Can Your Free Zone Company Sell in Mainland Dubai Now? Resolution No. 11 Explained

Yes, your free zone company can now sell in mainland Dubai without setting up a separate mainland company, in most cases. Since Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. (11) of 2025 came into force, you can apply for a Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) licence or permit to trade onshore. Two conditions gate it: your activity must be on the DET eligible-activities list, and your free zone authority must approve it first.

Bottom Line

• Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 (in force 3 March 2025) lets most free zone companies sell in mainland Dubai through a DET licence or permit.
• Three routes exist: an in-Emirate branch, a branch operating out of the free zone (AED 10,000/year), and a temporary permit (AED 5,000, up to 6 months).
• Every route needs prior approval (an NOC) from your free zone authority, plus DET approval.
• The tax catch: your mainland branch is a domestic permanent establishment taxed at 9%, and you must keep separate financial records.
• This is an emirate-level Executive Council resolution, not a federal decree-law.
• DIFC-licensed financial firms are excluded.

The short answer: yes, but with conditions

For most Dubai free zone owners the answer is now a clear yes. Under Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. (11) of 2025, effective 3 March 2025, you can extend your existing company into mainland Dubai without opening a second entity.

You do this properly, through a DET licence or permit, not by trading unofficially and hoping nobody checks. Two things gate access. First, your activity has to appear on the DET eligible-activities list. Second, your free zone licensing authority has to sign off before DET will process anything.

One point on accuracy, since it gets muddled online. The operative instrument here is an emirate-level Executive Council resolution for Dubai. It is not a federal decree-law. If you run a company in an Abu Dhabi or Sharjah free zone, this specific mechanism does not automatically cover you.

What changed, and why it matters if you already run a company

Before this resolution, serving mainland clients meant real friction. You typically needed a separate mainland entity, or you worked through a local service agent under a different licence, or you routed sales in ways that did not always sit cleanly within the rules. Owners of existing free zone companies know that cost and hassle well.

Now three routes let you attach mainland activity to the company you already have. That is the practical shift. You keep your existing structure, your bank relationships and your team, and you add a licensed way to invoice mainland customers. The change fits the wider push to bring more free zone activity onshore under one set of rules.

One group is carved out. Financial establishments licensed to operate in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) are expressly excluded. Companies in Dubai's other free zones, such as DMCC, IFZA and Meydan, are covered. If you are still weighing the base decision itself, our guide on the real cost of choosing, setting up, and switching between free zone and mainland walks through it.

Your three routes to sell in mainland Dubai

Resolution No. 11 gives you three distinct routes, and the right one depends on how much mainland business you actually plan to do. The branch licences run one year and are renewable, while the temporary permit is capped at six months. The table below lays them out.

Route 1: a branch inside the Emirate

This is a branch physically located in mainland Dubai. It suits an owner who wants a real onshore presence, a mainland office and staff working from it. The branch licence is valid for one year and renewable for the same period.

Route 2: a branch operating out of the free zone (the dual licence)

This route is the one most existing owners ask about. You operate onshore while keeping your registered office inside your free zone. The government fee is AED 10,000 per year, and the licence runs one year, renewable. You get mainland reach without giving up your free zone address or restructuring.

Route 3: a temporary permit

For a specific, short-term piece of work, a one-off tender or a defined project, the temporary permit fits. It costs AED 5,000 and lasts up to six months. If mainland sales become steady, you graduate to a branch licence instead.

How to choose comes down to volume. A single mainland project points to the permit. Ongoing mainland customers point to the dual licence. If you are also thinking about visas and staff as you expand, see our note on free zone vs mainland for a company you already run.

The approvals and paperwork you actually need

Getting onshore is not a single-form process. Each route needs prior approval from your free zone licensing authority plus DET approval, and a sector regulator sign-off where the activity is regulated. Miss one and the file stalls.

The steps run in order. First, you request a no-objection confirmation, an NOC, from your free zone authority confirming your activity can extend to the mainland. Second, DET checks the activity against its published eligible-activities list. Once it clears, you complete the DET filing and pay the applicable fee.

The honest snag: that NOC sits with your free zone provider, and this is exactly where owners with an uncooperative provider lose weeks. If your provider is slow to release documents, or charges heavily to do it, the whole timeline drags. A cooperative free zone and a provider who does not hold your document withholding saves real time. Our walkthrough of moving a free zone company to mainland UAE and where a bad provider slows you down covers that failure point in detail.

The corporate tax catch most guides skip

This part matters more than the fees. Your mainland branch is treated as a domestic permanent establishment (PE), taxed at 9% corporate tax. So the moment you invoice mainland customers through the branch, that income is inside the 9% net, not the 0% free zone bracket.

The reassuring part: that mainland PE does not, by itself, kill your free zone parent's 0% rate. A Qualifying Free Zone Person keeps 0% on genuinely qualifying income while the domestic PE income is taxed at 9%, and PE income is excluded from the de minimis calculation. So expanding onshore does not automatically cost you your qualifying status.

But you have to keep the accounts clean. The Resolution requires you to maintain separate financial records for activity inside the free zone versus the Emirate. And watch the de minimis line. If your non-qualifying revenue crosses the lower of 5% of total revenue or AED 5,000,000, you can lose Qualifying Free Zone Person status entirely. Clean bookkeeping and audited accounts are no longer optional.

If you have already been selling to mainland clients

Some owners were serving mainland customers before any of this was formalised. The Resolution gives you a way to fix that. Companies already conducting mainland activity had a one-year grace period from the 3 March 2025 effective date to regularise, extendable once for the same period by the Director General.

Regularising means getting the right licence or permit, not carrying on informally. The risk of doing nothing is real: you can end up falling outside both the free zone rules and the mainland rules at once. Given that the initial grace window ran from March 2025, the safer path is to put the correct route in place now rather than relying on an extension.

How Operate fits in

We handle the whole chain on one company record you can open: the NOC request to your free zone, the DET filing, and the dual-licence set-up. You see the same file we do, so nothing gets lost between parties. Our company formation service covers the mainland branch and permit routes end to end.

Two things set the approach apart. There are no NOC extraction fees and no paperwork withheld if you later change direction. And you get visible, accountable operators who tell you the tax consequence, the 9% PE point and the de minimis line, before you file, not after. You can see how Operate works if you want the mechanics first.

Frequently asked questions

Can my free zone company now sell directly to mainland Dubai customers?

Yes, in most cases. Since Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 (in force 3 March 2025) you can apply to the Department of Economy and Tourism for a licence or permit to conduct approved activities in mainland Dubai, instead of setting up a separate mainland company. Your activity must appear on the DET eligible-activities list and your free zone authority must approve it first.

How much does it cost to get mainland access under Resolution No. 11?

The Resolution sets AED 10,000 per year for a licence to establish a branch operating out of the free zone, and AED 5,000 for a temporary permit. Branch licences run one year and are renewable; temporary permits last up to six months. These are the government fees stated in the Resolution and exclude any service or sector-regulator costs.

Do I pay corporate tax on my mainland sales?

Yes. Income earned through your mainland branch is treated as a domestic permanent establishment and taxed at the 9% corporate tax rate. Importantly, having that mainland PE does not by itself remove the 0% rate on your genuinely qualifying free zone income, but you must keep separate financial records and watch the de minimis limit (the lower of 5% of revenue or AED 5 million).

Do I still need approval from my free zone authority?

Yes. Both the licence and the temporary permit require prior approval from your free zone licensing authority as well as from DET, plus any sector regulator where the activity is regulated. Practically, you request a no-objection confirmation from your free zone before DET will process the application. A provider that delays or charges heavily for that NOC can stall the whole process.

I have already been serving mainland clients. Am I in trouble?

You had a one-year grace period from the 3 March 2025 effective date to regularise your status, and the Director General can extend it once. Regularising means obtaining the correct licence or permit rather than continuing informally. The safer path is to get the right route in place now so you sit cleanly within the rules.

Does this apply to DIFC companies?

No. Financial establishments licensed to operate in the Dubai International Financial Centre are expressly excluded from Resolution No. 11. The Resolution covers free zone establishments in Dubai's other free zones such as DMCC, IFZA and Meydan.

Want to sell in mainland Dubai without opening a second company or fighting your current provider for an NOC? Book a call and we will map the right route, the fees and the tax consequence for your company before anything gets filed.