desk option and setup in days | An office tenancy and a longer setup |
| Invoicing | Across the UAE and abroad | Directly to public clients, through the Department of Economy and Tourism |
Suits most consultantsFree zone
- Who pays your invoice
- International and UAE private businesses, B2B
- Ownership
- 100% ownership
- Workspace and setup
- A flexi-desk option and setup in days
- Invoicing
- Across the UAE and abroad
DET mainland
- Who pays your invoice
- UAE government bodies or local public entities, billed directly
- Ownership
- Full foreign ownership applies
- Workspace and setup
- An office tenancy and a longer setup
- Invoicing
- Directly to public clients, through the Department of Economy and Tourism
The routes differ mostly in the office, because a mainland licence needs an Ejari-registered office and a free zone accepts a flexi-desk. See the full mainland versus free zone breakdown, or freelancer visa vs free zone company. In one mainland consultancy company setup in Dubai, the licence came in two weeks and the bank account in three.
The sequence we run
Order matters more than speed here, because a clean filing needs the scope and structure agreed first.
Scope and structure
We define the consultancy activity for your licence and check free zone or mainland against where your clients are.
Issuing the licence
We take the approvals and the licence through the correct authority under the agreed activity scope, with any external approval flagged early.
Residence visas
Once the licence is live, the establishment card comes first, then each visa with its medical test and Emirates ID biometrics.
Ready to bill
We introduce the corporate account, and the company bills under a scope that matches its work.
The activity wording is the first thing we confirm on a consultancy file.
Filing what a client asks for is easy. Before any application goes in, we read the activity wording against the work you do and match the structure to who pays you.
When consultancy advice becomes regulated
Management consultancy is the broad, unregulated activity. Advice that moves into one of these fields needs different wording. Some also need a regulator.
Financial consultancy
See the regulated routeInvestment advice sits with the CMA (formerly SCA) on the mainland, or with the DFSA and FSRA in the financial centres.
Marketing and advertising
See the marketing setupBrand and campaign advice is simpler to license and has its own activity wording.
IT and software
See the IT setupTechnical and software advisory overlaps with product activities, so the wording has to say whether you advise or build.
What consultancy founders want to know
A question about your own setup? Send it on WhatsApp and an advisor answers it directly.
Ask on WhatsAppWhat is the best licence for a consultancy business in Dubai?
How much does a consultancy licence cost in Dubai?
Should a consultancy in Dubai choose a free zone or mainland?
Do I need a professional or commercial licence for a consultancy in Dubai?
Do I need qualifications to get a management consultancy licence?
Will a UAE bank open an account for a consultancy easily?
What corporate tax applies to a UAE consultancy?
Get your activity wording checked
We confirm the wording of your licence and the structure that fits your clients. We then form the consultancy through company formation in the UAE on that structure.
On the call
- Who your clients are, and what you advise on
- The activity wording, confirmed against your work
- The structure that fits who pays you
